Western Australia's 'Australind' train returns with locally built DMUs

Transwa’s Australind passenger service has restarted following the delivery of the first of four Alstom diesel multiple-units ordered for the 167 km route between Perth and Bunbury.

The 1067 mm gauge DMUs have been built by Alstom at its Bellevue site in on the outskirts of Perth under a A$54m contract awarded as part of a wider A$1.3 billion order which also included the supply and maintenance of C Series EMUs for use on the city’s suburban routes. The DMUs and EMUs are from Alstom’s X’trapolis family, part of its Adessia portfolio.

‘The ongoing investment and partnership of the West Australian government has been critical to restoring not just the Perth to Bunbury service, but the continuity of local rail manufacturing, the local supply chain and high skilled jobs in the state’, said Guillaume Tritter, Managing Director of Alstom Australia & New Zealand.

Trains have been replaced by road coaches since 2023. The phased reintroduction of train services began on June 29, with one return train a day running on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and taking 2½ h each way.

Services will be ramped up as the rest of the DMUs enter traffic by the end of the year.

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