The Public Transport Centre (formerly known as the Westrail Centre) is a terminal and administration building for public transport in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. It is the centerpiece of East Perth Terminal (formerly known as Perth Terminal), a standard gauge railway station and coach terminal adjacent to East Perth station on the

Transperth Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system serving the city and suburban areas of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation. Train op ...

narrow gauge suburban rail network.

Previous use

The site occupied by East Perth station, East Perth Terminal, and the Public Transport Centre was formerly the

East Perth Locomotive Depot East Perth Locomotive Depot (also known as ''East Perth loco sheds'') was a major steam locomotive depot for the Western Australian Government Railways from a year before the end of the First World War in 1917 until the end of the steam railwa ...

East Perth Railway Terminal

As part of the

gauge conversion Gauge conversion is the changing of one railway track gauge (the distance between the running rails) to another. Sleepers If tracks are converted to a narrower gauge, the existing sleepers (ties) may be used. However, replacement is required if ...

of the

Eastern Goldfields Railway The Eastern Goldfields Railway was built in the 1890s by the Western Australian Government Railways to connect Perth with the Eastern Goldfields at Coolgardie, Western Australia, Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. History The Eastern Railway, Wester ...

, a new standard gauge terminus was opened in 1969. The station has one side platform and a dock platform at its northern end. Today the station is served by

Journey Beyond Journey Beyond is the business name (together with more than a dozen other related names) of Experience Australia Group Pty Ltd, a private equity-owned company known mainly for operating Australian interstate experiential tourism trains (''The ...

's ''

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, l ...

'', and

Transwa Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport to the major regional ...

's ''

Prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

'' and ''

MerredinLink The ''MerredinLink'' is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between Perth and Merredin. History The ''MerredinLink'' was introduced in June 2004 when the ''AvonLink'' from Perth was extended from Northam ...

'' services. Until it ceased in June 1991, the terminal was also served by the ''

Trans-Australian The ''Trans-Australian'' (originally known as the ''Trans-Australian Express'') was an Australian passenger train operated by the Commonwealth Railways initially between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie on the Trans-Australian Railway line, and lat ...

''.

Administration building

The construction of building above and adjacent to the Railway Terminal platform was commissioned by the

Western Australian Government Railways Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsi ...

(WAGR). By the time it was completed, WAGR had become

Westrail Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsi ...

. It was opened by State Premier

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

12 November 1976 as the ''Westrail Centre''. The public area includes a newsagent, café, help desks,

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...

s, seats, televisions, information screens, an ATM and public toilets. The building was formerly the headquarters for Westrail, and after the sale of Westrail's freight services was occupied by the

Australian Railroad Group Australian Railroad Group (ARG) was an Australian rail freight operator. It began operations in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was purchased by QR National in June 2006. The mai ...

(ARG) from 2000 until 2002. In 2002, ARG relocated to

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

, and the building is now occupied by the Public Transport Authority and Department of Transport having been renamed the ''Public Transport Centre''. In 2000, the upper floors were refurbished. Transwa coach services to various state destinations also currently depart and arrive at the northern end of the terminal building.Timetable files
Transwa

References

External links

{{Journey Beyond railway stations, Indian Pacific=y, state=collapsed Brutalist architecture in Australia Buildings and structures in Perth, Western Australia East Perth, Western Australia Government buildings completed in 1976 Railway stations in Perth, Western Australia Railway stations in Australia opened in 1976