Despite the cost blowouts and delays Transport Minister Rita Saffioti has declared the Morley-Ellenbrook line has “absolutely” been worth it.
Saffioti, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, WA Premier Roger Cook and Federal Infrastructure Catherine King muscled through crowds of interested locals and train enthusiasts as they opened each of the five new stations one by one on Sunday morning.
The festivities – which cost about $380,000 to stage – led to a ribbon cutting at Ellenbrook Station at about 10.30am with former premier Mark McGowan also given a pair of scissors.
WA Premier Roger Cook, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Federal Infrastructure Catherine King and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti opened the five new Metronet stations on Sunday morning.Credit: Hamish Hastie
Saffioti, who has been the driving force behind the $1.65 billion project, said it was a great day and one she would remember for the rest of her life.
In 2008, the then Carpenter Labor government promised to build the line for a cost of $850 million (about $1.2 billion in today’s figures).
When it was first included in the state budget in 2021 the government had priced it at $1.1 billion but that blew out to $1.65 billion in 2023-24. The government then said it would be open in 2022-23, marking a two-year delay.
Ribbon cutting at Ellenbrook Station with WA Premier Roger Cook, Transport Minister Rita Saffioti and former premier Mark McGowan.Credit: Connor McGoverne
Saffioti said the line was delivered through COVID and a period of serious supply chain disruptions and that she would not be able to show her face in Ellenbrook if she didn’t deliver this line.
“The price compared to other rail lines – it’s still the cheapest in the nation,” she said.
“People understand there’s been cost increases. Whether you put an oven into your house, put a patio up, you buy a car, or you bought a house, there’s been cost increases.
“But what was the alternative? Not to deliver it? There’s just no way in this world we weren’t going to deliver.”
The new 21 kilometres of rail will cut the time it takes to commute from Ellenbrook to the CBD from one hour by car to 30 minutes by rail, with stations in Morley, Noranda, Ballajura, Whiteman Park and Ellenbrook.
The project was jointly funded by the state and Commonwealth governments which meant the Commonwealth had to come to the party to fund each cost increase.
Albanese said his government recognised the supply chain issues that impacted the project.
“So we made sure that we contributed additional funding in our budgets while delivering two budget surpluses,” he said.
Labor’s 2008 promise was matched by the former Liberal leader Colin Barnett who was in opposition at the time.
Barnett abandoned that promise shortly after the election, which sounded the starting gun on one of the state’s longest-running political battles.
Saffioti and Labor took the line to both the 2013 and 2017 elections.
She said she was still angry that the former government broke that promise.
She credited the Ellenbrook line promise as the reason she kept her seat in the Barnett government’s huge 2013 win and recounted how she had sent out about 2500 bits of Ikea toy train track to Ellenbrook residents at the time.
Morley-Ellenbrook line in numbers
- $850 million - original promised cost by Labor in 2008
- $1.1 billion - cost of project when first properly budgeted for
- $1.65 billion - final cost of project
- 900-metre-long viaduct through Bayswater
- Three new intersections and roads to access stations
- Two rail pedestrian underpasses
- Three road pedestrian underpasses
- 20 public art pieces across the line
- 50,000 residents in Ellenbrook
- Construction supported 6500 jobs, including 332 apprentices, 140 graduates and 290 Aboriginal employees
The Morley-Ellenbrook line opening was marked with a community fair at each station for a total cost of $380,000.
Saffioti rejected suggestions the fairs were blatant electioneering as her party prepares for the next election.
“To be honest, this is a day that people have been waiting for decades,” she said.
“This is something that the community own, and the community want to be a part of. I’m very happy to be joining the community in creating a celebration that their kids can remember for the rest of their lives.”