John Holland Continues the Construction of the WA Claremont Station

After being offline for two months, trains were back online and passing through Claremont Station this month, with full Fremantle Line services resuming as planned.

The station remains under construction, with a date for opening to be advised in the near future.

John Holland Claremont Station Project Manager, Mark Beiers, said works had been completed on schedule and the entire project was progressing well.

“John Holland has completed intensive construction work at the site including new track for both lines, the installation of turnback sidings (a section of track which allows the train driver to swap ends of the train and travel back the way it came) and new overhead footings as well as a number of inground services.” 

The works are part of a $36 million upgrade at Claremont Station, which is the Fremantle Line’s third busiest.  They will allow for more trains to travel to the Perth CBD, eventually providing passengers with a direct route through to the airport as part of the ongoing Metronet project.

Some of the key achievements the project has achieved to date are:

• 2.1km of main cable route from Shenton Road to Swanbourne Station and over to the Standalone Equipment Room building;
• 1.9km of track for Up main, trains to Fremantle and similar length for Down Main, trains to Perth.
• track for 2no. x 270m long sidings (or turnbacks)
• a new Standalone Equipment Room, just west of Swanbourne Station.
• station and perimeter precast panels including extending the platform to an overall length of 130m.
• approximately 1,200m of retaining walls consisting of 722m post and panel wall built bottom up and 187m of secant piled wall with alternative hard & soft piles & 291m limestone wall.
• 164m of noise walls.

These achievements were accomplished by 246,000 work hours at John Holland – 56,160 of those hours being in March alone. Mr Beiers said:

“More than 300 jobs have been created in the process and we are proud to do our part for the economy and the METRONET project in providing the people of Perth with a world class rail transport network.” 

Mr Beiers added that while full Fremantle Line services resumed as planned on April 6, works on the 135-year-old station unearthed some previously hidden elements, which has now turned the work into a one-of-a-kind series of heritage restoration works which has delayed the reopening of Claremont Station.

John Holland and the PTA are progressing with these works with the date for opening to be expected in June.

Mr Beiers also praised the local residents, local businesses and commuters for their patience during the temporary travel disruptions.

“The Claremont Station Project team would like to thank the local community for their patience and understanding during the works phase.”

 

“Overall, people travelling through the area have been very patient and courteous to each other and we have managed to ensure minimum disruption to traffic, residents and commuters.”

 

“Most understand that this is some short-term discomfort for what will provide long-term benefit for the community. These are once in a generation upgrades that are going to make everyone’s commute smoother and more efficient.”

The next stage or works to be done will include:

• Completion and opening of the platform;
• Gugeri Street roadworks;
• Complete underpass and
• Completion of the PSP (Principal Shared Path).