Nearly half a century after the last passenger train pulled out of Albany, the State Government has signalled it is open to bringing one back, as towns along the Great Southern line call for a proper study of what it would cost and what it would deliver.
The push, reported by ABC Great Southern on Sunday, rides on the Cook government's plan to buy back control of WA's freight rail network. The government says it gives in-principle support to the idea, but has made clear that support is not the same as a commitment.
What the government said
A spokesperson for Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said taking the regional network back into public hands was the government's top priority, and that doing so would open up options.
"Public control of the network will allow for the consideration of new passenger rail opportunities." — spokesperson for Transport Minister Rita Saffioti
In the same breath, the spokesperson warned that passenger rail needs heavy spending to build and to run every year after that before it can compete with driving. No study has been announced, and no money has been put aside.
The line and its history
The Great Southern Railway runs about 450 kilometres from Perth to Albany. It was built in the 1900s and passes through Narrogin, Wagin, Katanning, Tambellup and Mount Barker. Passenger trains on the route were cancelled in 1978. There have been several attempts to revive them since, and none has got off the ground.
Today the line carries freight, mostly grain. People travelling between Perth and Albany without a car take a Transwa coach or fly.
Who wants it
The regional rail lobby group Countrynet Rail Alliance is asking for a feasibility study. Its spokesperson, Simon Lyas, argues that the buyback is the moment to look at passenger trains and better freight services together, because the job will only get more expensive if it waits another 10 or 20 years.
The City of Albany backs the idea, and so do other major towns along the route. Albany Mayor Greg Stocks rode the original service as a 16-year-old. He told the ABC there was strong local support and that a scenic trip through the Great Southern hinterland could be a tourism drawcard in its own right. He also noted that the city is already lobbying the State for housing, health, roads and education, so a train would join a long queue.
Katanning Shire President Kristy D'Aprile put the case in terms of access. Residents of smaller towns along the line already travel to Albany or Perth for hospitals, specialists and education, and she said a reliable train would also help the town's abattoir and farms find and keep workers.
Curtin University sustainability professor Peter Newman pointed to the eastern states, where New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland all run far more country passenger services than WA.
"Trains are very popular … they work, and that's now on the agenda in country towns." — Professor Peter Newman, Curtin University
Why the buyback matters
As Everything Perth explained in September, the State still owns the regional track but leased it out for 49 years in 2000. The lease is now held by Arc Infrastructure and runs until December 2049. The government's Rail Freight System Bill would let it take the network back, but it has not said what that will cost.
Every regional passenger service in WA, from the Australind to Bunbury to the Prospector to Kalgoorlie, currently runs on that leased track under access deals with a company whose business is freight. Getting the network back would not build or fund a single new passenger train. What it would do is remove the need to negotiate train paths with a private operator, which is why advocates see the buyback as the opening they have waited for.
What happens next
Nothing is on the table yet beyond the government's in-principle support. The next test is whether the State agrees to the feasibility study that Albany, Katanning and Countrynet are asking for, and that depends on the buyback going through first. For now the Perth to Albany train is still an idea, but it has more backing than it has had in years.
Photo: Calistemon via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Albany railway station and the Customs Bonded Warehouse, April 2022.
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