Traditional owners

We acknowledge the Whadjuk people, the traditional custodians of the land and waterways on which the rail trail is constructed.

Development and future of the rail trail

The 2017 Kalamunda Bike Plan highlights the opportunity of connecting the Zig Zag through to Roe Highway via the old rail alignment, thereby linking this rail trail to Perth’s Principal Shared Path (PSP) network.

Stage 2 of the Hills Loop Trail proposes to loop from Pickering Brook back to Kalamunda through parts of the trails network to the east.

 Rail line history

The Upper Darling Range Railway was a branch railway from Midland Junction,  that rose up the southern side of the Helena Valley and on to the Darling Scarp via the Kalamunda Zig Zag.  It was the only section of railway in Western Australia to have had a zig zag formation at the time of construction.

It was built by the Canning Jarrah Timber Company to supply railway sleepers to Western Australia’s railway system.

It was opened between Midland and Canning Mills in 1891 and extended to Karragullen in 1912. The line closed in 1949.