Opposition to Perth mall rail plan mounts PRESSURE is mounting on the West Australian government to abandon plans to run light rail down Perth's busiest shopping mall. The Liberal state government proposes dual light-rail lines down the middle of the pedestrianised Hay Street Mall, which the City of Perth is against. The council has instead suggested St Georges Terrace or Wellington Street, which are both wider and already take vehicles. To show how much space the trains will take up in the mall, the City of Perth last week erected a plywood scale model of part of the trains, which will remain there until Wednesday morning. The rail lines are part of the state government's planned Metropolitan Area Express project, which is expected to cost more than $1 billion, but the final price tag and route are yet to be revealed. A City of Perth spokesman said the council had received many emails about the proposal, with more than 90 per cent strongly supporting the view the mall should remain pedestrian-friendly. Greens WA Senator Scott Ludlam said he'd rather have seen the $100,000 the council spent on the scale model, artist's impressions and the like put towards helping Perth's homeless, but it had made an important point. "I can understand the Lord Mayor's desire to head it off at the pass," Senator Ludlam told AAP. It would be a really expensive mistake that we would regret. There are much better ways of threading that infrastructure through town than trying to squeeze it down the most congested public thoroughfare. The council spokesman said as far as the City of Perth was aware, there was no proposal for a train stop in the mall. Hay Street Mall retailers have established a "fighting fund" to oppose the plan, while Transport Minister Troy Buswell is in Europe on a light rail fact-finding mission.