Targets off the rails: Rita Saffioti defends Made in WA railcars as trains run late and cost taxpayers $175m

Trains are running late more often and costing taxpayers $175 million more each year, it can be revealed, sparking a new fight over whether Labor’s flagship Made in WA project has been worth it.

Rita Saffioti denied the new C-series rail car was to blame for worsening reliability, despite the Public Transport Authority’s annual report attributing the problem to “electrical and mechanical issues”.

The report revealed the percentage of train services arriving within four minutes of schedule fell three per cent in 2024-25 to 91.87 per cent, below the PTA’s 95 per cent target.

“We’ve been trying to integrate the biggest transformation of the rail line, of the public transport network, ever,” the Transport Minister said.

“As we bed this last rail line down, we’ll see those numbers change be