❓ A parliamentary question regarding the McGowan government's METRONET high-capacity signalling project and a comparison to the previous Liberal and National Parties' record on public transport. The Minister's answer highlights the project's benefits and criticises the opposition's past performance.
AnsweredQoN 697Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
METRONET — HIGH-CAPACITY SIGNALLING PROJECT
697. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Minister for Transport:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's record investment in job-creating public transport across
Perth.
(1) Can the
minister please update the house on the work underway to deliver the
high-capacity signalling project and outline how this project will support this
government's massive Metronet rail expansion?
(2) Can the
minister outline to the house how this government's responsible and
forward-thinking record on public transport compares with that of the Liberal
and National Parties?
697. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Minister for Transport:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's record investment in job-creating public transport across
Perth.
(1) Can the
minister please update the house on the work underway to deliver the
high-capacity signalling project and outline how this project will support this
government's massive Metronet rail expansion?
(2) Can the
minister outline to the house how this government's responsible and
forward-thinking record on public transport compares with that of the Liberal
and National Parties?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Southern River for that question. Of course, the member
for Southern River knows that the people in his electorate were lied to on
multiple occasions by the previous coalition government about the Thornlie–Cockburn Link. In September, we announced the
start of procurement for the Metronet high-capacity signalling project.
As our rail system expands through Metronet, with up to another 70 kilometres of rail system being installed, we
are also adding technology to the line. High-capacity signalling, although
it does not sound exciting, means more trains on the rail lines for our
members. Currently, we can run about one train line every five minutes. We will
be moving that to potentially one train line every two minutes. That means people will rock up and there will be a train.
This technology will be rolled out across the entire network. The north–south
line, as we know, is continually getting busier and busier and will continue to
get busier as we extend that rail line to Yanchep and the south–east
line down to Byford. From Bayswater to Perth, the Ellenbrook line will have
three rail lines merging—the Midland, Forrestfield and Ellenbrook
lines. This technology will allow us to run more trains per hour every day of
the week. This is exciting technology. We have already started building the new
operations centre in East Perth. This is a long-term plan whereby we are
partnering with the commonwealth government, again, to expand the rail system
and use our rail lines more efficiently by getting more trains per hour. As I explain
it, this technology allows trains to talk to each other and as a result, they
can move closer to each other, we can improve safety and we can get more trains
per hour.
We have also had the Golden
SmartRider competition. Thousands of people have entered the Golden SmartRider
competition.
Just
to make sure we have clarity, I am not holding a true Golden SmartRider. Just
in relation to declarations , this one is not free for the whole year,
members! This competition allows people to enter and win a Golden SmartRider,
which means free travel for a year. There have already been three winners.
There are only two days left to enter, so members should encourage all their
constituents to enter and win the final Golden SmartRider on Friday, which
allows a person to have free public transport for the whole year.
Members,
we are moving forward, building new train lines, using new technology,
expanding our network and making sure that more and more people get to
ride public transport. If more people use mass transit services, this also
improves our ability to address climate change. The opposition did nothing on
public transport for the eight and a half years it was in government. It
continually broke promises and it failed to deliver on public transport during
the whole time it was in government.
thank the member for Southern River for that question. Of course, the member
for Southern River knows that the people in his electorate were lied to on
multiple occasions by the previous coalition government about the Thornlie–Cockburn Link. In September, we announced the
start of procurement for the Metronet high-capacity signalling project.
As our rail system expands through Metronet, with up to another 70 kilometres of rail system being installed, we
are also adding technology to the line. High-capacity signalling, although
it does not sound exciting, means more trains on the rail lines for our
members. Currently, we can run about one train line every five minutes. We will
be moving that to potentially one train line every two minutes. That means people will rock up and there will be a train.
This technology will be rolled out across the entire network. The north–south
line, as we know, is continually getting busier and busier and will continue to
get busier as we extend that rail line to Yanchep and the south–east
line down to Byford. From Bayswater to Perth, the Ellenbrook line will have
three rail lines merging—the Midland, Forrestfield and Ellenbrook
lines. This technology will allow us to run more trains per hour every day of
the week. This is exciting technology. We have already started building the new
operations centre in East Perth. This is a long-term plan whereby we are
partnering with the commonwealth government, again, to expand the rail system
and use our rail lines more efficiently by getting more trains per hour. As I explain
it, this technology allows trains to talk to each other and as a result, they
can move closer to each other, we can improve safety and we can get more trains
per hour.
We have also had the Golden
SmartRider competition. Thousands of people have entered the Golden SmartRider
competition.
Just
to make sure we have clarity, I am not holding a true Golden SmartRider. Just
in relation to declarations , this one is not free for the whole year,
members! This competition allows people to enter and win a Golden SmartRider,
which means free travel for a year. There have already been three winners.
There are only two days left to enter, so members should encourage all their
constituents to enter and win the final Golden SmartRider on Friday, which
allows a person to have free public transport for the whole year.
Members,
we are moving forward, building new train lines, using new technology,
expanding our network and making sure that more and more people get to
ride public transport. If more people use mass transit services, this also
improves our ability to address climate change. The opposition did nothing on
public transport for the eight and a half years it was in government. It
continually broke promises and it failed to deliver on public transport during
the whole time it was in government.
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