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West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has officially fired the starting pistol on construction of a rail link between Perth Airport and the CBD.
The 8.5km line, which stretches from the city to Terminals 1 and 2 at Perth Airport and then onwards to Forresfield in the city’s east, was expected to be completed in 2020 at a cost of $1.96 billion.
The Premier turned the first ceremonial sod at Forresfield station on Thursday.
The WA government said drilling for the mostly underground rail line was expected to start in mid-2017, when two tunnel boring machines were expected to arrive from Germany.
In the meantime, the construction of the entry points to the rail tunnels was due to begin before the end of the year.
The line featured three new stations – one above ground at Forresfield at the end of the line, while Belmont and Perth Airport T1/T2 were underground.
The deepest tunnel point under the Swan River was 26 metres, the WA government said, while the average depth under the airport apron and runways was be 15 metres.
“The link will not only benefit people living in the new rail corridor, but will serve airport passengers and tourists alike and will leave a great first impression for visitors to Perth,” Premier Barnett said in a statement.
Perth Airport’s Terminals 1 and 2, on the eastern side of the airfield, handles all international flights, as well as Virgin Australia, Alliance, Tigerair Australia and Regional Express domestic flights.
Meanwhile, Qantas and Jetstar’s domestic flights operate out of Terminals 3 and 4 on the western side of the airfield.
Perth Airport has said previously it hoped to eventually have all flights operating from the eastern side of the airfield some time in the next decade.
The WA government posted a video of the new rail line on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/Tsd4xk_xqmA
Paul
says:Perth has got their act together. Why is it Melbourne still can’t?
Nigel
says:What a gigantic waste of money. Both the Sydney and Brisbane airport rail links are still trying to break even. $2b could be far better spent in health or education.
Marcus
says:There would n’t be a state election coming would there?
random
says:Looking at this, it’s hard to imagine the case for not building rail from Day 1 at Badgery’s Creek, rather than having to cop the expense of retro-fitting it at some later stage. The cheapest, fastest and least disruptive it will ever be to build is on a green field site.
Dave
says:Nigel
That’s why it goes past the airport to forrestfield
It will also provide much better transport for suburbs east of the airport, and by going under the runways it will save all that time currently used going around the airport
It’s not all about airplanes!
D in Dhabi
says:It never ceases to amaze me! So the Belmont Station will be what, about 1 kilometre from T3/4, brilliant! Think, roasting hot or bucketing down with rain, as useless as a chocolate teapot. Another sign of ineptitude by the government and Perth Airport. They will say QF will migrate to T1 at some stage, given how long it took to plan and deliver the Virgin Terminal at T1 I wouldn’t hold my breath. Same as the future road link under Elizabeth Key, do it once and do it properly.