Airport railway station to be named Belmont station but locals are upset

Commenting on Belmont MLA Glenys Godfrey’s Facebook page, Geof Taylor said the station was “absolutely nowhere near Belmont”.

“What a crock,” he said.

“Do you need me to name the stations along Midland, Armadale and Fremantle lines that are actually named for where they are?”

But Ms Godfrey said although the station would be located in Redcliffe, the name reflected the “larger location of Belmont, not the suburb”.

“Other examples of this are that Kwinana Station is in Bertram and Rockingham Station in Cooloongup,” she said.

Mr Taylor said the station should be called Redcliffe or Brearley.

“The whole reason you intend to call it Belmont in fact gives it no identity or local touch, which then diminishes the point of naming a station,” he said.

Another resident, Richard Foster, commenting on the Southern Gazette Facebook page, said the station was about 5km from the centre of Belmont.

“I can just imagine tourists seeing a sign at Perth train station, ‘board here for Belmont/Airport Central and Forrestfield’, and wanting to do a little touristy shopping at the forum,” he said.

He said they would have to catch a bus, which would take about 15 minutes to get to the Belmont Forum.

Transport Minister Dean Nalder said the station would be renamed Belmont after it was formerly Airport West to “more accurately reflect” its purpose and location.

Ms Godfrey said the station would be a great asset for the whole City of Belmont.

“We’ll also have a bus exchange integrated with the station so that people can reach what we call the centre of Belmont,” she said.

“It shows we are progressing and transforming this area into an even better place to live. We need to continue moving forward and not go back to the days when the eastern suburbs were completely ignored by government.”

The airport at the international terminal was also renamed from Consolidated Airport to Airport Central.

The Forrestfield-Airport Link rail line will be tunnelled underground from a junction near Bayswater station, under the Swan River and the airport, and out to Forrestfield.

It is due to open in 2020.