Midland Line is a suburban railway line in Perth, Western Australia. It runs through Perth's eastern suburbs and connects Perth and Midland.

History

The line was a part of the first suburban railway line in Perth, opening on March 1, 1881. It originally operated as the Eastern Railway and ran between Fremantle and Guildford passing through Perth.

Throughout the 1880s, the Eastern Railway line was extended beyond Guildford and Midland Junction along its first route to Chidlow and Northam. The second route varied after Bellevue proceeding to Chidlow. The third route saw the removal of the Bellevue Railway station in its construction, with the new Midland railway terminus replacing the older Midland Junction railway station.

An anomaly of the Midland line timetables in the 1950s and 1960's was that Bellevue was nominally the terminus of the line until 1962. Koongamia, which was a new station prior to Greenmount on the original first route, was the terminus from 1962 to 1966.

In 1966, the stations on the first two Eastern Railway routes as well as the old Midland Junction railway station were closed and the new Midland was constructed 200 metres to the west and became the new terminus.

Generally, changes from the 1970s saw a significant number of stations on the line moved or turned into island platform stations (to be compatible with the double track, dual-gauge track configuration between East Perth and Midland).

On July 24, 2004, Bassendean became the first station to be upgraded under the Building Better Stations project.

In the earlier decades of the twentieth century, a significant number of rail-crossing accidents between motor vehicles and trains occurred. Unattended crossings were provided with boom gates, flashing lights and bells to counter inattention or risk taking from drivers. Also crossings were reduced, and in a number of locations bridges were constructed.

In mid-February 2006, an express train from heading from Midland to Perth, was involved in an accident with a passenger car. Near Guildford a tourist, unfamiliar with the road layout illegally turned right at a set of traffic lights onto the wrong side of the road crossing the railway. This lane was not protected on the oncoming side with a boom gate as it was a one way lane. The train slammed into the vehicle, dragging it for a short distance. The accident resulted in the death of the car's driver but no fatalities or reported injuries to the passenger and driver of the train.

Airport Railway Connection

In the 1990s the Bayswater Council had put up a proposal for a rail connection with the airport .

The more recent 2024 Airport Masterplan calls for the completion of a rail link that will connect with the Midland Line between Bayswater Station and Ashfield Station at the Tonkin Highway. The proposed rail link will continue above ground along Tonkin Highway to Great Eastern Highway where it is believed to go underground along Brearley Avenue and to the terminals in operation at completion of the line.

Train Stations

During peak hours on weekdays, some stopping patterns exclude stations on this line.

• Red denotes city stations.
• Dark Red denotes Midland line stations.
• Black denotes terminuses.

Name of Station	Code	Zone	Serving Suburbs	Pattern stops at this station				Transfers
Midland Line
Perth	MPH	1, FTZ	Perth, Northbridge	All	A	B	P	Through to Fremantle Line Platform transfer to Armadale / Thornlie Line, Joondalup Line and Mandurah Line Transwa Australind service to Bunbury Bus transfers at Wellington Street Bus Station
McIver	MMR	1, FTZ	Perth, East Perth	All	A	B	P	Armadale / Thornlie Line
Claisebrook	MCK	1, FTZ	East Perth	All	A	B	P	Armadale / Thornlie Line
East Perth	MEP	1	Perth, East Perth	All		B	P	East Perth Passenger Terminal Transwa Avonlink service to Merredin Transwa Prospector service to Kalgoorlie Indian Pacific to Adelaide and Sydney Country and Interstate Coach Services
Mt Lawley	MML	1	Mount Lawley	All		B
Maylands	MMS	1	Maylands	All	A	B	P
Meltham	MMM	1	Bayswater	All		B
Bayswater	MBR	1	Bayswater	All	A	B	P	Bus transfers, CircleRoute
Ashfield	MAD	2	Ashfield, Bassendean	All	A		P
Bassendean	MBN	2	Bassendean	All	A	B	P	Bus transfers
Success Hill	MSH	2	Bassendean	All	A		P
Guildford	MGD	2	Guildford	All	A		P
East Guildford	MEG	2	Guildford	All	A		P
Woodbridge	MWM	2	Woodbridge	All	A		P
Midland	MMD	2	Midland	All	A	B	P	Bus transfers Transwa Avonlink service to Northam and Merredin Transwa Prospector service to Kalgoorlie Country coach services

Stopping Patterns

• All - all stops to Midland.
• A - stops at McIver, Claisebrook, express to Maylands, express to Bayswater, then all stations to Midland.
• B - all stops to Bayswater, then stops at Bassendean and Midland.
• P - all stops to Midland except Mt Lawley and Meltham.

Old Stopping Patterns

• E - stops at McIver, Claisebrook, Maylands, Bayswater, Bassendean and Midland.

See also

Current information

• Transperth
• Transperth Trains
• List of Perth railway stations

Historical information

• Midland Railway of Western Australia

Further reading

• Watson, Lindsay The Railway History Of Midland Junction : Commemorating The Centenary Of Midland Junction, 1895-1995 Swan View, W.A : L & S Drafting in association with the Shire of Swan and the Western Australian Light Railway Preservation Association, 1995