Ellenbrook Line

The Ellenbrook line, known as the Morley–Ellenbrook line during construction, is a suburban railway line in Perth, Western Australia, which is operated by the Public Transport Authority as part of the Transperth system. The line branches from the Midland line at Bayswater station and heads north-north-west to serve five stations along a route to Ellenbrook. Ellenbrook line services continue west of Bayswater station alongside Midland and Airport line services to terminate at Perth station in the central business district.

Land for a transit line to Ellenbrook was reserved in the 1990s during the first stages of the development of Ellenbrook as a "master planned community". A railway line to Ellenbrook was promised by both major political parties in the leadup to the 2008 state election, but it was cancelled by the newly-elected Liberal government after the election. After the Labor Party won the 2017 state election, the Ellenbrook line began planning as part of the wider Metronet project. Enabling works within the Tonkin Highway median strip were undertaken by the Tonkin Gap project, which started construction in November 2020 and was completed in early 2024. The main Ellenbrook line contract was awarded to Laing O'Rourke in October 2020 and construction began in January 2022. The main contract's original budget was $1.123billion, which blew out to $1.651billion in 2023. Track laying was completed by July 2024, allowing the first train to enter the line in August. All stations were complete by November, allowing the Ellenbrook line to open on 8 December 2024.

Branching from the Midland line at Bayswater station, the Ellenbrook line enters a viaduct to exit the Midland line via a flying junction before entering the median strip of Tonkin Highway through a short tunnel. The line heads north from there, stopping at Morley and Noranda stations, before exiting the highway through another tunnel to reach Ballajura station. The Ellenbrook line then runs east along the southern side of Whiteman Park before bending north to head between Whiteman Park and Drumpellier Drive to reach Whiteman Park station. North from there, the line enters Ellenbrook to terminate at Ellenbrook station.

The Ellenbrook line has a frequency of five trains per hour during peak and four trains per hour off peak, operated by B-series trains. The travel time from Ellenbrook to Perth is 31 minutes. Peak frequencies are planned to increase to six trains per hour by 2031, which will require upgrades to signalling to accommodate the line alongside Airport and Midland line services. All stations along the branch are fully accessible and have platforms; train lengths are limited by platforms between Perth and Bayswater. The branch is forecast to have 11,753 boardings per weekday upon opening, increasing to 18,070 boardings per weekday in 2031.

History

Corridor reservation

The 1955 ''Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle'', also known as the '' Stephenson– Hepburn Report'', proposed a railway line branching off the Eastern Railway ( Midland line) at Bayswater, then heading north through Morley to reach Walter Road and then north-west to terminate near Wanneroo Road. The branch was planned to have six stations and projected to have 7,000 daily passengers. The report also proposed the Beechboro–Gosnells Highway, now known as Tonkin Highway. When the Metropolitan Region Scheme was adopted in 1963, the land for the proposed highway was reserved but the not the land for the proposed railway. Tonkin Highway between Railway Parade and Reid Highway was eventually opened in stages between 1984 and 1991.

The ''North-East Corridor Structure Plan'', published in 1994, called for the rezoning of Ellenbrook for urban development and the reservation of a public transport corridor from the proposed Ellenbrook town centre and along Lord Street (now known as Drumpellier Drive) to Bassendean on the Midland line. The Metropolitan Region Scheme was amended later that year to reserve the corridor from Ellenbrook to Reid Highway. The corridor south of Reid Highway to Bassendean was not reserved due to a large number of objections, which prompted the government to commission the ''North-East Corridor Transit Route Reserve Study'' to determine a route south of the Reid Highway/Lord Street junction. The study outlined four possible routes:

*To Bayswater via the Tonkin Highway median strip and the northern side of Reid Highway. The northern side of Reid Highway was selected as the highway's median strip was not wide enough for the railway and the southern side had housing that was too close to the highway. Potential station locations were Walter Road/ Morley Drive, Benara Road, Beechboro Road, Altone Road, and Marshall Road.
*To Bassendean via the western side of Lord Street. This option would have required a tunnel to exit the Midland line corridor and pass under several houses. Potential station locations were Morley Drive, Benara Road, and Marshall Road.
*To Midland via an extension of Benara Road through Caversham. This would have had the Ellenbrook line end at Midland station, with a transfer required to get to Perth station. Potential station locations were West Swan Road and Marshall Road.
*To Middle Swan via the Reid Highway median strip and from Middle Swan to Midland via the freight railway. This would operate as an extension of the Midland line. Potential station locations were Great Eastern Highway, Morrison Road, Stratton, Great Northern Highway, West Swan Road, and Marshall Road.

The route to Bayswater was chosen as the preferred option, so in 1996, the land required for that was reserved in the Metropolitan Region Scheme.

Proposals

Following the success of the Mandurah line, which opened in late 2007, Premier of Western Australia Alan Carpenter committed a week before the September 2008 state election to build a railway line to Ellenbrook for A$850million if the Labor Party were re-elected, with construction starting in 2012 and finishing in 2015. Opposition and Liberal Party leader Colin Barnett also committed to building a railway to Ellenbrook, but in the months following the Liberal Party's election victory, the Public Transport Authority (PTA) advised Transport Minister Simon O'Brien that bus rapid transit (BRT) would be more adaptable and could follow roads through built-up areas, unlike a railway line. In April 2009, the PTA cancelled a route definition study that had been commissioned by the Carpenter government and commenced a feasibility study due to doubts over the line's viability. New Transport Minister Troy Buswell said in May 2011 that the Liberal Party only committed to the Ellenbrook line because it believed that the Carpenter government had done a feasibility study, and that a subsequent study found that patronage would not be high enough for a rail line. Barnett said that he had only committed to building it if elected to a second term.

In July 2011, the government's ''Public Transport in Perth in 2031'' plan committed to a BRT service between Ellenbrook and Bassendean station, putting an end to plans for a rail line to Ellenbrook. By August 2012, the design of the BRT route was underway. Ahead of the March 2013 state election, Barnett again promised to build a rail line to Ellenbrook if re-elected, which he reiterated during an election debate on the ABC. In February 2013 though, Barnett reneged on that promise, saying that "when we looked at it and we took advice from the Department of Transport and others, it was clear that rail line was ahead of its time". Meanwhile, Labor leader Mark McGowan committed to building the Ellenbrook line as part of Labor's proposed Metronet project. Days before the election, Barnett announced that the BRT project had been cancelled due to costs increasing from $61million to $110million. The Liberals won the election.

In the May 2016 state budget, the Ellenbrook BRT project was revived with a cheaper route. Estimated to cost $49million, the new route was a dedicated busway along Lord Street between the Ellenbrook town centre and Marshall Road. There would have been bus stations in the Ellenbrook town centre, at Gnangara Road, and at Marshall Road, with a future station at Youle-Dean Road. The busway would have been grade separated at Gnangara Road, Park Street and Youle-Dean Road, and buses would have continued south of Marshall Road along regular streets to Bassendean and Midland stations. Sections of Lord Street would have been upgraded and realigned as well. A request for tenders was released in July 2016 and in November 2016, CPB Contractors was selected as the preferred proponent, with the cost having risen to $55million.

In February 2016, Transport Minister Dean Nalder revealed the government was considering an underground rail line from the Perth central business district to Morley via Edith Cowan University in Mount Lawley, with an eventual extension to Ellenbrook. Labor criticised the tunnel for being too expensive. The ''[email protected] million'' plan, which was published in July 2016, said a railway line to Ellenbrook would not be needed until after 2050, with the tunnel from Perth to Morley to be built as the first stage of a line to East Wanneroo and that the Ellenbrook line would later be built as a spur off that line. A week later, Barnett backtracked, saying that a rail line to Ellenbrook would be constructed "well before" 2050. The final version of the ''[email protected] million'' report, published in February 2017, said that a rail line to Ellenbrook would be needed before 2050. Meanwhile, Labor again promised to build the Ellenbrook line for $863million as part of its revised Metronet project, with construction beginning in 2019 and finishing in 2022.

The March 2017 state election resulted in the defeat of the Liberal Party and election of Labor to government. Soon after the election, Premier Mark McGowan announced the cancellation of the Ellenbrook BRT project as it was redundant to the Ellenbrook line. The contract with CPB was renegotiated into a realignment and upgrade of Lord Street. Upon the project's completion in April 2019, Lord Street was renamed Drumpellier Drive. As part of the NorthLink WA project, the intersections between Tonkin Highway and Collier Road, Morley Drive, Benara Road, and Reid Highway were grade separated and the highway was extended north, providing the corridor for the Ellenbrook line to be built.

Planning

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull committed $500million in the April 2018 federal budget for the Ellenbrook line, then-known as the Morley–Ellenbrook line, subject to a favourable assessment by the independent statutory authority Infrastructure Australia.

The finalised route for the Ellenbrook line was revealed in August 2019, with the state government saying that it considered 100 possible routes. The main engineering challenge of the final alignment were the tunnels to enter and exit Tonkin Highway. The number and location of stations were finalised, with there being five stations: Morley, Noranda, Ballajura (known at the time as Malaga station), Whiteman Park, and Ellenbrook. It was also announced that the scope of an existing project to rebuild Bayswater station would be increased to add extra platforms for the Ellenbrook line. The expected year of opening was 2022–23.

Consideration was given to having the Ellenbrook line travel along Tonkin Highway on the western side of Whiteman Park, but this route would not have allowed for a station at the entrance to Whiteman Park or a station to serve Henley Brook, Dayton, Brabham or West Swan. The design allows for a branch to extend north along Tonkin Highway past Ballajura though. Consideration was also given to running the line along Reid Highway as was planned in the 1990s instead of the southern side of Whiteman Park, but the Reid and Tonkin Highway interchange constructed as part of NorthLink WA made that route difficult to construct. Another option considered was tunnelling the Ellenbrook line between Bayswater station and Tonkin Highway instead of building a viaduct. Tunnelling was rejected due to the high cost, steep slopes required, the Bayswater Main Drain being in the way, and disruption to the Airport and Midland lines. During further design, the height of the viaduct was reduced due to complains from nearby residents. The route through the southern and eastern parts of Whiteman was criticised by the shadow minister for transport, Libby Mettam, who said that it broke the terms of an agreement made when Lew Whiteman and other landowners sold the land to the state government which said that the land must remain public open space. The state government retorted by saying that the previous Liberal government had planned for the land to become a cemetery and a sporting complex.

The environmental assessment was divided into two packages. The Bayswater to Malaga environmental assessment application was submitted to the state's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in November 2019, which determined the following month that this portion did not require assessment by the EPA. The Malaga to Ellenbrook environmental assessment application was submitted to the EPA in December 2019, which approved the application in November 2020. Important environmental considerations included the clearing of vegetation, impacts on Bennett Brook and nearby wetlands, and the habitat of Carter's freshwater mussels and black cockatoos.

In February 2020, the Parliament of Western Australia passed an enabling act for the Ellenbrook line, authorising the line's construction. Infrastructure Australia released its assessment of the Ellenbrook line in May 2020, adding the project to the Infrastructure Priority List as a "Priority Project", enabling it to receive $500million in federal funding. Infrastructure Australia described the project as a "marginal" case, saying that urban renewal would be crucial to the project achieving the desired patronage levels and that the government had overestimated projected patronage growth and travel times, but that the Ellenbrook corridor had high population growth and was one of Perth's only corridors without a railway line. In June 2020, the project definition plan was released, which said that the Ellenbrook line would be divided into four programs of work: the Bayswater station project, the Tonkin Gap project, the main Ellenbrook line works, and forward works.

Tonkin Gap project

The Tonkin Gap project's main purpose was to widen Tonkin Highway between Collier Road in Bayswater and Dunreath Drive in Redcliffe; enabling works for the Ellenbrook line to run in the highway's median strip were incorporated into this project as well. Managed by Main Roads Western Australia, the enabling works included building the tunnels and dive structures for the railway to enter and exit the highway at Bayswater and Ballajura, modifying drainage along the Ellenbrook line route, adding barriers between Tonkin Highway and the railway, rebuilding the Broun Avenue bridge to allow for a bus interchange at Morley station, and building railway bridges across Morley Drive. As a future railway line was not considered during the construction of NorthLink WA stage one, the associated works also included adding deflection walls to bridge piers and electrification screens to bridges.

The Tonkin Gap Alliance, consisting of BMD, Georgiou, WA Limestone, BG&E and GHD, was announced as the preferred proponent in May 2020, and the $400million contract was signed in June 2020. Construction began in November 2020. The cost has since increased to $761million.

The two dive structures were built by shifting the affected Tonkin Highway carriageway out of the way. From May 2021, the northbound Tonkin Highway carriageway between Railway Parade and Collier Road was shifted east to allow for the construction of the southern dive structure. In December 2022, both carriageways were diverted to the western side of the dive structure, and in early 2023, the southbound carriageway was moved back to its original location. From September 2021, the southbound Tonkin Highway carriageway near Marshall Road was shifted west to allow for the construction of the northern dive structure. Piling works started that month and were completed in April 2022, after which, excavation and concrete pours commenced. In March 2023, the northern dive structure was completed and the southbound Tonkin Highway carriageway was moved back to its original location.

The Broun Avenue bridge was replaced because its clearance was not high enough and the Morley station bus interchange was to be built on a bridge across Tonkin Highway. The old bridge was demolished in April 2022 and the new bridge was structurally complete by September 2022. In November 2022, it was announced that a footbridge across Tonkin Highway to Ballajura station would be added to the scope of the Tonkin Gap project, in response to a community survey undertaken by Metronet in 2021. The Tonkin Gap project was officially completed in July 2024.

Bayswater station project

Before the Ellenbrook line, Bayswater station was already planned to be rebuilt for the Forrestfield–Airport Link (Airport line), which was under construction at the time. The station was planned to be rebuilt as an elevated station with two platform faces and a turnback siding west of the station. The planned number of platform faces was increased to four upon the announcement of the Ellenbrook line's route. On 9 April 2020, the contract for the Bayswater station project, worth $253million, was awarded to the Evolve Bayswater Alliance, consisting of Coleman Rail and Decmil. Construction began in January 2021.

The budget for the Bayswater station project blew out twice, in 2023 and 2024, making the final cost $516million. The southern half of the new station opened on 8 October 2023. From 28 March to 8 April 2024, the Airport and Midland lines were shut down to realign the tracks through Bayswater station to their final alignment and construct the connection to the Ellenbrook line. The northern half of the station opened at the end of that shutdown.

Ellenbrook line construction

A request for proposal for the Ellenbrook line's design and construct contract was released in January 2020, and in April 2020, two alliances were shortlisted: the Ellenbrook Alliance, consisting of CPB Contractors and Downer EDI, and the MELconnx Consortium, consisting of U.K. company Laing O'Rourke. The MELconnx Consortium was chosen as the preferred proponent in September 2020. The following month, the contract with the MELconnx Consortium was signed for $700million, with the completion date delayed to 2023–24. The contract's total budget was $1.123billion when including contingency, escalation, and ancillary costs, with a further $233million for the Ellenbrook line portion of the Bayswater station and Tonkin Gap projects. The shadow minister for transport, Libby Mettam, criticised the decision to go with a foreign contractor over a local contractor, and the CEO of the Civil Contractors Federation Western Australia said that the project could have been split into smaller contracts like what was done for the Mandurah line to allow for mid-tier contractors. The MELconnx Consortium chose Woods Bagot to be the main architect for the five stations, alongside Taylor Robinson Chaney Broderick helping with Morley and Noranda stations, and UDLA and TCL doing the landscape architecture. For their work, the Morley–Ellenbrook line project won four awards at the 2025 Australian Institute of Architects's Western Australian Architecture Awards, including the state's highest architecture honour: the George Temple Poole Award.

Construction began on each station starting from the northernmost station and heading south from there due to the ongoing construction work on the Tonkin Gap. Work started at Ellenbrook station in January 2022. Because the Ellenbrook line passes through the grounds of Ellenbrook Christian College, the state government funded a $2.8million pavilion for the school's sports oval, and built an underpass, By March 2023, the first of track had been laid, between Whiteman Park station and Gnangara Road. The May 2023 state budget revealed the project's budget had increased by $528.1million, bringing the total to $1.651billion. The cost blowout was blamed on issues with the supply of labour, equipment, and materials. By June 2023, the installation of beams for the Whiteman Park station viaduct had begun.

The five stations were completed during 2024, starting with Ellenbrook station in March. In July, Ballajura station was completed, and in August, Whiteman Park station was completed. The final two stations: Morley and Noranda, were completed by November. As of March 2024, sixty-eight percent of track laying had been done and all major beams were installed for the Bayswater viaduct. Track laying was complete by the end of July 2024, the overhead lines were energised in August 2024 and the first train entered the line on 26 August 2024. Four weeks of testing was planned, with driver training commencing after that.

The Ellenbrook line was officially opened on Sunday, 8 December 2024, by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Premier Roger Cook and state Transport Minister Rita Saffioti. Community events held at each of the five new stations. It was estimated that over 40,000 people rode the Ellenbrook line on its first day. The line only ran between Ellenbrook and Bayswater on opening day; train services to Perth and feeder bus routes to the five new stations commenced the following day, albeit with some community concerns about buses feeding into the new line instead of Midland station.

Since opening, the turnback siding at Daglish station has been used to reverse Ellenbrook line trains, which has resulted in noise complaints from Daglish and Subiaco residents. The siding was previously seldom used. The City of Subiaco claimed that its own testing showed that noise at the siding reached 92 decibels, causing the PTA to undertake its own noise testing.

Description

The Ellenbrook branch uses narrow gauge track and has a maximum speed of . Trains are powered by overhead line equipment which is powered by a substation in Malaga. The Transperth network uses fixed block signalling. The tracks between Bayswater and Daglish are limited to fifteen trains per hour, which allows for a maximum frequency of five trains per hour on the Ellenbrook branch. As part of the High Capacity Signalling Project, Alstom and DT Infrastructure will replace the signalling system with a communications-based train control (CBTC) system. The Ellenbrook, Airport, and Midland lines are set to be Perth's first lines with the upgraded signalling system.

Route

The Ellenbrook line branches from the Midland line at Bayswater and runs for to Ellenbrook. South-west of Bayswater station, Ellenbrook line services run along the Midland line to Perth station, where they terminate and run empty to the siding west of Daglish station to turn around and travel back to Ellenbrook.

The Ellenbrook line splits from the Midland line just west of Bayswater station; the Ellenbrook line uses the two inner tracks at Bayswater station and the Airport and Midland line services uses the two outer tracks, allowing Ellenbrook line services to either terminate at Bayswater or continue to Perth station. East of Bayswater station, the Ellenbrook line enters a viaduct for the flying junction, passing over the eastbound Midland line track and running parallel to the Midland line before curving north to pass over Railway Parade and Clavering Road, enter a tunnel under the Tonkin Highway northbound carriageway, and surface within the Tonkin Highway median strip.

From Bayswater, the Ellenbrook line heads north along Tonkin Highway for approximately until it reaches Ballajura. There are two stations along this section: Morley station at Broun Avenue and Noranda station at Benara Road. North of Marshall Road, the Ellenbrook line enters a short tunnel and bends east under the southbound Tonkin Highway carriageway. Within an undeveloped area of land bounded by Tonkin Highway, Beechboro Road North and Marshall Road is Ballajura station, which is at ground level. Heading east from Ballajura station, the Ellenbrook line passes under a bridge carrying Beechboro Road North and then travels through land within the southern area of Whiteman Park, north of Marshall Road. The line bridges over Bennett Brook and enters a rural part of Bennett Springs, where there is a road-over-rail bridge at Dulwich Street. Between Dulwich Street and Cheltenham Street is an area reserved for a potential Bennett Springs East station.

In Bennett Springs, the Ellenbrook line bends north to travel along the western side of Drumpellier Drive, avoiding Horse Swamp, which is classed as a conservation category wetland. At Whiteman Drive East, one of the main entrance roads to Whiteman Park, is Whiteman Park station. The station is on a viaduct which bridges over Whiteman Drive East. North of Whiteman Park station, the Ellenbrook line continues parallel to Drumpellier Drive and then enters a tunnel to pass under the intersection of Gnangara Road and Drumpellier Drive, emerging on the eastern side of Drumpellier Drive. The railway then diverges from Drumpellier Drive to enter Ellenbrook, passing through the Ellenbrook Christian College school grounds on an embankment to reach the Ellenbrook town centre, where the line terminates at Ellenbrook station at ground level.

Stations

Ellenbrook line services stop at 13 stations: eight from Perth to Bayswater and five on the Ellenbrook line branch. The stations from Perth to Bayswater are all in fare zone one, Morley, Noranda, Ballajura and Whiteman Park stations are in fare zone two and Ellenbrook station is in fare zone three. All stations on the Ellenbrook line branch are fully accessible and have island platforms, long enough for a six-car train. Most stations between Perth and Bayswater only have platforms long enough for four-car trains, limiting the length of trains that can run on the Ellenbrook line. The exceptions are Bayswater, East Perth and Perth stations. The Claisebrook, Maylands and Meltham station platforms are planned to be lengthened in the near future, with Mount Lawley and McIver platforms to be extended thereafter. Several stations between Perth and Bayswater are not fully accessible. Factors limiting accessibility include non-compliant ramps, a lack of tactile paving, large platform gaps, and pedestrian level crossings.

Services

Transperth train services are operated by the Public Transport Authority's Transperth Train Operations division. Ellenbrook line frequencies are five trains per hour during peak, four trains per hour off peak and on weekends and public holidays, and two or one trains per hour late at night. It takes 31 minutes to travel from Perth to Ellenbrook. Services operate between roughly 5am and midnight on weekdays, extending to 2am on weekend nights. On weekend mornings, services commence at roughly 6am and 7am respectively. By 2031, it is planned for peak frequencies to increase to six trains per hour, which will require the CBTC system to be operational and an additional siding at Daglish.

Rolling stock

Nine three-car Transperth B-series trains were planned to run Ellenbrook line services upon the line's opening. These trains entered service between 2004 and 2019, originally for the Mandurah and Yanchep lines, and consist of three cars each with two doors on the side of each car. The introduction of C-series trains to the Mandurah and Yanchep lines in 2024 allowed for some B-series trains to be freed up for use on the Ellenbrook line. Trains were planned to be stabled and maintained at Claisebrook railcar depot near the Perth central business district and the future Bellevue railcar depot at the end of the Midland line. Provisions have been made for a future depot along the Ellenbrook line in Henley Brook with capacity for twelve six-car trains.

Patronage

The Ellenbrook line branch is forecast to have 11,753 boardings per weekday upon opening, increasing to 18,070 boardings per weekday in 2031. The busiest station is forecast to be Ellenbrook station, with 8,016 boardings by 2031, followed by Whiteman Park station with 3,795 boardings, Ballajura station with 3,084 boardings, Noranda station with 1,810 boardings, and Morley station with 1,365 boardings. On the first weekday of service, the Ellenbrook line branch had almost 4,500 passengers. In March 2025, the whole line had 308,629 boardings.

Notes

References

Further reading

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External links

Morley–Ellenbrook Line
on the Metronet website

Tonkin Gap Project and Associated Works
on the Main Roads Western Australia website

Malaga to Ellenbrook Rail Works
on the Environmental Protection Authority website

Railway (METRONET) Act 2018
the enabling act

{{Railway lines in Western Australia

3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Australia

Railway lines in highway medians
25 kV AC railway electrification
Transperth railway lines
Railway lines opened in 2024