When I was going to school/uni 2010ish we had express trains on what seemed like every train.
A Joondalup express line that skipped Leederville to Stirling
A Fremantle express train - I think A and B pattern which skipped the first half or second half of stations.
Now we have an altering Butler/Whitfords train which is awful at Peak clock off hours because it’s so packed people can’t even get on at Leederville/Glendalough/Stirling, and a Freo line train that stops at Claremont which might as well just stop at Subi because everyone on after that is going to Freo.
What are your experiences with express trains and do you think they still have a place?
Presumably they don’t run them any more due to congestion.
I thought I’d find the new Freo line thing more annoying than it is. Maybe it’s just that I’m lucky, but I find that I rarely have to skip a train that’s leaving Perth because it’s terminating at Claremont (although, come to think of it that can’t really be right, because it’s every second train isn’t it?).
But yeah, express trains were great!
I remember the midland line used to have them in the 2000s too. There was an announcement when they changed them to all stops. My internet searching has failed at finding it. There was only a few minutes difference between the patterns and all stops anyway as the second train would end up catching up to the first.
The longer north south lines should have been built with more sidings to allow true express trains to run at higher speeds. Imagine how awesome a 250km/h+ train from Mandurah would have been. Given the politics of it at the time though we are lucky it exists at all.
They stopped on the Midland Line sometime around late 2017/early 2018. When the East Perth station refit for the stadium was done, all trains were slated to stop there. That meant the “express” trains from Bayswater to the city would be skipping Meltham and Mt. Lawley, otherwise stopping all stations. It became a bit moot at that point, so they just gave up on express trains.
Fun fact, there used to be a Fremantle to Perth express, I think it was once each weekday.
Trains are king
