Morley railway station is a

suburban rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

way station on the

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 (Western Australia), Public Transport Authority as part ...

in Embleton and Morley, suburbs of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia. Located in the

median strip A median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, controlled-access highway, freeways, and moto ...

Tonkin Highway Tonkin Highway is an north–south highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth Airport and Kewdale, Western Australia, Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-eastern suburbs. As of April 2020, the northern ...

at the Broun Avenue flyover, Morley station consists of an

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

at ground level with entrances on both sides of the Broun Avenue bridge. A bus interchange is located on the southern side of the bridge and a multi-storey car park is to the south-west. Early works under the

Tonkin Gap Tonkin Highway is an north–south highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth Airport and Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-eastern suburbs. As of April 2020, the northern terminus is at the intercha ...

project started in November 2020, which included the replacement of the Broun Avenue bridge, which occurred throughout 2022. The main contract for the construction of the Ellenbrook line was awarded to

Laing O'Rourke Laing O'Rourke is a multinational construction company headquartered in Dartford, England. It was founded in 1978 by Ray O'Rourke. It is the largest privately owned construction company in the United Kingdom. History The company was founded by ...

in October 2020. Morley station reached completion in November 2024, and on 8 December 2024, the Ellenbrook line opened. During

peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...

, trains stop at Morley station every twelve minutes in each direction, increasing to every fifteen minutes off-peak and on weekends and

public holidays A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Types Civic holiday A ''civic holiday'', also k ...

. At night, trains are half-hourly or hourly. The journey to Perth station takes fifteen minutes. Feeder bus routes serve the surrounding area, including the Galleria Shopping Centre.

Description

Morley station is located on the boundary of Embleton and Morley, north-western suburbs of

, Western Australia. The station is within the

at the Broun Avenue flyover and is on the

, which is part of the

Transperth Transperth is the public transport system for Perth and surrounding areas in Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation, and consists of train, bus and ferry services. Bus operat ...

system. The next stations are Noranda to the north and

Bayswater Bayswater is an area in the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

to the south, where the Ellenbrook line connects to the

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

and

Midland Midland may refer to: Places Australia * Midland, Western Australia Canada * Midland, Albert County, New Brunswick * Midland, Kings County, New Brunswick * Midland, Newfoundland and Labrador * Midland, Ontario India * Midland Ward, Kohima, Nag ...

lines. Morley station is from

Perth station Perth Station was an ESTRACK Earth station in Australia, located at the Perth International Telecommunications Centre in the suburb of Cullacabardee. It has been retired from service in December, 2015 and has been replaced by the New Norcia ...

and is in fare zone two. Morley station consists of an

within the Tonkin Highway median strip underneath a bridge. The station has entrances on both sides of the bridge, each with stairs and lifts. On the southern portion of the bridge is a bus interchange with twelve bus stands, while the northern side of the bridge is for Broun Avenue. In the south-west quadrant is a multi-storey car park with four hundred parking bays. Other facilities include toilets, bike shelters and a kiosk. The station is fully accessible.

History

Early history

The 1955 ''

Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle The 1955 ''Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle'' (also known as the ''Stephenson,'' or ''Stephenson-Hepburn Report'') was prepared for the Government of Western Australia by Gordon Stephenson and Alistair Hepburn. The plan ...

'', also known as the '' Stephenson–

Hepburn Hepburn may refer to: Surname People with the surname Hepburn (the most famous in recent times being actresses Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn): * Hepburn (surname) Linguistics * Hepburn romanization, a system for the romanization of Japan ...

Report'', proposed a railway line branching off the Eastern Railway ( Midland line) at

, then heading north through Morley to reach

Walter Road Walter Road is a road in the north-eastern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. Formerly a continuous road, it is now discontinuous at Tonkin Highway. The western section of the road is known as Walter Road West, and the eastern section of the ...

and then north-west to terminate near

Wanneroo Road Wanneroo Road is a arterial highway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia linking Joondanna and Yokine in the south with Wanneroo and Yanchep in the north. As part of State Route 60, it begins from Charles Street in the inner ...

. When the

Metropolitan Region Scheme The Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) provides the legal basis for land use planning within the Perth metropolitan region. It classifies land into broad zones and reservations and is administered by the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAP ...

was adopted in 1963, the land for the proposed railway was not reserved. The ''North-East Corridor

Structure Plan Structure planning is a type of spatial planning and is part of urban planning practice in the United Kingdom and Western Australia. A structure plan in any jurisdiction will usually consist of a written component, supported by maps, photographs, ...

'' was published in 1994, and called for the

rezoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a ...

of Ellenbrook for urban development and the reservation of a public

transport corridor A transport corridor is a generally linear area that is defined by one or more modes of transportation crossing the limits of more than one city or county like highways, railroads or public transit which share a common destination. Development of ...

to Ellenbrook. Later that year, the government commissioned the ''North-East Corridor Transit Route Reserve Study'' to determine a route for the corridor between the

Reid Highway Reid Highway is a east-west highway and partial freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking North Beach with Middle Swan. As part of State Route 3, it forms half of Perth's outer ring road along with Roe Highway, w ...

/ Lord Street junction and the Midland line. The route recommended by the study was via the Tonkin Highway median strip, with one of the reasons being that the route is the closest to the Morley regional centre. The study did not consider a station at Broun Avenue, only considering stations for Morley at Walter Road or Morley Drive, with the Walter Road site favoured due to there being no highway interchange there. In 1996, the land required for that route was reserved in the Metropolitan Region Scheme, including a small section of land at Walter Road on the east side of Tonkin Highway.

Construction

Constructing the Ellenbrook line by 2023 as part of the

Metronet Metronet may refer to: * Metronet (British infrastructure company), who maintained London Underground infrastructure between 2003 and 2008. *Metronet (Western Australia) Metronet (styled METRONET) is a multi-government agency in Western Austral ...

project was committed to by the Labor Party before it won the 2017 state election. During planning and construction, the line was known as the Morley–Ellenbrook line. The route of the Ellenbrook line was officially revealed in August 2019, confirming that it would run in the Tonkin Highway median strip and that Morley station would be located at Broun Avenue. As part of the

project, enabling works were completed for the Ellenbrook line, which included modifications to drainage and barriers along Tonkin Highway and a rebuild of the Broun Avenue bridge for the Morley station bus interchange. Construction for the Tonkin Gap Ellenbrook line enabling works began in November 2020. The A$753million main construction contract for the Morley–Ellenbrook line was awarded to the MELconnx Consortium, consisting of

, in October 2020. In April 2022, the thirty-eight-year-old Broun Avenue bridge was demolished, which required a weekend shutdown of Tonkin Highway. The final bridge beam out of eighteen beams was installed by September 2022. To make way for the Morley station multi-storey car park, the Wotton Skate Park had to be relocated. After several different locations were considered, the opposite side of Wotton Reserve was chosen as the location for the new skate park. The skate park was built by the City of Bayswater using $2.5million of state government funding. Construction began in April 2022. The new City of Bayswater Skate Park opened to the public in November 2022. On 10 December 2022, a and

vert ramp A vert ramp is a form of half-pipe used in extreme sports such as vert skating, vert skateboarding, vert BMX and vert roller skating. Vert ramps are so named because they transition from a horizontal plane (known as the flat-bottom) to a v ...

, the largest one in Perth, was opened. By November 2024, Morley station was complete. The station and the rest of the line were officially opened on Sunday, 8 December 2024 by Prime Minister

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...

, Premier Roger Cook and Transport Minister

Rita Saffioti Rita Saffioti (born 26 May 1972) is an Australian politician. Representing the Australian Labor Party, she has been the member for the electoral district of West Swan in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parlia ...

, with community events held at each of the five new stations. To avoid confusion with Morley station, Morley bus station was renamed

Galleria bus station Galleria bus station, formerly Morley bus station, is a Transperth bus station located next to the Galleria Shopping Centre in Morley, Western Australia. It has 17 stands and is served by 17 Transperth routes operated by Path Transit, Swan Tra ...

upon the Ellenbrook line's opening.

Services

Morley station is served by

trains, which will travel from

in the south-west to Ellenbrook station in the north-east. These services are operated by the Public Transport Authority. During

, trains will stop at Morley station every twelve minutes in each direction, increasing to every fifteen minutes off-peak and on weekends and

. At night, trains will be half-hourly or hourly. The journey to Perth station will take fifteen minutes. It is projected that Morley station will have 1,365 daily boardings by 2031. Eight regular bus routes will serve Morley station. Route 46 runs to Bayswater station and route 47 runs to Bassendean station. Route 352 runs to

. Routes 353, 354 and 356 run between Galleria bus station and Ballajura station via Morley station. Route 950, which is the most frequent bus route in Perth, runs to

Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre The Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre (QEIIMC), commonly known as just QEII, is a medical campus in Perth, Western Australia, situated in the suburb of Nedlands directly adjacent to Kings Park. It contains Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, th ...

via Galleria bus station,

Elizabeth Quay bus station Elizabeth Quay bus station, formerly the Esplanade Busport, is a Transperth bus station, located at the southern edge of the Perth (suburb), Perth CBD in Western Australia, next to the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre and Elizabeth Quay rail ...

and the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. Route 950X is a limited stops version of the 950.

Rail replacement bus service A rail replacement bus service uses buses to replace a passenger train service on a temporary or permanent basis. The train service that is replaced may be of any type such as light rail, tram, streetcar, commuter rail, regional rail or heavy r ...

s operate as route 903.

References

External links

Morley station
on the

website
Morley station development application
on WA.gov.au * {{TransperthBusStations Morley, Western Australia Ellenbrook line Transperth railway stations in highway medians Transperth railway stations Transperth bus stations Railway stations in Australia opened in 2024