ALMOST 18 months after the Labor Party announced the Thornlie to Cockburn train line as part of Metronet, the Liberal Party has promised to build the $520million line.
The WA Government announced the line today, which will go from Thornlie to the Cockburn Central station on the Mandurah line.
The 17.5km line would include two new stations built at Nicholson and Ranford roads.
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READ NOWThe stations would include bus interchanges, combined parking for 1400 cars and bike storage.
The Labor Party announced it would build the line in August 2015 as part of Metronet – an overall plan to upgrade rail around Perth.
Opposition transport spokeswoman Rita Saffioti said it was another rushed promise.
“Election after election we have seen key broken promises on public transport,” she said.
“In 2008, the promise to build the Ellenbrook line – that promise is broken, in 2013 the promise to build max light rail – that promise is broken.”
Mr Barnett said this particular line had been on the long-term planning radar in Perth for more than 20 years.
“It’s an important project,” he said.
“By rail standards it’s not one of the really big projects.”
He said it was estimated the new line would result in 3000 passenger boardings across the stations each weekday on average.
“It will be the first major line in the system which will take people across metropolitan Perth,” he said.