Canning Bridge railway station

Canning Bridge
Facing south
General information
Location	Canning Highway & Kwinana Freeway Como, Western Australia Australia
Coordinates	32°00′35″S 115°51′22″E / 32.009605°S 115.856154°E / -32.009605; 115.856154
Owned by	Public Transport Authority
Operated by	Public Transport Authority
Line(s)	Mandurah line
Distance	7.2 km (4.5 mi) from Perth Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Bus routes	9
Bus stands	4
Construction
Parking	None
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	11 February 2002 (bus) 23 December 2007 (train)
Passengers
2013–14	932,132
Services
Preceding station Transperth Following station Elizabeth Quay towards Perth Underground Mandurah line All, K, W Bull Creek towards Cockburn Central, Rockingham or Mandurah
Location Location of Canning Bridge station

Canning Bridge railway station is a suburban railway and bus station on the Mandurah line in Perth, Western Australia. Situated in the suburb of Como next to the Canning River, the station is located at the interchange between the Kwinana Freeway and Canning Highway. The train platforms are at ground level within the median strip of the freeway, while the bus stands are on the bridge carrying Canning Highway.

Canning Bridge station opened as a bus station on 11 February 2002 to facilitate transfers between buses on the Kwinana Freeway and on Canning Highway. The ground-level bus stops closed on 29 January 2006 for conversion to train platforms by John Holland Group. The Mandurah line opened on 23 December 2007. The station is planned to be upgraded to improve the bus interchange as part of Metronet.

Trains at Canning Bridge station run at a five-minute frequency during peak hour, lowering to a fifteen-minute frequency off-peak and on weekends and public holidays. At night, trains are half-hourly or hourly. The journey to Perth Underground station takes seven minutes. There are ten bus routes that serve the station, including bus routes to Curtin University and Fremantle.

Canning Bridge station is located at the interchange between the Kwinana Freeway and Canning Highway in Como, next to the Canning River and the Canning Bridge which crosses that river. The station is on the Mandurah line, which is part of the Transperth train system and owned by the Public Transport Authority, a state government agency.^[1] The next stations are Elizabeth Quay to the north and Bull Creek to the south.^[2] Canning Bridge station is 7.2 kilometres (4.5 mi) from Perth Underground station^[3] and is in fare zone one.^[4]

Canning Bridge station has two side platforms, which are located at ground level within the median strip of the Kwinana Freeway. At bridge level is a bus interchange with four bus stands. The two westbound bus stands are within the median of Canning Highway and the two eastbound bus stands are on the side of the highway. Each group of bus stands is linked to the platforms via stairs and a lift. A northbound bus on-ramp and southbound bus off-ramp link the bus interchange to the Kwinana Freeway towards Perth. Walking access is by crossing the on or off ramps.^[5][6] The station is fully accessible.^[2]

A bus lane along the Kwinana Freeway from Canning Highway to the Perth central business district (CBD) was opened on 18 November 1989 by Transport Minister Bob Pearce. The City Busport (now known as Elizabeth Quay bus station) at the northern end of the bus lane was meant to open as well, but it encountered construction delays.^[7] The bus lane was on the northbound carriageway of the freeway, and was connected to Canning Highway by a bridge.^[8] The City Busport opened on 30 November 1991.^[9][10]

Detailed plans for a bus transitway from the Narrows Bridge to the Murdoch Park 'n' Ride at South Street were unveiled in October 1999. The bus transitway was to be within the median of the Kwinana Freeway and separated from general traffic by concrete barriers, unlike the existing one-way bus lane. A bus station at Canning Highway was to be built to facilitate transfers from buses along Canning Highway to buses along the freeway bus transitway. A bus off-ramp was to be built to complement the bus on-ramp and the bridge carrying Canning Highway over the freeway was to be widened to accommodate the bus station.^[11][12]

A joint venture between Henry Walker Eltin and Clough Engineering were announced as the preferred tenderer in June 2000^[13] and awarded the $34 million contract for the design and construction of stage one of the bus transitway in August 2000. This stage included the Canning Bridge bus station and transitway from Canning Highway to the Narrows Bridge, a distance of 5.9 kilometres (3.7 mi). Work was scheduled to begin the following month.^[14][15]

In July 2001, the state government announced that the proposed Southern Suburbs Railway would be rerouted via the Kwinana Freeway south of Perth.^[16][17] Construction continued on the bus transitway though, as its concrete barriers and right-of-way would be used by the railway. By that point, only $4 million of the project's budget had not been spent.^[18] The bus station opened on 11 February 2002 as Canning Bridge bus station, less than a week after the bus transitway opened.^[19][20][21] The bus station was credited with saving commute time for students at Curtin University and Murdoch University, with passengers no longer needing to travel to the City Busport to transfer.^[20]

Widening the Kwinana Freeway to include new bus lanes was considered to prevent people from having to transfer from bus to train at Canning Bridge,^[22] but that was ruled out in January 2002 as it would encroach on the Swan River.^[23] The bus station was planned to be retained and converted to a train-bus transfer station.^[24] A new master plan for the Southern Suburbs Railway was released in August 2002.^[25][26] The construction of the Mandurah line was divided into eight packages. Package D was for the construction of Canning Bridge, Bull Creek, and Murdoch stations. Package E was for the roadworks on the Kwinana Freeway, which included the replacement of the bus on-ramp at Canning Bridge station.

Leighton Contractors was selected as the preferred proponent for Package A in October 2003^[27][28] and the contract was awarded in December 2003 for $99.1 million.^[29] Expressions of interest were called for Package D in September 2003.^[30][31] The Package D contract was awarded to John Holland Group for $32 million in November 2004.^[32][33][34] Canning Bridge station was designed by Woodhead International Architects.^[35]

As the bus on-ramp bridge was in the way of the proposed railway, it was planned to be demolished and replaced by a new bridge. To save costs, the contractor proposed moving the bridge superstructure 9.5 metres (31 ft) south-west instead.^[36] The 1,560-tonne (1,720-ton), 124-metre-long (407 ft) bridge^[37] was moved using a steel cradle on ball bearings which rested on temporary concrete supports.^[38] A hydraulic jacking system was used to push the bridge, which took seven hours, all while the freeway remained open to traffic.^[39]

From 29 January 2006, the lower level of the Canning Bridge bus station was closed for conversion to rail.^[40] From 26 February 2006, the bus station was fully closed to reduce confusion.^[41] Construction on the station began in early 2006. The platform height was raised to reach the height of the trains and the connection between platform level and bridge level was improved.^[42]

Canning Bridge station reached practical completion in June 2007, alongside the other two Package D stations.^[43] The Mandurah line opened on 23 December 2007.^[44][45] Upon opening, bus routes that joined the Kwinana Freeway at Canning Bridge to travel to Perth remained unchanged unlike bus routes further south which were curtailed to terminate at the various bus-train interchanges.^[46] By March 2008, Canning Bridge station had exceeded patronage expectations by 54 percent.^[47]

A report released by the Auditor-General in November 2017 found that the six bus routes along the freeway between Canning Bridge and Elizabeth Quay should be reduced or cancelled, which would save $4 million per year. The Public Transport Authority said that making passengers transfer to a train at Canning Bridge station would be less convenient which could reduce patronage, and that the bus infrastructure at the station would have to be upgraded to allow for terminating buses.^[48][49][50]

In February 2019, Infrastructure Australia added the "Canning Bridge crossing capacity and interchange" to its Infrastructure Priority List, noting that the interchange was causing congestion, pedestrian and cyclist access was poor, there were no drop-off facilities, and no toilets.^[51][52][53]

As part of Metronet, the bus interchange at Canning Bridge station will be upgraded. Current plans involve a new bridge parallel and to the north of the existing bridge, to be used by buses. The new interchange will have twelve bus stands and allow for buses to turn around. Grade separated pedestrian access will be implemented. The existing bus on- and off-ramps will be connected to the new bridge.^[54] In December 2021, the federal government committed an additional $25 million towards the upgrades, which facilitated a new pedestrian bridge from Davilak Street to access the station from the south.^[55] There will also be changes to the interchange, including relocating the northbound on-ramp and installing ramp metering.^[54] State government funding was first announced in the May 2022 budget.^[56] Current funding includes $150 million for the bus interchange, $30 million for the new entrance from the south, and $20 million for the ramp metering. Contract procurement is scheduled to happen in 2025–26 and construction is scheduled to commenced before the end of 2026.^[54]

Canning Bridge station is served by Mandurah line trains, which travel from Mandurah station in the south to Perth Underground station in the north, continuing north from there as the Yanchep line.^[4] These services are operated by the Public Transport Authority.^[57] During peak hour, trains stop at Canning Bridge station every five minutes, with roughly half of those services terminating or commencing at Cockburn Central station. Off peak and on weekends and public holidays, trains are every fifteen minutes. At night, trains are half-hourly or hourly. The journey to Perth Underground station takes seven minutes.^[4] Canning Bridge station had 932,132 passengers in the 2013–14 financial year, making it the third-least used station on the Mandurah line.^[58] In March 2018, there were approximately 4,000 boardings per weekday, of whom 2,800 transferred from buses.^[53]

There are ten regular bus routes which service Canning Bridge station.^[5] Route 100 and 101 go to Curtin University, with route 100 continuing past there to Cannington station.^[59] Those two routes are jointly funded by Curtin University and the Public Transport Authority.^[60][61] Running along the Kwinana Freeway to Elizabeth Quay bus station via the bus on-ramp are routes 111, 114, 115, 158, and 160.^[5] In the other direction, route 111 goes to Fremantle station via Canning Highway,^[62] route 114 goes to Lake Coogee,^[63] route 115 goes to Hamilton Hill,^[64] route 158 goes to Fremantle station via Bicton and Attadale,^[62] and route 160 goes to Fremantle station via Willagee and Booragoon.^[65] Running along Canning Highway without entering the freeway are routes 148, 510 and 910.^[5] Route 148 runs from Como to Fremantle station via Bicton and Attadale.^[62] Route 510 runs to Murdoch station.^[5] Route 910 runs from the Perth CBD to Fremantle station via Canning Highway.^[66] Additionally, there are two bus routes that run during events at Perth Stadium: 658, which runs from Perth Stadium to Hamilton Hill,^[67] and 659, which runs from Perth Stadium to Fremantle.^[68] Rail replacement bus services operate as route 909.^[5]

• Grieve, Bob; Pressley, John (1990). Two bridges on the Kwinana Freeway bus lane – Perth, Western Australia. 15th Australian Road Research Board Conference, Part 3. pp. 115–137 – via Rail Knowledge Bank.
• Watson, Geoff; de Jong, Henk; Radzivanas, Vyt (1990). Establishment of an exclusive bus lane on the Kwinana Freeway – Perth, Western Australia. 15th Australian Road Research Board Conference, Part 4. pp. 135–150 – via Rail Knowledge Bank.
• "South West Metropolitan Railway Master Plan". New MetroRail. April 2000. ISBN 978-0-7307-2472-8. Archived from the original on 28 August 2007.
• "Perth Urban Rail Development Project – Supplementary Master Plan" (PDF). New MetroRail. August 2002. ISBN 978-0-7307-2426-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2007.
• MacKinlay, Ros (2006). Shifting the Canning Bus Bridge Sideways (PDF). Austroads Bridge Conference. Wyche Consulting. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2020.
• Longhurst, Derek (2008). 48 months, 48 minutes: Building the Perth to Mandurah Railway. Rawlhouse Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9587406-8-5.

• Media related to Canning Bridge railway station at Wikimedia Commons