Waroona CEO Mark Goodlet meets PTA to discuss town getting a stop on Perth-to-Bunbury faster rail line

Plans to include Waroona as a stop on the potential Perth to Bunbury fast rail line are steaming ahead, with the town’s CEO pushing the idea forward to State Government officials. Waroona Shire chief executive Mark Goodlet met with the Public Transport Authority on Wednesday to pitch the proposal to the Public Transport Authority, ahead of the tender deadline for its business case. An $8 million strategic business case for the Perth-to-Bunbury fast rail project, which has been jointly funded by the State and Federal governments is expected to be completed in mid-2023. The business case will investigate available options to provide faster passenger rail services between the two cities and outline the economic and population conditions required for the project to be viable. The tender for the business case went out in October and is due to close on Tuesday, December 7. Mr Goodlet said the Shire had met with the PTA last week to discuss the rail line and the options for Waroona getting a stop along the line. “They’re commencing a two or three-year study to look at options and feasibility and looking at things like whether they are doing it on the basis of it being a commute between Perth and Bunbury, or whether it becomes a regional development piece of infrastructure,” he said. “The long and the short of that is if you put stops all the way through. “It certainly has some scope for Waroona, we think.” Mr Goodlet said the Shire saw the faster rail line as another way to connect Waroona to metropolitan Perth. “We are looking for workers down here, so it’s not just for people to commute to Perth, it’s for people living in Perth to commute to Waroona to work as well,” he said. “It’s just another way of opening up Waroona and getting the benefits of that transport link.” A contract for the business case is due to be awarded on February 1 next year. The Australasian Railway Association last week threw its support behind the investigation into developing the fast rail between the cities, which could see travel cut from 2 1/2 hours on the existing Australind Train to less than 90 minutes.