Don Briggs was our guest speaker last Tuesday and is a former Rotary Club president and Paul Harris fellow. He has studied many topics over the years and we had the opportunity to choose from eight them.
Spoilt for choice, we referred the decision to President Margaret, who in light of the current petrol crisis, chose the history, present status and future of Metronet.
A brief synopsis of his comprehensive but lively presentation is that Metronet Stage 1 became WA’s largest public transport infrastructure program, which evolved into a multi-agency government initiative to expand Perth’s rail network.
It was first proposed in December 2012 by the opposition Labor Party as a set of rail infrastructure projects for the 2013 State election.
The initial plan included new lines to Ellenbrook, Perth Airport, and Wanneroo, extensions of the Joondalup line to Yanchep, the Armadale line to Byford, and the Thornlie line to connect with the Mandurah line.
The design envisioned a north circle and south circle route - to integrate existing and new lines for improved connectivity. Although Labor did not win the 2013 election, the concept persisted.
Following Labor’s victory in 2017, the McGowan Government established Metronet to deliver the party’s commitments.
The projected cost was $10.7 billion and was to be completed over four years to reduce congestion, and to improve Perth’s public transport system. As we now know, Stage 1 was finally completed in February at a cost which is yet to be announced, but far in excess of its original estimate.
There was a lot of information to absorb, but with the aid of detailed photographs of new completed stations and colourful artists’ impressions of others being built, Don gave us an entertaining overview of what Metronet has achieved and what is yet to come.
One of our members, Dawn, was directly involved with aspects of Metronet and shared some insights with Don, which he described as valuable feedback.
President Margaret said that Don’s presentation made her want to jump on a train and just enjoy travelling the different lines and exploring stations and surrounds for a day.