Fremantle line
AnA-series train crossing over theSwan River via theFremantle Railway Bridge, 2000s
Overview
Owner	Public Transport Authority
Locale	Perth, Western Australia
Termini	Perth (north-east) Fremantle (south-west)
Continues from	Midland line
Stations	17
Service
Type	Suburban rail
System	Transperth
Operator(s)	Public Transport Authority (2003–present) WAGR/Westrail (1890–2003)
Depot(s)	Claisebrook
Rolling stock	Transperth A-series trains Transperth B-series trains
Ridership	5,798,235 (year to June 2024)
History
Opened	1 March 1881 (1881-03-01)
Closed	1 September 1979
Reopened	29 July 1983
Technical
Line length	19.0 km (11.8 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Character	At-grade and underground
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)narrow gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC fromoverhead catenary
Operating speed	80 km/h (50 mph)
Signalling	Fixed block signalling
Train protection system	Automatic train protection
Route map Show interactive map Legend km continues asMidland line 0.0 Perth 1.6 City West 2.7 West Leederville 3.7 Subiaco 5.0 Daglish 5.9 Shenton Park 7.4 Karrakatta 8.0 Loch Street 8.6 Showgrounds 9.3 Claremont 10.4 Swanbourne 11.1 Grant Street 12.4 Cottesloe 13.5 Mosman Park 14.2 Victoria Street 16.2 North Fremantle Fremantle Railway Bridge 18.7 Fremantle Red shading denotes theFree Transit Zone This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram

TheFremantle line is a suburban railway and service inWestern Australia that connects the central business district (CBD) ofPerth withFremantle.

The railway on which the service runs opened on 1 March 1881 as the first suburban railway line inPerth byWilliam Robinson.^[1] It originally operated as theEastern Railway and ran betweenFremantle andGuildford, via centralPerth. In March 1884, the railway line was extended viaMidland Junction toBellevue^[2][3] and later toClackline,York andNortham. The railway line opened as a single track with a passing loop atClaremont, it was duplicated in 1896/97. A dedicated freight line was later added on the western side betweenCottesloe and theLeighton Marshalling Yard.^[4]

On 22 October 1898, the railway line was extended south toRobbs Jetty, on 1 July 1903 viaCockburn toCoogee and on 19 December 1955 viaWoodman Point toKwinana.^[5][6] The Coogee to Woodman Point section closed on 16 September 1973, followed by Robbs Jetty to Coogee in February 1986.^[3][7]

In July 1926, theFremantle Railway Bridge over theSwan River was partly washed away in a flood, with one line restored in October 1926 and the second in April 1928.^[4]

In the 1960s, as part of thestandard gauge project, the section south of Cockburn was replaced by theKwinana line on a different alignment.^[8] One of the lines north of Cockburn to thecontainer terminal atNorth Quay and Leighton Marshalling Yard was converted to standard gauge. The Fremantle Railway Bridge was converted todual gauge.^[4][9] A marshalling yard was built atRobbs Jetty.

In 1966, the eastern railway metropolitan passenger services were curtailed to terminate atMidland.

Passenger services on the Fremantle line weresuspended on 1 September 1979. The decision was based on three one day counts in 1971, 1975 and 1977. TheLiberal government ofCharles Court planned to convert the railway reserve into abusway, citing figures which showed a loss of $1.14 per passenger-journey on trains versus a loss of $0.26 per passenger-journey on buses. The closure of the line was opposed by Friends of the Railway (FOR), which submitted a petition of 100,000 signatures and prepared a 98-page report arguing for its retention.^[10] The railway was kept in working order despite the closure, initially because narrow gauge freight trains still used it to access Fremantle, there being no other narrow gauge access to the port.^[11] Later when a narrow gauge link was constructed from Cockburn to North Fremantle,trade unions had placed a ban on working on dismantling any track or equipment.^[12] The service was reinstated on 29 July 1983 following achange of government which sawBrian Burke and theAustralian Labor Party (ALP) come to power.^{[1][4][13][14]} During the closure of the rail line, patronage dropped by 30%.^[15]

For the staging of the1987 America's Cup, stations south ofFremantle were erected for use by special trains atThe Esplanade,Success Harbour andSouth Beach. TheHotham Valley Railway operated a daily service on this section of the line with aW class steam locomotive as theSpinnaker Run between October 1986 and February 1987.^[16] The narrow and standard gauge lines were rebuilt as a single dual gauge line at the same time. Having been disused since 1987, the three stations were demolished in September 2018.^[17][18]

During 1990, work commenced on building a newNorth Fremantle station, 800 metres (870 yd) north of its original location, which opened for service on 28 July 1991. Leighton station, which was 700 metres (770 yd) further north, was demolished during theelectrification of the line. Regular electric services started in September 1991.^[1][19] Today there are 17 stations on the line.^[20]

As part of the Subi Centro project,Subiaco station and 900 metres (980 yd) of the line were sunk in 1998.^[21] Between 2011 and 2014, the Fremantle line was sunk between Lake Street and theHorseshoe Bridge in thePerth CBD to allow for the redevelopment of the area.^[22]Perth station's former Fremantle to Midland platform became an island platform, with an additional platform and track built on the north side. Platforms west of the Horseshoe Bridge were demolished.^[22] In June 2011 a $237 million cost blow-out was revealed, added to a 2009 project estimate of $500 million.^[23][24]

The new tunnel was the first in Western Australia to use a rigidoverhead conductor rail instead ofoverhead wires, the same system as used on theMadrid Metro. With overhead wires, the clearance between the new tunnel and the existingYanchep line tunnel is only 75 cm (30 in). The new tunnel could be built to a smaller diameter by using a conductor rail, allowing for an increased clearance between the two.^[25] The new tunnel opened on 18 July 2013.^[26]

With the privatisation ofWestrail in 2000, responsibility for the Perth toSouth Beach section passed to thePublic Transport Authority and the South Beach to Cockburn Junction section toArc Infrastructure, although operational responsibility for the standard gauge line is with Arc Infrastructure.^[27][28][29]

A new rail bridge over theSwan River in Fremantle has been suggested to be built in future. It will carry the Fremantle line, with the existing bridge retained for use by freight trains toFremantle Harbour.^[30]

Transperth operate services on the line from Fremantle through the Perth CBD toMidland on theMidland line.^[31][32][33] Freight services operate fromKewdale andForrestfield toNorth Quay. Until July 2015 these were operated byAurizon whenSCT Logistics took over.^[34][35]

Legend — Stopping Patterns

• ● – All trains stop
• ◐ – Some services do not stop
• | – Trains pass and do not stop

Until theADG class railcars entered service in 1953, services on the Fremantle line were operated by steam locomotives. Some peak-hour services continued to be steam hauled until the arrival of theADK/ADB class diesel multiple units in 1968 resulted in the end of steam haulage. When the line was electrified in 1991,A-series electric multiple units took over.B-series electric multiple units have been used irregularly (for example, for special events services toWest Leederville). Two three-car B-series trains were introduced on regular weekday peak services from 21 July 2019.^[37]

Below is the annual patronage of Fremantle railway line from 2010 to 2011 financial year. Figures are provided as total boardings, which includes all fare-paying boardings and free travel on stations within the free transit zones as well as transfers between stations. The figures for rail replacement and special events services are not included in the total.^[38]

During hot weather, the tracks can distort. As a result, train speeds are reduced by approximately 20 km/h (12 mph) when the air temperature is above 37 °C (99 °F), and by an additional 10 km/h (6.2 mph) when the air temperature is above 41 °C (106 °F).^[39][40]

The Transperth network currently usesfixed block signalling andautomatic train protection, which stops trains that pass a red signal and slows trains that drive too fast.^[41]: 21 These systems will be replaced by anautomatic train control system, likely acommunications-based train control system.^[41]: 27

Transperth system map, with the Fremantle line in blue.

The Fremantle railway line has one all-stops service pattern. All stops services run every 15 minutes during the day from Monday to Sunday, every 12 minutes (five trains per hour) during the weekday peak period, and every half an hour or every hour at night; these frequencies are increased between Perth and Claremont due to Airport Line services.^[44] Before theAirport line began operation,^[45][46] weekday peak period frequency between Claremont and Fremantle was every 10 minutes. A special D stopping pattern servicingShenton College previously ran between Perth station and Shenton Park station once daily in each direction.^[43] This pattern last ran and was deleted on 7 October 2022, due to the Airport line taking its place.^[47] The line previously ran some express stopping patterns in peak times, the two major patterns skipping many minor stations on different halves of the line, whilst both stop at Claremont, Subiaco, and City West.^[48]

• Last Train to Freo
• The Return (play)

• Media related toFremantle railway line at Wikimedia Commons

• Fremantle line
• Transperth railway lines
• Railway lines opened in 1881
• 1881 establishments in Australia
• Eastern Railway (Western Australia)
• 25 kV AC railway electrification

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