Untold History of WA: 40 years ago there was backlash after the Fremantle to Perth railway line was closed

Railways are a convenient and efficient way to move big numbers in a modern city. They help combat the dominance of the car, and all the problems that brings in relation to overcrowded roads and exhaust fumes. They are certainly a less stressful way to get to work than sitting agitated at the wheel of a stationary car stuck in lines of non-moving traffic. Railways — and increasingly now, their cousin the trackless tram — are viewed as an integral part of planning a modern city. Right? Well it was not always that way. Plenty of readers of a certain age — not even that old — will remember the time that it was seen as a good move to shut down the Fremantle to Perth railway line. The Fremantle line had come into operation in 1881 and the shock move was announced in a headline in The West Australian in January 1979: Perth-port railway line to be closed. “Passenger services on the Perth-Fremantle railway are to be scrapped and replaced by a bus service in September,” the article said. “Freight services on the line — the second oldest in WA — will continue for about another two years. “Later the line will be converted to a major road to ease traffic pressure on Stirling Highway. The report said that the Liberal-led coalition government of premier Sir Charles Court said losses on the Fremantle-Perth passenger service — estimated at $2.7 million for the financial year, an increased loss of $700,000, gave it no alternative but closure. It said Sir Charles “expected there would be a public backlash for sentimental and other reasons.” “Sir Charles said that a survey showed that in 1977 an average of only 9800 passenger journeys were made each weekday on the line,” the article said. “The average had fallen by 1600 a day in two years. “A study commissioned to see if changed zonings and encouragement of higher-density residential development along the line would lift patronage had given no encouragement.” The Australian Railways Union immediately came out firing, saying it would fight the line’s closure. Union secretary, J.E. Hanley, said that in 1975 when a similar move was mooted the union had got more than 40,000 people to sign petitions against the closure. “The union could not see any different reason for closing the line now than in 1975, when the Government said the service would be retained,” the article said. Mr Hanley added that the government should have tried to upgrade the line in a bid to get more passengers, encouraging rail use and keeping people off busy roads. The State Labor Opposition said the decision seemed completely wrong and that trains were easily the best way to shift passenger traffic. The Labor MHR for the Federal seat of Fremantle, John Dawkins, said the decision would be resisted strongly by the Fremantle community and other residents along the route, the paper reported. And so the battle lines were drawn. Quick to rally opposition to the closure was Peter Newman, then a Fremantle city councillor and a new lecturer in environmental science at Murdoch University. Professor Newman — now John Curtin Distinguished Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute — said in a 2021 paper reflecting on the closure that a few months after the announcement the 1979 oil crisis broke in the wake of the Iran-Iraq war. “Fuel prices rose dramatically as oil prices quadrupled,” he said. “Across Australia there was a distinct sense of vulnerability about an urban future based on cars fuelled mostly from the Middle East. “The drama of a global oil crisis and at the same time local facilitation of more car driving, were the perfect motivation for a public campaign focusing on the symbol of the railway closure. “After some pushing from my local Federal politician, John Dawkins, I formed a group called ‘The Friends of the Railways.’ “Volunteers were called for . . . Public meetings turned into mass rallies. Huge media attention gave us all the coverage we needed. “A record was cut and played regularly on local radio. “Detailed studies were drawn up by our team, including retired railway engineers, on how Perth could be rebuilt around a new and extended rail system,” Professor Newman said. Despite the backlash the trains stopped running as the government had decreed. “When the last train was run, we had a mass rally and hoped one day we could return to reopen it but we feared the end had come,” Professor Newman said. “The replacement bus service on the Fremantle line immediately lost 30 per cent of its patronage despite having a more frequent service (it was slower and less direct). “Direct action continued to highlight the issue but, when it became clear the government was not going to shift, we also shifted tack and ensured that the ALP opposition had a clear policy that they would reopen the railway and examine ways to upgrade it. “A green ban was imposed on the tracks, preventing it from being torn up.” He said that as time went by it became clear that no real evaluation of a rail future had been conducted. “It was clearly a political decision and needed to be fought politically,” Professor Newman said. The fight had an ally from the other side of the political fence. Tom Dadour, the Liberal (and later Independent) MLA for Subiaco, crossed the floor of Parliament over the issue. “In 1983 the ALP was elected after decades of opposition and immediately re-opened the railway,” Professor Newman said. “The Department of Transport public servants who had been responsible for implementing the policy of closure were there to help cut the ribbon.” On July 29, 1983, big crowds watched the first official train to run from Fremantle to Perth for nearly four years. The train carried new Labor premier Brian Burke and a host of officials and guests and was greeted by crowds at stations along the route. Dr Dadour was asked to help drive. “I was in there driving it with Ken McIver — he was the member for Avon and a former engine driver,” Dr Dadour said years later. Dr Dadour resigned from the Liberal Party in 1984 and sat as an independent until 1986. Professor Newman said the Friends of the Railways and their many community and public service supporters were ecstatic at the line reopening. “The moral sense that Perth needed rail then infused the next 40 years of transport policy debate and politics,” Professor Newman said. He said the old diesel trains immediately drew back the lost 30 per cent patronage but the prospect for much further upgrading of the system “looked bleak”. “Transport planning culture had been set on the complete takeover by buses for all public transport,” he said. However momentum for change grew after an inquiry into the possibility of electrifying railways found that it could be done at far less cost than had previously been envisaged. It was the start of further recovery and expansion of Perth’s rail network. Professor Newman said patronage on the Perth rail system went from seven million passengers a year to almost 30 million passengers a year in seven years during the 1990s. “Perth’s history since 1979 has been to reclaim a future for rail,” he said. Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the reopening of the Fremantle-Perth service. Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said public transport was fundamental to a well-functioning city. “We owe a lot to the people that campaigned to have the Fremantle line reopened,” she said. “We think Stirling Highway is busy now but imagine how bad it would be if people hadn’t fought to have the Fremantle line reopened. “The train network has changed significantly since the Fremantle line reopened, with Labor governments adding both the Joondalup and Mandurah lines, and our Government now undertaking one of the biggest expansions ever through Metronet.