The Integration of Rail Transit and Land Use in Western Australia

The traditional understanding of mass transit rail is its application to serve high density settlement. This paper is about the application of mass / rapid transit rail to low density settlement in a city of just over 1.5 million people and rapidly expanding over a 135 kilometre long, narrow, corridor. The paper is also a case study of planning a transit system stretching 71 kilometres from the City of Mandurah to Perth over a period of ten years beginning In 1992 During that time the type of service, the mode and the route were holly debated and underwent several major changes. II is a story of how land users planners working with transport planners with the ultimate direction and support of an enthusiastic Minister achieved an outstanding integrated outcome. Today, trains operate from Mandurah into Central Perth directly up the median of the Kwinana Freeway, in 48 minutes stopping at eight intermediate stations. Six months after commissioning, they carry 96% of the 50,000 daily trips predicted for the first year. Had an alternative not been developed to a plan prepared by transport planners in 1992, then buses would have operated the Kwinana Freeway direct route into Perth. The train would have run from Mandurah to Fremantle calling at up to 30 intermediate stations in a trip time of 65 minutes to Fremantle and 89 minutes to Perth carrying a projected 41,000 daily trips by 2021. The paper discusses the Importance of the Master Planning process, which quantifies the demand and then follows a logical process of scope definition to reduce uncertainty and give confidence to the cost estimates that result. It also addresses the issue of how Transit Oriented Development relates to Perth. A brief description is included of the New MetroRail Project, the vehicle by which a $1.65 billion expansion to the Perth suburban rail network was completed in December 2007, described by the Premier of WA in 2007 as 'the best public infrastructure project undertaken by any WA Government in 100 years'. Finally, there is a short analysis of the performance of the Mandurah line, six months after commissioning.