Clarkson 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 ...
station in
Clarkson, a suburb 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. It is on the
Yanchep line
The Yanchep line, formerly the Joondalup line, is a suburban railway line and service in Perth, Western Australia, linking the city's central business district (CBD) with its northern suburbs. Operated by the Public Transport Authority as pa ...
, 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 ...
network. Located in the median of the
Mitchell Freeway
The Mitchell Freeway is a controlled-access highway, freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth (suburb), central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of List of road routes in Western ...
, the station consists of an island platform connected to the west by a pedestrian footbridge. A six-stand bus interchange and two carparks are located near the entrance.
Planning for an extension of the Yanchep line (then known as the Joondalup line) north of
Currambine station was underway by 1995. The government committed to an extension to Clarkson the following year, and a plan detailing the extension was released in 2000. The first contract for the project, a
A$14million earthworks contract, was awarded to Brierty Contractors in March 2001. In April 2002,
Barclay Mowlem
Barclay Mowlem was an Australian construction company that traded from 1957 until 2006.
History
Barclay Bros was established in 1957 in Brisbane by brothers Don and Ian Barclay. The company grew to become one of the largest construction firm ...
and
Alstom
Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
were awarded a contract worth $17million to design and build the extension's rail infrastructure, and in November 2002, a $8.7million contract was awarded to
Transfield for the construction of the station. The station opened on 4 October 2004, with five new
Transperth B-series train
The B-series trains are a class of electric multiple unit built by Downer Rail in Maryborough, Queensland for Transperth Train Operations, Transperth between 2004 and 2019.
Design
Each set consists of three semi-permanently coupled cars desi ...
s entering service that day. The following day, bus services in the area were realigned to feed into Clarkson station. On 3 September 2013, there was a minor train crash at Clarkson station. On 21 September 2014, an extension of the Joondalup line north to
Butler station opened.
Clarkson station is from
Perth Underground station, with train journeys there taking 32 minutes. Train
headway
Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise definition varies depending on ...
s reach as low as five minutes during peak hour, with off-peak services at 15-minute headways. Six bus routes serve Clarkson station.
Description
Clarkson station is in the median of the
Mitchell Freeway
The Mitchell Freeway is a controlled-access highway, freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth (suburb), central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of List of road routes in Western ...
along the
Yanchep line
The Yanchep line, formerly the Joondalup line, is a suburban railway line and service in Perth, Western Australia, linking the city's central business district (CBD) with its northern suburbs. Operated by the Public Transport Authority as pa ...
.
It is owned by the
Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government agency, and 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 station is in
Clarkson, a suburb 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. It is , or a 32-minute train journey, from
Perth Underground station, placing the station in fare zone four. The next station to the north is
Butler station and the next station to the south is
Currambine station.
The station consists of two platform faces on a single
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 ...
. The platform is long, or long enough for a Transperth six-car train – the longest trains used on the network. The platforms are linked to the west by a pedestrian bridge. To the east is
Neerabup National Park, and so there is no access to the east. The pedestrian bridge is linked to the platforms by stairs, a lift and a set of escalators. On the western side is a six-stand bus interchange, a drop off area and two carparks. The carparks have 1,059 standard bays, 10 short term parking bays and 20 motorcycle bays. At the entrance building is a transit officer booth, toilets and bicycle parking shelters.
Clarkson is listed as an
independent access station on the Transperth website as the platform can be accessed using lifts, the
platform gap
A platform gap (also known technically as the platform train interface or PTI in some countries) is the space between a train car (or other Public transport, mass transit vehicle) and the edge of the station platform, often created by geometric c ...
is small, and
tactile paving
Tactile paving (also called tenji blocks, truncated domes, detectable warnings, tactile tiles, tactile ground surface indicators, tactile walking surface indicators, or detectable warning surfaces) is a system of textured ground surface indicat ...
is in place.
Public art
On the wall of the entrance building is a piece of public art titled ''The Bag Project'', by Margaret Dillon from art design and construction company Concreto. It consists of a series of 44 terrazzo tiles. The tiles, which have various colours, "depict images associated with the everyday commuter experience". The other piece of public art at Clarkson station is ''Line over Contour'', by Stuart Green. This consists of stainless steel and painted steel panels mounted on a steel tower above the entrance building.
History
The original stage of the Yanchep line (formerly known as the Joondalup line) began construction in November 1989.
It was opened between Perth station and
Joondalup station on 20 December 1992, and extended to Currambine station on 8 August 1993. By 1995, planning for extending the Joondalup line north of Currambine was underway. On 20 November 1996, a few weeks before the
1996 state election,
Richard Court
Richard Fairfax Court (born 27 September 1947) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Liberal Party ...
, the
premier of Western Australia
The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...
, announced that his government would extend the railway to Neerabup Road in Clarkson by the end of 2001 at a cost of
A$28million, plus $12million for additional rolling stock. This came in response to a pledge by the opposition
Labor Party to build the extension for $25million. Court claimed that Labor's costing was unrealistically low.
In June 1999, the
minister for transport
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...
,
Murray Criddle, revealed that the Clarkson extension would not open by 2001 as originally promised. On 28 November 1999, the
Parliament of Western Australia
The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, which constitutes the legislative branch of the state's political system. The parl ...
passed the ''Railway Northern and Southern Urban Extension Bill'', enabling the construction for the extension to Clarkson and a new railway to
Mandurah
Mandurah ( ) is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 90,306.
Mandurah's central business dis ...
south of Perth to begin. The Northern Rail Master Plan was released on 21 June 2000, detailing the extension to Clarkson as well as the construction of
Greenwood station elsewhere on the Joondalup line. The cost of the extension had been revised to $58million plus $23million for rolling stock. The new railway to Mandurah, the extension to Clarkson and the new station at Greenwood were all brought into a single project called the Perth Urban Rail Development Project
(renamed
New MetroRail
New MetroRail was a division of the Public Transport Authority in Western Australia. It was responsible for managing extensions to Perth's railway network. The project doubled Perth's rail network, which is operated by Transperth, and was com ...
in March 2003
). Clarkson station was going to be built just north of Neerabup Road, with of new double-track railway to be built. The railway was to bridge over
Burns Beach Road
Burns Beach Road is an arterial east-west road in Perth, Western Australia, linking the suburbs of Burns Beach, Western Australia, Burns Beach and Iluka, Western Australia, Iluka to the Mitchell Freeway and Joondalup. As of December 2023, only ...
and go under Neerabup Road. Transport Minister Criddle was hoping for the extension to open by September 2003,
which was criticised by the opposition as a broken promise. In October 2000, Court said that the cost was now $99million for the extension to Clarkson.
The first contract for the extension was awarded in March 2001, when Brierty Contractors signed a $14million earthworks contract.
Work began in May 2001. Earthworks were completed in November 2002. In July 2001, the contract for the construction of the rail bridge over Burns Beach Road was awarded to
Transfield Pty Ltd at a cost of $1.7million. The transport minister, now
Alannah MacTiernan
Alannah Joan Geraldine Cecilia MacTiernan (born 10 January 1953) is a former Australian politician. From 1988 to 2023, she has served in politics at a federal, state, and local level, including as a minister in the Western Australian state gove ...
, was still confident in the service commencement date of September 2003.
The Burns Beach Road bridge was completed on 6 May 2003. In April 2002,
Barclay Mowlem
Barclay Mowlem was an Australian construction company that traded from 1957 until 2006.
History
Barclay Bros was established in 1957 in Brisbane by brothers Don and Ian Barclay. The company grew to become one of the largest construction firm ...
and
Alstom
Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
were awarded a contract worth $17million for the rail infrastructure for the extension.
This contract included the design and construction of the track, traction power, signalling and communications systems. It also included work at Greenwood station.
In May 2002, the government signed a contract with
EDI Rail–
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. ...
for the delivery and maintenance of 31 three car
B-series trains, and the construction of the Nowergup depot north of Clarkson station. The initial batch of those trains was scheduled to be commissioned in September 2004 for the Clarkson extension. The same month, it was revealed that the project's completion date was now September 2004. In November 2002, it was announced that an $8.7million contract had been awarded to Transfield for the construction of Clarkson station. When
John Holland Group
The John Holland Group is an infrastructure, building, rail and transport business operating in Australia and New Zealand. Headquartered in Melbourne, it is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction.
History
The company was founded in ...
bought Transfield in January 2003, that company took over the project.
By July 2004, the rail infrastructure was complete and the station was almost done.
On 4 October 2004, the station opened, making it the first extension of Perth's rail network since the extension to Currambine in 1993.
Five new B-series trains went into operation that day.
In celebration of the opening, travel on Transperth train services was free that day, costing the state $50,000.
Bus services to Clarkson station commenced on 5 October 2004.
At 6:30 am on 3 September 2013, an empty train travelling at low speed crashed into an occupied train carrying about 40 passengers stopped at Clarkson station. Three people were taken to hospital as a precaution, and five people suffered sore necks due to the crash. Following the crash, the Public Transport Authority investigated whether
Portuguese millipedes were the cause. When crushed by train wheels, the millipedes can make the track slippery.
There had been previous cases on the Transperth network where trains had overrun platforms due to the millipedes. Later that week, the tracks around the station were sprayed with insecticide.
Later, the
Rail Tram and Bus Union said that it was unsafe shunting practise that caused the crash, not the millipedes.
On 21 September 2014, an extension of the Joondalup line north to Butler station opened. In 2017, the Mitchell Freeway was extended up to
Hester Avenue
Hester Avenue (previously known as Quinns Road) is an east-west distributor road in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Wanneroo. It primarily links the coastal suburbs of the Clarkson-Butler region to ...
north of the station, passing through Clarkson. The freeway's carriageways were built along both sides of Clarkson station. On 14 July 2024, the line was further extended to its current terminus at
Yanchep station,
and the Joondalup line was renamed the Yanchep line.
Services
Clarkson station is served by Yanchep line trains
operated by the PTA. The line goes between
Yanchep station and
Elizabeth Quay
Elizabeth Quay is a mixed-use development project in the Perth#cbd, Perth central business district. Encompassing an area located on the north shore of Perth Water near the landmark Swan Bells, the precinct was named in honour of Elizabeth II, ...
in the Perth central business district,
continuing south from there as the
Mandurah line
The Mandurah line, also known as the Southern Suburbs Railway, is a suburban railway line and service in Western Australia, linking Perth's central business district (CBD) with Mandurah to the south. Operated by the Public Transport Authority ( ...
.
During the middle of peak hour, trains stop at the station every 10 minutes. At the start of peak hour, southbound trains stop at the station approximately every 5 minutes, with half of those services commencing at Clarkson station after exiting the
Nowergup railway depot
Nowergup railway depot is a Transperth depot in the suburb of Nowergup, Western Australia. It is situated in the median of the Mitchell Freeway between the Lukin Drive and Hester Avenue interchanges.
History
Nowergup depot was built to servi ...
. At the end of peak hour, northbound trains stop at the station approximately every 5 minutes, with half of those services terminating at Clarkson station to enter the Nowergup railway depot. Services that terminate or start at Clarkson station are part of the K stopping pattern. During weekday between peak hour, on weekends and public holidays, trains stop at Clarkson station every 15 minutes. At night, trains are half-hourly or hourly.
In the 2013–14 financial year, Clarkson station had 1,367,712 people board, making it the fifth busiest of the stations on the Yanchep line. In March 2018, Clarkson station had approximately 2,850 boardings on an average weekday, making it still the fifth busiest station on the line.
Bus services are operated by
Swan Transit
Swan Transit is an Australian bus company operating Buses in Perth, Transperth bus services under contract to the Public Transport Authority (Western Australia), Public Transport Authority. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems.
History
On 21 ...
under contract from the PTA. Six regular bus routes serve the station. Route 474 links to Joondalup station, passing through
Kinross
Kinross (, ) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth, Scotland, Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the Counties of Scotland, historic county of Kinross-shire.
History
Kinro ...
. Routes 480, 482, 483 and 484 link to Butler station, passing through suburbs including
Butler
A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...
,
Jindalee,
Merriwa,
Mindarie,
Quinns Rocks Quinns or Quinn's may refer to:
* Quinns Rocks, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth
* Quinn's Post Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, near Gallipoli, Turkey
See also
* Quins (disambiguation)
* Quinn (disambiguation)
Quinn may refer ...
and
Ridgewood. Route 481 goes northwest from Butler station, terminating at the coast in Quinns Rocks.
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 904.
References
External links
*
Clarkson Stationinformation page from Transperth
{{TransperthBusStations
Yanchep line
Transperth railway stations
Railway stations in Australia opened in 2004
Transperth railway stations in highway medians
Transperth bus stations