Armadale and Thornlie railway lines

The Armadale line opened on 2 May 1889. An 1891 contract tender described the route of the new line from East Perth to Pinjarra:[1]

The line starts near to the East Perth railway station, proceeds across Jewell St., and thence slightly north of Suburban Road after which it carves and crosses the Swan River close to Burswood Island, crossing the canal about 2½ north of the present Causeway. It then bends round to the road and runs straight for some distance, crossing the road about three-quarters of a mile from the Causeway,and thence through the Victoria Park Estate. Keeping parallel with the road, it passes about 3 chains to the north of the Murchison Meat Company's slaughter yards, 6¼ miles from Perth and when about half a mile from the main road, opposite the Cannington Hotel, the main road is gradually approached, the route being within 10 chains of the Yule and Bickley Brooks. The Albany road is again crossed about a mile and a half beyond the Bickley Brook, or about 11 miles from Perth. About half a mile farther on the Upper Canning River is crossed, and then a straight line is maintained until it gets close to the main road about half a mile beyond the Upper Canning road bridge. From this point it keeps close on the west side of the road until passing Kelmscott, from which place to about 6 miles past Narrogin the line is not anywhere half a mile from the main road. From this point the line deviates about a mile from the main road at the crossing of the Rockingham tramway. Thence it keeps for some distance from within a mile to a mile and a half of the road, as far as Karnet Gully, at about 37 miles from Perth, where it again crosses into the North Dandalup, which is passed about 44 miles from Perth. It here deviates again to the west, the deviation being as much as 1¾ miles at the 49-mile. The end of the contract is about half a mile from the Albany road, within 10 chains of the Mandurah road, and about one mile from the Murray bridge at Pinjarrah.

The original stations in 1889 were Perth, Welshpool, Kelmscott and Armadale. Cannington, although operational in 1889, was opened in 1893.[2]

The following stations were opened:[2][3]

• Victoria Park in 1898, rebuilt 230 metres south in 2008
• Woodlupine in 1899 (renamed Queens Park in 1912)
• Goodwood in 1906 (renamed Belmont Park in 1979, closed October 2013)
• Burswood, in 1906 (named Rivervale 1923–1994)
• Mint Street in 1912 (renamed Carlisle in 1919)
• Seaforth on 4 May 1948
• Higham in 1954 (renamed Beckenham in 1969)
• Oats Street in 1954
• Stokely in 1954, closed 15 April 1989.[4]
• Tredale, opened in 1956 as Armadale School siding, renamed Tredale in 1959, closed in 1989.[5]
• Lathlain on 2 May 1959 (closed February 2003)[6]
• Challis on 29 October 1973
• Kingsley on 29 October 1973 (renamed Sherwood 1993)
• Perth Stadium in 2018.

In September 1991, the line commenced electrified operation.[2]

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.[6]

Thornlie was opened on 7 August 2005.[2][7][8] The station is built on a spur line of the Armadale Line.

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.

Victoria Park and Kelmscott Stations were upgraded between 2007 and 2008 as part of the Public Transport Authority's 'Building Better Stations' program. Victoria Park station was opened on 20 July 2008.[9] and Kelmscott was opened on 21 November 2008.[10]

As part of the new Perth Stadium project, Belmont Park station closed on 13 October 2013.[11] Perth Stadium station was opened in 2018 to replace it.

As part of the Metronet project, both the Armadale main line and the Thornlie spur line will undergo extensions. The Armadale line will be extended to the suburb of Byford with a station being built approximately eight kilometres (5 mi) south of the Armadale railway station.[12]

The Thornlie spur line will be extended to Cockburn Central railway station on the Mandurah railway line. Two new railway stations will be located on this extension, Nicholson Road and Ranford Road. Construction will start in late 2019.[13]

Below is the annual patronage of Armadale and Thornlie railway lines from 2010 to 2011 financial year. Figures are provided as total boardings, which includes all fare-paying boardings and free travel on stations within the free transit zones as well as transfers between stations. The figures for rail replacement and special events services are not included in the total.[14]

During peak hour times on weekdays, some railway stations are almost always bypassed to enable faster commutes. Express trains also run along the Armadale line on weekdays, and even often on weekends.

Armadale / Thornlie Line

Name of station	Code	Zone	Serving suburbs	Pattern stops at this station						Transfers
				All	AB	B	C	CP	T
Perth	MPH	1,	Perth, Northbridge	●	●	●	●	●	●	Train transfer to Fremantle, Joondalup, Mandurah & Midland lines Transwa Australind to Bunbury Bus transfers at Perth Busport
McIver	MMR	1,	Perth, East Perth	●	●	●	●	●	●	Train transfer to Midland line
Claisebrook	MCK	1,	East Perth	●	●	●	●	●	●	Train transfer to Midland line
Perth Stadium	ASM	1	Burswood	|	●	|	|	●	|	Special Event Station, All weekend Armadale services stop here
Burswood	ABD	1	Burswood, Rivervale	●	●	|	|	|	●
Victoria Park	AVP	1	Victoria Park, Lathlain	●	●	|	|	|	●
Carlisle	ACE	1	Carlisle, East Victoria Park	●	●	|	|	|	●
Oats Street	AOS	1	Carlisle, East Victoria Park, Kewdale	●	●	●	●	●	●	Bus transfers, CircleRoute
Welshpool	AWL	1	Bentley, Welshpool	●	●	|	|	|	●
Queens Park	AQP	2	Cannington, Queens Park	●	●	●	|	|	●
Cannington	ACN	2	Cannington, East Cannington	●	●	●	●	●	●	Bus transfers
Beckenham	ABM	2	Beckenham	●	●	●	●	●	|
Thornlie	ATE	2	Langford, Thornlie	-	-	-	-	-	●	Bus transfers
Kenwick	AKK	2	Kenwick	●	●	●	●	●
Maddington	AMN	2	Maddington	●	●	●	●	●		Bus transfers
Gosnells	AGS	3	Gosnells	●	●	●	●	●		Bus transfers
Seaforth	ASH	3	Gosnells, Martin	●	●	●	●	●
Kelmscott	AKT	3	Kelmscott, Camillo	●	●	●	●	●		Bus transfers
Challis	ACS	3	Kelmscott, Camillo	●	●	●	●	●
Sherwood	ASD	3	Armadale, Seville Grove	●	●	●	●	●
Armadale	AAE	4	Armadale, Brookdale	●	●	●	●	●		Transwa Australind to Bunbury Bus transfers
Legend: Red denotes city stations Yellow denotes Armadale line stations Black denotes termini Stopping patterns: All     stops to Armadale AB    stops to Armadale including Perth Stadium B     stops at McIver, Claisebrook, Oats Street, Queens Park, Cannington, Beckenham, then all stations to Armadale C     stops at McIver, Claisebrook, Oats Street, Cannington, Beckenham, then all stations to Armadale CP    stops at McIver, Claisebrook, Perth Stadium, Oats Street, Cannington, Beckenham, then all stations to Armadale TA      all stops to Cannington, then Thornlie (does not stop at Beckenham) TB      all stops to Cannington including Perth Stadium, then Thornlie (does not stop at Beckenham)

• D – all stops to Armadale, except Beckenham, Seaforth, Challis, and Sherwood. (bypasses Thornlie. Replaced by pattern E, 8 August 2005).
• E – all stops to Claisebrook, express to Cannington, express to Kenwick, then all stops to Armadale except Seaforth, Challis, and Sherwood. (deprecated 20 August 2006)
• R – pattern deviations to All and T patterns to stop at Belmont Park (deprecated 13 October 2013).
• A - express from Perth to Queens Park then all stations to Armadale (deprecated 1980s).

Media related to Armadale railway line at Wikimedia Commons