The state-of-the-art high speed Prospector, introduced into service in June 2004, can travel at up to 160kmh, enabling it to complete the 653km trip from Perth to Kalgoorlie in just over six and a half hours. This is almost two hours quicker than the previous version of the train, making the rail trip competitive with road for the first time.
Standard features on the Prospector include personal music channels, new release movies, access to power points for laptop computers, phone and facsimile services, buffet and special facilities for people with mobility difficulties.
Covering the 655 km from Perth to Kalgoorlie and vice versa in 6 hours 45 minutes, The Prospector operates 18 services per week (twice in each direction on Monday and Friday).
When the first Prospector came into service in 1971, television and cinema advertising hailed it as a modern rail link to Western Australia's Goldfields frontier. It was WA's great rail journey - to be taken in relaxed comfort. In many respects, that train represented a greater leap forward for its time than the new Prospector will in ours. Importantly, the Prospector marked the switch from narrow to standard gauge rail in country passenger services - cutting the travel time and increasing ride comfort.
It was Australia's fastest train and the first to offer an "airline style" full-meal service. After 32 years transporting about 2.6 million passengers and travelling more than 20 million kilometres on the journey between Perth and Kalgoorlie, the Prospector has earned pride of place in WA rail history.
The city of Kalgoorlie was founded in 1893 during the Yilgarn goldfields gold rush, and is located close to the so-called Golden Mile. Three years later, the WA Government's narrow gauge railway reached Kalgoorlie. The first named railway service from Perth was The Westland, a steam hauled overnight sleeper train which ran until the 1970 when the new standard gauge rail link between Perth and Kalgoorlie was completed. The journey took 14-hours.
By the time The Westland was introduced, trains crossing the Darling Scarp to the east of Perth had already stopped using the original Eastern Railway's Mundaring Loop, which ascended the escarpment around Greenmount Hill passing through Boya, Darlington, Glen Forrest, Mundaring and Sawyers Valley. Opened in March 1884, this route was soon found to be too steep for the increasingly heavier trains and engines and another route was devised utilising a tunnel. In July 1896, what became known as the Parkerville Deviation via Swan View, John Forrest National Park, Hovea, Parkerville and Stoneville, through to Mt. Helena opened in July 1896, with The Westland the first passenger train to use it.
The Mundaring Loop, which had opened up the Mundaring district for settlement, remained in use for lighter, local traffic, giving long standing service to the residents and the many growing industries in the area. In due course stopping places along the lines increased in number and a branch line was built to Mundaring Weir during its construction (1898-1903). The branch line to Mundaring Weir was closed in 1952. Passenger traffic ceased between Boya and Mount Helena on 24 January 1954 and the route was closed from Koongamia - Mount Helena on 12 March 1965. The walking trail that follows the line echoes a past of incredible feats of engineering and manual labour.
Jane Brook Railway bridge in John Forrest National Park on the original line across the Darling Scarp
The Parkerville Deviation was originally only a single track and featured Western Australia's first (and only until 1990) railway tunnel. As traffic increased the route was duplicated, with the second track bypassing the tunnel, resulting in a slightly longer journey for trains heading across the Darling Scarp.
In the 1950s, it became clear to the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) that the original Eastern Railway alignments were not suitable for future traffic and the loadings that were to be carried between the coast and the areas east of the Darling Scarp. A new eastern railway route was commissioned to run through the Avon Valley, further north than existing Eastern Railway alignments. It features much milder grades and was designed for faster train speeds.
The original Prospector train
It is a dual gauge (Stevenson standard gauge and Anglo Cape 3' 6" narrow gauge) double line throughout its entirety. This new route was opened on 13 February 1966 and coincided with the closure of the earlier two routes of the Eastern Railway. The line is still operational and is used by all rail freight to the east as well as the Transwa Prospector, Transwa Avonlink and the Indian Pacific.
The original Eastern Railway alignments still survive today, in the form of a shared path used for cycling, horse riding and walking. Over 80 km remain as a path, all the way from Bellevue near Midland right through to Clackline. Remnants of the second line, including a number of embankments, cuttings, bridges and the Swan View tunnel, can be seen in John Forrest National Park.
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