The Armadale line is a suburban rail service in Western Australia that runs from Perth to Armadale on the South Western Railway. This service is planned to extend to the suburb of Byford over an 8-kilometre-long (5.0 mi) new railway line constructed as part of the Byford Rail Extension project.[1]
The Thornlie line is a service that runs on the South Western Railway from Perth to a junction between Beckenham and Kenwick and continues on a short branch line to Thornlie that opened on 7 August 2005. This service is currently, as of 2022[update], being extended to Cockburn Central (which until now was serviced by the Mandurah line only) as part of the Thornlie-Cockburn Link project that in part is constructing 14.5 kilometres (9.0 mi) of new railway line between Thornlie and Cockburn Central next to the Kewdale white oil line.[2][3]
The Armadale line runs on the South Western Railway which opened on 2 May 1893. In September 1991, the line commenced electrified operation.[4]
Between 2004 and 2005, Armadale, Carlisle and Gosnells were upgraded to provide better facilities to passengers and provide better access between trains and buses. Lathlain station was closed on 3 February 2003 as part of the project.[5]
Thornlie was opened on 7 August 2005.[4][6][7] The station is built on a 2.9-kilometre-long (1.8 mi) spur line of the South Western Railway.
Between 21 March 1993 and 8 August 2005, trains on the Armadale line continued through Perth to the Joondalup line. In 2004 new railcars were introduced, which became exclusive to the Joondalup line. From 2005 until 2012, Armadale line trains did not run through Perth to the other lines but on 20 August 2012, as part of works relating to the Perth City Link project to sink the Fremantle line, services from Fremantle connected to the line until the tunnel was opened on 18 July 2013 which saw the Armadale line terminate in Perth again.