With Perth’s love affair of cars, it is natural to think that our city has been built around them.  Our history tells a different story and shows that METRONET is building on a proud past of communities based around rail transport. 

In its earliest days of the Swan River Colony; Perth relied on river transport and trails. In 1881, the first rail line was built that connected Fremantle to Guildford. Trams soon followed in 1899 and as the city expanded, so did the train and tram network. Compact communities grew up around rail and tram lines taking advantage of the access to effective transport. Then the era of the automobile arrived, and our city began to spread at low density.

As we move towards 3.5 million people by 2031, Perth is now confronting the reality that we can’t build enough roads for everyone. At the same time, people have rediscovered our historical compact communities and are now trading the private garden for public space and traffic jams for healthy walkable neighbourhoods connected by rail.

The METRONET program will build on historical foundations and will provide sustainable transport into the heart of communities along with infrastructure to support our growing city.