Cars & Transportation Perth Railway thread...

[ep2018]

I could imagine a train line running in the middle of Alexander Drive to Mirrabooka (or Alexander Heights). They could put a station right outside ECU. Would probably be really impractical though.

I take the Mandurah line to Perth and I purposely miss the 3 car trains and opt for the 6 car because they are choc full

 

[Alexwce]

Most of the stations on the Joondalup line (bar Clarkson) are brand new and steaming with talent. I drive past Glendalough station on the freeway every morning and nearly have a car accident looking at the hot babes in their business attire.

Bloody true. Use to live in Karrinyup and it was almost exciting to go near Glendalough train station in the mornings.

Cant comment on SOR s**t holes. Just thank god everyday I dont live in Rocko.

I was down there once and saw a guy with a 2Pac neck tattoo, then a giant ROCKO tattoo down his arm, in old english font.

Pretty much this. Moved too Shoalwater mid last year and have been getting off at Rocko train station, frequently asked for smokes, looked at by the bogans etc. Got to the point where you try to hide your iPhone to fit in more.

Have started to get off at Safety Bay Rd Station instead. A lot more pleasant there.

The Mandurah line isn't just there to get people from Perth to Mandurah and back. A high percentage of passenger numbers come from the first 4 stations (Canning Bridge, Bull Creek, Murdoch, Cockburn Central) and if you spread the stations out too much you just end up with overflowing car parks and people using the Freeway anyway.

What freeway? Right now there is no freeway between Cockburn Central and Bull Creek .

Cockburn Central station is a disaster in regards to parking. I drive to it on Tuesday and Thursday mornings before uni and catch the train. I get there by 8AM and people are already parking on the sand at Gateway or as far as Bunnings. Murdoch and Bull Creek aren't much better, people parking near the hospital at Murdoch and the parks which can be kilometres away at Bull Creek.

What a load of crap. I'm on the train now from rockingham to Perth and its packed. You do realise you mentioned the first 5 stops (you missed esplanande) out of a 10 stop line. Cockburn is pretty far from the city, 30 min drive on a good day.

He is right in that a monster amount of people get on particuarlly at Bull Creek, Murdoch and Cockburn. Canning Bridge is more of a Curtin University / Fremantle bus aligning train station. Not too many residents catch the train from that area.

Whenever and if they add another train station in South Perth and perhaps Farrington Road so it helps with the parking and freeway congestion / convenience they should almost run two separate lines from Perth to Mandurah. One that only runs from Perth to Cockburn and then one that runs from Perth to Mandurah but does not stop until Cockburn. Similarly like they do with the Armadale line, would be effective particularly if new stations ever get built towards the Southside of Cockburn (Hammond Park) and Port Kennedy / Secret Harbour which is eventually going to require a station because the population is increasing rapidly in this area.

Just outta curiosity, what's the filthiest station you've ever stopped off at?

Rockingham is awful. The gap between those with any form of class and pure bogans is so obvious to a point where these pure bogans don't leave you alone. Particuarly after sunset.

Armadale / Kelmscott isn't much better. Was heading into the city from Armadale not too long ago and it felt like a death sentence.

 

[ioppolo]

With the Armadale line, I find once you get past Maddington station (heading to the city), the Bogans and Aboriginee fellows are all gone.

 

[Scotland]

With the Armadale line, I find once you get past Maddington station (heading to the city), the Bogans and Aboriginee fellows are all gone.

Apart from the ones already on the train bound for Perth and the ones at Kenwick, Beckenham, Cannington, Queens Park, Welshpool, Oats St, Carlisle, Vic Park and Burswood...

 

[woomera_skp]

Hold On i thought the Train System in perth was the best In All OZ???

I remember when the Train debacle was happening here in melbourne every day all you would hear was " Look at perth how come we can't get it right" or "we need to copy the perth system" etc. I guess with increasing population your Railway system is starting to feel the pressure.

 

[The Speaker]

Hold On i thought the Train System in perth was the best In All OZ???

I remember when the Train debacle was happening here in melbourne every day all you would hear was " Look at perth how come we can't get it right" or "we need to copy the perth system" etc. I guess with increasing population your Railway system is starting to feel the pressure.

Erm, our system is good. Doesn't mean it can't get better.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

Mount Nasura is a step up afaik - it's on the hills behind Armadale/Kelmscott so generally the people who can afford to move away from the railway and the suburbs on the western side of the line (e.g. Westfield/Camillo). Might be wrong on that count though.

There was a period of my life just after high school I used to live in on the cusp of Armadale and Mt Nasura and work late in Perth- the train ride home used to be absolutely ****ed at about 9pm- once you got past Cannington the freaks outnumbered the normals, and once I finally hopped off in Armadale there would be a very brisk walk through the station, straight up the middle of Jull St (the main street in Armadale), eyes front, ignoring the movement, gibbering and obscenities coming from the shadows, and walking faster and faster until I would be in an awkward attempted nonchalant jog-trot in the shirt-tie-briefcase ensemble by the time I got up past the police station and headed across albany hwy and up the hill. Still amazes me I did that for 6 months without copping anything worse than a narrow miss from a bottle chucked at my head.

The reason Mt Nasura is quite nice, Armadale is sketchy and Forrestfield is downright terrifying is very simple- if you are a feral or a bogan roaming around drunk, stoned or chromed out of your gourd, on average, you are more likely to walk downhill rather than uphill. Assuming a starting point at Liquor Barons on Jull St (strategically adjacent to the courthouse/police lockup), a series of apparently random wanderings will inevitably lead to them staggering down past the train station.

In fairness, Armadale has improved a lot in recent years- it was downright minging when I lived there.

 

[woomera_skp]

Erm, our system is good. Doesn't mean it can't get better.

Someone Mentioned power outage effecting half of the train services?? That is not good.

 

[The Speaker]

Someone Mentioned power outage effecting half of the train services?? That is not good.

There was a fire. Not exactly a regular occurance.

 

[Scotland]

Perth's train network functions very well compared to Melbourne/Sydney.

The problem is that the number of lines and stations is too small for the population.

If I was in charge or a rail network I'd much rather be trying to sort out timetable/fare/reliability issues than lobbying for new lines and stations to go in.

 

[kfc1]

Politics - I'd hazard a guess that it is because its the only major area of Perth without nearby rail access (bar the hills). Otherwise it makes no sense - there's absolutely nothing along Alexander Drive to warrant light rail, all the patronage comes from low density suburbs on either side. It is better suited to a busway, unless you want to piss everyone off my forcing bus/tram transfers all along the route. A much better corridor for light rail would be Perth-Vic Park-Curtin Uni-Canning Bridge - huge demand within walking distance of the line, travelling along it - but unfortunately there's no votes in that...

I thought that was the plan with the light rail - have it going to UWA, QEII and Curtin.

Yep, that's the plan but politics gets in the way...

The link to QEII and UWA is overrated anyway - it will be a slower than buses to QEII as it will go through Subi and a buttload slower than the buses along Mounts Bay Road for UWA people... I think it is being planned as a 'place making' exercise rather than as providing any real transport benefit. Although it will be nice to be able to get from West Perth to Subi without either walking to the trains, or just walking straight there which takes about the same time

Funnily enough, this was in the news today...

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/13614541/plan-for-curtin-light-rail-link-put-on-hold/

Plan for Curtin light rail link put on hold
Yolanda Zaw, The West Australian
Updated May 7, 2012, 2:30 am

The future of Perth's light rail network is in doubt after it was revealed that the proposed connection to Curtin University was dropped from the State Government's latest modelling.

Transport Minister Troy Buswell yesterday confirmed that light rail to the university would not be completed by 2020 as stated in the draft Perth Public Transport Plan released last year.

******* lol at the "plan" is released then less than 12 months later the Government is saying that they wont be completing it

 

[The Speaker]

So the cost of building a new stadium is the rail link...

 

[The Speaker]

I've changed my mind on the idea of a South Perth station.

How many people are going to use it that can't already use a bus connected with the Esplanade instead?

 

[The Speaker]

I realise this is a railway thread, but I thought it was the best place to put this:

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/bus-station-to-go-underground-20130122-2d4mt.html

I will be so glad to see that old, derelict busport disappear.

Would also like to hear what we think of the light rail plan:

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/a...-transform-perth-revealed-20120902-2580w.html

http://images.watoday.com.au/file/2012/09/02/3602998/Map%20-%20low%20res.pdf

 

[electricfeel]

Would also like to hear what we think of the light rail plan:

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/a...-transform-perth-revealed-20120902-2580w.html

http://images.watoday.com.au/file/2012/09/02/3602998/Map%20-%20low%20res.pdf

I like that idea. People living in Balga, Mirrabooka, Dianella etc are generally reliant on buses for public transport so having the rail system going through those suburbs would be really good. That being said, there will be some interesting folks on the rail line coming from Balga The rail line down Thomas St will hopefully clear up the congestion there. Thomas St in the mornings is possibly the worst road to drive along!

 

[errant bounce]

Ferry system looks good and should be almost prioritised. people in Perth hate public transport when there's a station two minutes away and they only have a couple of stops; the idea of someone living in some out of reach suburb and spending 90 minutes on a train is nuts.

 

[Scotland]

Ferry system looks good and should be almost prioritised. people in Perth hate public transport when there's a station two minutes away and they only have a couple of stops; the idea of someone living in some out of reach suburb and spending 90 minutes on a train is nuts.

Why would you get a ferry from Applecross to the city or Elizabeth Quay to Optus Stadium? Makes no sense. If you are at Canning Bridge you can get to the city via the Freeway (car/bus) or the train. The train takes 5 or 6 minutes. Applecross to UWA makes some sense, but how many people would use it? The routes that make sense are Applecross to Matilda Bay and Pt Walter to Dalkeith or Mosman Park but the richers in the golden triangle won't go for that.