Transport Minister Rita Saffioti has revealed a “signalling fault” was the technical issue that caused train delays for passengers heading to an Italian soccer match at Optus Stadium on Friday night.
Signalling is crucial for directing trains and letting them know when they can come into a station.
Passengers on the Armadale, Midland and Fremantle trains experienced severe delays when heading to Stadium Station late Friday afternoon to watch AC Milan play against AS Roma in a friendly match in Perth.
Ms Saffioti — who is also Tourism Minister and was central to securing the teams — said she spoke to the Public Transport Authority on Saturday morning.
“There was a technical signalling fault at Stadium Station and this is actually the second time that’s happened since the station was opened in 2018,” the minister said.
“Sometimes we have signalling faults across the network and they cause inconvenience.
“The PTA worked as hard as it could to reduce the impact, that included bringing in extra buses to move people from the station to the Matagarup Bridge. We apologise for the inconvenience that occurred.”
Ms Saffioti said the PTA had to make a quick decision on whether to close the line or move the trains slower, and they chose the latter option — resulting in delays.
The minister said when the Thornlie-Cockburn line opened it would provide another access route to the stadium and increase the “resilience” of the rail network.
Roma defeated Milan 5 goals to 2, with more than 56,000 people packing Optus for the game.