AIRPORT RAIL LINE
584. MR S.J. PRICE to the Minister for Transport:
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's unprecedented investment in
job-creating public transport infrastructure, including Metronet. Can
the minister update the house on this government's successful delivery
of the Metronet airport line and outline what benefits it is delivering for
public transport users, including those in my electorate?
Ms R.
SAFFIOTI replied:
I thank the member for Forrestfield
for that question.
Just over a week ago, we opened the
new Metronet airport line, members, and what a great day it was. The Prime Minister came over to enjoy the day and, of
course, the Premier was there. The former Minister for Transport, Dean
Nalder, was there to celebrate the opening of this brand new train line and the
three new stations—Redcliffe, High Wycombe
and Airport Central. People came from across the suburbs, from across WA, to
check out the new airport line. We estimate between 10 000 and 20 000 people
came to that opening day. As a result, we had to increase the number of trains
we had servicing that new line and we also had to extend the railcars from
three-car sets to six-car sets.
One of the benefits of this airport
line, which the Premier alluded to before, is that it does not matter from
where across the entire network someone catches public transport—it
does not matter where they are coming from—the most they will pay is $5
across the entire system. When we compare that with Sydney and with other
states where people are paying up to $20 to get to the airport, we see that the
most we will pay is $5.
I saw the member for Albany catch
the rail line this morning after flying in. People in regional WA get the
benefit of the residential capped fares together with the public transport
capped fares. For someone who is flying in from any part of our regional
network, we have capped the flight price and we have capped the cost of travel
into the city from the airport. There are winners across the state.
I want to thank everyone who was
involved in that project. In particular, I thank the thousands of workers who delivered the project. It was tough going, it was
a challenging project, but I am very proud of what we have delivered. I am
very proud that this is yet another Metronet project that has been delivered.
There are many, many more to come. The feedback that I have had from across the
community is that people are proud of the quality of that finished project and
they are proud that we have a rail line to the airport and a rail line
servicing the eastern suburbs.