The Thornlie-Cockburn Link will be located within existing rail corridors. Between Thornlie Station and Kwinana Freeway, the passenger rail will be located within the rail freight corridor, which is operated by Arc Infrastructure. To ensure minimal impact to the freight operations, construction will be staged to first relocate the freight lines to the northern side of the corridor. This will make room to build the passenger rail in the southern half.
Along this section of the track, the pedestrian level crossing between Cameron Street and Elliot Place, Thornlie, will be replaced with a pedestrian footbridge. With the railways travelling through the existing Ranford Road and Karel Avenue Road bridges, the bridges will be replaced so that they can accommodate the extra sets of tracks and meet safety requirements.
The Thornlie-Cockburn Link will travel through the Glen Iris Rail Tunnel, which was constructed as part of Kwinana Freeway upgrades. The extension will come up between the Mandurah Line tracks and will become a single spur just to the north of Cockburn Central Station, where an additional platform will be provided to end the route.
Elliot Place / Cameron Street Footbridge
Work has begun to replace the level crossing, with a
footbridge. To ensure community safety while work is underway in the rail
corridor, the existing pedestrian level crossing at Elliot Place/Cameron
Street, Thornlie was permanently closed in November 2020. An early design for the footbridge has been
developed with initial concept design based on requirements from both the
Public Transport Authority and the freight line operator - Arc Infrastructure.
The concept design takes into consideration rail safety, maintenance,
accessibility requirements, land boundaries, ground conditions and existing
infrastructure. More information about the detours for pedestrians and
cyclist are available in our
FAQ's.
Footbridge construction will begin in mid-2021 and is expected to be
completed by mid-2022.