Metronet Morley-Ellenbrook Line (MEL)

Nov 30

An attractive new transport option for Perth’s north-eastern suburbs

Project info

Client: Public Transport Authority
Location: Noranda and Morley, WA
Traditional owners: Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation
Date: Current
Collaborators: Woods Bagot
Photography: Supplied by Woods Bagot, Photography by Trevor Mein

Awards

2025 George Temple Poole Award

2025 Wallace Greenham Award for Sustainable Architecture

2025 Award for Public Architecture

2025 Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture

2025 AIA National Architecture Awards shortlist (Steel Architecture and Sustainable Architecture)

TRCB (working with project leaders Woods Bagot) has set a new benchmark in rail infrastructure for design quality, public amenity, and sustainability of The Metronet Morley–Ellenbrook Line (MEL).

Five stations, located at current and future town centres, are integrated with their contexts through tailored at-grade and elevated platform designs, enhancing convenience, accessibility, and wayfinding. High-quality landscaping anticipates future, or enhances current, surrounding urban development, positioning each station as a catalyst for growth.

A consistent design framework of standardised materials, details, and construction systems was implemented for efficiency and repetition, while allowing flexibility to meet site-specific needs. This approach provided distinct identities for each station within a family of five stations.

The project achieved unprecedented sustainability outcomes in Australian transport infrastructure. Ellenbrook Station received a 6 Star Green Star Rating - the highest ever for a railway station - and the project was the first in Australia and New Zealand to use a solar farm to power an off-grid construction site. It also earned a Gold Infrastructure Sustainability Council rating.

Contracts worth ~$56 million were awarded to Indigenous businesses, informed by a delivery capacity survey. The design team tailored discrete subcontract packages, including artwork commissions, to suit these suppliers—an exemplary outcome.

The line received the 2025 George Temple Poole Award for its outstanding contribution to public infrastructure and its role in setting new sustainability standards in a major growth corridor of Perth.