The Western Australian Government plans to transform the Midland TAFE campus by 2020 into a specialist training facility to equip locals with the skills to build METRONET.
The METRONET Trade Training Centre will provide specific technical and support skills required for railcar manufacturing and METRONET maintenance.
It will only be three kilometres from the site of the new Bellevue METRONET railcar manufacturing facility, where 246 railcars required for the project will be manufactured.
Midland TAFE will work with the METRONET project team, the Public Transport Authority and railcar contractors and subcontractors to develop specific training and workforce development programs to ensure they complement future plans for METRONET.
Western Australian Transport Minister Rita Saffioti welcomed the announcement.
“Midland is the historical heart of rail manufacturing in Western Australia and I am pleased that, under the McGowan Government, rail manufacturing will return to the area,” she said.
“The METRONET Trade Training Centre will complete the railcar manufacturing hub in Midland, which will support the local economy and create life and vitality in the area. It will complement our commitment to ensure at least 50 per cent of METRONET railcars are manufactured in WA.”
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