General information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Location | Forrest Street, Kalgoorlie | ||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 30°44′46″S121°28′01″E / 30.7460°S 121.4669°E | ||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1,234 feet (376 m) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Owned by | Transwa | ||||||||||||||||||||
Operated by | Transwa | ||||||||||||||||||||
Line(s) | Eastern Goldfields Railway Trans-Australian Railway | ||||||||||||||||||||
Distance | 653 kilometres from Perth | ||||||||||||||||||||
Platforms | 3 (1 side, 2 bay) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||||||||||||
Structure type | Ground | ||||||||||||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 8 September 1896 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Type | State Registered Place | ||||||||||||||||||||
Designated | 14 December 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Reference no. | 1279 |
Kalgoorlie railway station is the easternmost attended station in Western Australia, located at the eastern terminus of the Eastern Goldfields Railway. It serves the city of Kalgoorlie. Beyond Kalgoorlie, the line continues east as the Trans-Australian Railway.
Construction of the railway station and yard was begun in the late 1890s, as part of the extension of the Eastern Goldfields Railway from Coolgardie in January 1897. [2] The station was formally opened by the Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Gerard Smith KCMG, at a ceremony held on the station platform on 8 September 1896. [3]
In the early stages of the development of railways in the Eastern Goldfields, it was the junction for the following railways: [4]
In 1917, Kalgoorlie became a break-of-gauge station when the Commonwealth Railways' standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway from Port Augusta opened. This ceased on 3 August 1968, when the Eastern Goldfields Railway was gauge converted. [8] [9]
Surveyed in 1899, [10] the line went from Kalgoorlie station. [11] Due to costs and passenger decline, in 1920, some of the stations listed below were reduced in status by ceasing to be booking stations: Hannan Street, Golden Gate, Brown Hill and Trafagar. [12] In 1921, fares increased. [13] In 1930, the passenger service was closed. [14] [15]
Western side:
Inner western side
Boulder Loop
Eastern side
The platform was the longest in Western Australia, 527 m [18]
It was eclipsed by the new East Perth Terminal platform, built for the 1969-70 extension of standard gauge into Perth. [19] At each end of the main platform are bay platforms; the three to the east (adjacent to the former water tank and signal box) were where Boulder loop line passenger services arrived, and the western one is where the current Prospector services terminate. The eastern bays were converted to standard gauge for Trans-Australia Railway, prior to the extension of the standard gauge line to Perth.
Due to it being the western terminus of the Trans-Australian Railway, the station has been the location of a number of commemorations and ceremonies from the opening of that railway in 1917 and since. [20]
Kalgoorlie is served by the Transwa Prospector rural train service and the Indian Pacific . It was also previously served by the Kalgoorlie Express, The Westland and Trans Australian .
The Prospector service runs to and from East Perth once or twice each day. [21]
The Indian Pacific also stops here. It runs once a week each way between East Perth and Sydney Central.
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located 595 km (370 mi) east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includes the historic townsite of Boulder and the local government area is the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder.
Southern Cross is a town in Western Australia, 371 kilometres east of state capital Perth on the Great Eastern Highway. It was founded by gold prospectors in 1888, and gazetted in 1890. It is the major town and administrative centre of the Shire of Yilgarn. At the 2016 census, Southern Cross had a population of 680.
Merredin is a town in Western Australia, located in the central Wheatbelt roughly midway between Perth and Kalgoorlie, on Route 94, Great Eastern Highway. It is located on the route of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, and as a result is also on the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail.
The Eastern Railway is the main railway route between Fremantle and Northam in Western Australia. It opened in stages between 1881 and 1893. The line continues east to Kalgoorlie as the Eastern Goldfields Railway.
Coolgardie is a small town in Western Australia, 558 kilometres (347 mi) east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 850 people.
The Prospector is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between East Perth and Kalgoorlie. On this service, two trains depart almost at the same time in opposite directions, one travelling between East Perth and Kalgoorlie, and the other between Kalgoorlie and East Perth. The original vehicles ordered in 1968 for trains providing this service were replaced in 2004 with vehicles capable of reducing journey times to 6 hours 45 minutes.
Bodallin is a town located around half way between Merredin and Southern Cross in Western Australia.
Koolyanobbing is located 54 km (34 mi) north-northeast of the town of Southern Cross, Western Australia. A subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs of Cleveland, Ohio mines Iron ore here. The ore is railed to the port at Esperance for export. Current operations commenced in 1993. The current owner and operator of the lease is Mineral Resources who took over from Cleveland-Cliffs in July 2018. MRL currently mine the ore and transport it to the port of Esperance
The Eastern Goldfields Railway was built in the 1890s by the Western Australian Government Railways to connect Perth with the Eastern Goldfields at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie.
The Westland was the name given in 1938 to the overnight train operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) with sitting and sleeping cars between Perth and Kalgoorlie, where it connected with the Trans-Australian service to Adelaide.
Railways in Western Australia were developed in the 19th century both by the Government of Western Australia and a number of private companies. Today passenger rail services are controlled by the Public Transport Authority through Transperth, which operates public transport in Perth, and Transwa, which operates country passenger services. Journey Beyond operates the Indian Pacific.
Merredin railway station is located on the Eastern Goldfields Railway in Western Australia. It is in the town of Merredin.
Southern Cross railway station is located on the Eastern Goldfields Railway in Western Australia. It serves the town of Southern Cross.
The WAGR WCA class railcars and WCE class trailers were built by Comeng, Granville for the Western Australian Government Railways in 1971 to operate the new Prospector service between East Perth and Kalgoorlie. At the time of their construction the WCA class units were the longest and fastest diesel railcars in the world.
The Public Transport Centre is a terminal and administration building for public transport in Perth, Western Australia. It is the centerpiece of East Perth Terminal, a standard gauge railway station and coach terminal adjacent to East Perth station on the Transperth narrow gauge suburban rail network.
Toodyay railway station is located on the Eastern Railway in the Avon River town of Toodyay in Western Australia.
Northam railway station is located in Northam on the Eastern Railway route in Western Australia. It is the second and more recent railway station in Northam.
The Kalgoorlie was a railway passenger service operated by the Western Australian Government Railways between November 1962 and November 1971.
The community of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia had an energetic newspaper publishing industry in the late 1890s and early 1900s.