The Bellevue Railcar Manufacturing and Assembly Facility will also include a $40.1 million facility to build a new diesel railcar maintenance for the new Australind railcars.

The diesel facility will be located alongside where the METRONET’s Railcar Program will soon manufacture, test and maintain the new 246 C-Series railcars for decades to come.

The existing Prospector and AvonLink railcars, as well as the high-tech new Infrastructure Diagnostic Vehicle and the Public Transport Authority’s locomotive U201, which provides track maintenance and rail shunting services across the network, will also be serviced in the new facility.

The METRONET Railcar Program is a Strategic Project under the WA Jobs Act 2017 with requirements for local job creation. Several contracts have already been awarded to local companies as part of the project. The contractor Alstom has also confirmed it will reach the 50 per cent local content target for the manufacturing of the new trains

The first stage of the Bellevue facility will be completed later this year with the first C-Series trains expected to make their way onto the tracks in late 2022.