While the City of Canning may not have been consulted, St Norbert’s College principal Simon Harvey confirmed his school had been in discussions with METRONET over the Armadale line project since 2020.
Located a short walk from the Queens Park station and the Hamilton Street overpass, the school has approximately 200 students who catch the train to Queens Park then walk down George Street towards the school.
Mr Harvey said the relationship with Transperth and METRONET had been nothing but positive to date and expected it would remain as such in the future.
“METRONET have been very welcoming of our input and the open dialogue has been appreciated,” he said.
“This [the discussions] have been going on since 2020.”
Mr Harvey said the school was prepared if the closure led to more students being driven to the school, and that he had faith that the replacement service would be adequate.
“All schools are cognisant of traffic management around campuses – should this closure bring further traffic to our school zone, we will be sure to manage it as best as we can at that time.
“I am confident in the support that Transperth will provide in whatever form that does take. I have appreciated their engagement with us to date and expect that will continue into the future, especially during this extensive project.”
The school has a long-standing partnership with bus service Horizons West, and Mr Harvey said the school would consider its options in regards to that service.
“We will consider all of our options to assist students and families getting to and from our College once we have some certainty around what the Transperth replacement services will look like and how effective we feel they will be in assisting our students and families.
“Our partnership with Horizons West has been in place for many years and we’re appreciative of their support of our transport initiatives.
“It is comforting to know we have this relationship in place should we be required to call on them in the future.
“As a secondary school in this region and long-time members of the Queens Park community, St Norbert College is very excited about the future development of this rail corridor and the removal of the level crossings close to our campus.”
