28 July 2007: Ipswich to Rosewood Citytrain Services: Timetable improvements

[ozbob]

RAIL Back On Track - Media Release 28 July 2007

Ipswich to Rosewood Citytrain Services:  Timetable improvements needed!

RAIL ? Back On Track (http://backontrack.org)  a web based community organisation for the promotion of rail throughout Australia has called for an imaginative revamp of the timetable for Translink Citytrain services between Rosewood and Ipswich, servicing one of the fastest growing regions in South East Queensland.  Congestion on Ipswich Highway is deadly and providing alternative accessible frequent transport options for commuters is urgently needed.

Robert Dow said:

?The present Citytrain timetable between Rosewood and Ipswich has huge gaps in weekday morning and afternoon schedules and a number of services during the day.  In the morning peak services leave Rosewood at 5.53 am, 6.25am, 6.54 am, 7.28 am and 8.18 am.  This is a poor service frequency and the timetable does not encourage commuters to use the train and help reduce congestion on Ipswich Highway.?

?In the afternoon trains leave Ipswich for Rosewood at 3.13pm, 3.41 pm, 4.38 pm, 5.49pm, 6.14 pm, 6.27 pm.  Again at a frequency that is not servicing people who commute from places along the Rosewood line that work and attend school and education centres and conduct business in the Ipswich area, and restricting options for long haul commuters.  More services are required particularly after the 3.41pm service: suggested times for additional services to Rosewood from Ipswich would be 4.03pm, 5.03pm, and 5.35pm.?

?The smart way to increase this frequency of service would be to dedicate two 3 car suburban trains to run shuttles during the peaks between Rosewood and Ipswich, and reduce the through running of services from Central to Ipswich and Rosewood. This would also have the benefit of freeing up more trains to increase services on the congested Ipswich to City and beyond services in peak times. One shuttle could also run extra services between 10 am and 3 pm daily, to provide for a service that does not exist at this time.  The minor inconvenience of changing trains at Ipswich would be greatly offset by the increased frequency of services between Ipswich and Rosewood which are at times that would encourage more commuters to use it.?

?Smart State, Smart Solutions!?

Contact:

Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track

http://backontrack.org

[ozbob]

Have received feedback already on this release.  Residents in the general area have been complaining for a while about the lack of service frequency.  Also the the trains to and from Rosewood do need to be well coordinated at Ipswich for connecting services.  This is not always done with the present shuttle services.  By expanding the shuttles, higher frequency possible and better servicing commuters real requirements.
Maximum use of connecting express services especially during peak as well.

Regards
Ozbob

[ozbob]

Some feedback received about the OP.  Thanks for the feedback! 

Additional Rosewood services need to be well coordinated with Brisbane services in order to best service commuters between Rosewood and Brisbane.  For example many services are not, eg. the 7:28am Rosewood  to  Ipswich  arrives Ipswich at 7:46am  then change trains for the  7:57am Ipswich  to Central, arriving at  8:52am.

As a result these services take 1hr 24mins, instead of 1hr 15mins of Rosewood trains that continue on to Central as the same service, or 1hr 10mins of the few services in the morning peak that run (very) limited express to Central.  A priority could be for Rosewood services to meet the express services whenever possible.

In general there is a large scope for improvements in travel times from Rosewood to Central through more frequent and faster express services.  It is worth comparing the Rosewood to Central Service (a 56 km route, with a minimum of double track all the way) to the Robina to Central service (an 85 km route, with single track for a substantial distance), Robina to Central is regularly timetabled for a 1hr 10min trip, the same time as Rosewood to travel a further 30km or so.  The Gold Coast Line has some high speed running sections, but there is no reason why the Ipswich Line could not be upgraded to achieve the same.

[ozbob]

The original release had a typographical error that implied that there were no services during the day.  That was not the intent at all the release has been corrected for that error. 

The point was being made that the present timetable in general terms has a higher frequency OFF PEAK than DURING PEAK in parts.  A very strange situation don't you agree?  By running the extra shuttles this frequency could be brought down during peak and during the day where gaps exists for example between 1.42pm and 2.42pm and 4.12pm and 5.12pm for services leaving Rosewood and during peak times as identified above.

Regards
Ozbob

[ozbob]

The Queensland Times, Ipswich based daily newspaper http://www.qt.com.au/

has done a follow up story.  Thanks Queensland Times for your support of these issues.

Copy of article attached below.

Regards
Ozbob

[ozbob]

Some feedback received, thanks!

You were able to get the crux of the story across well and it's good to have the support of the local councillor. Does Mr. Went really know how much patronage the service really gets?  Nearly every 3 car train I get on at Wulkuraka is 1/3rd full (not bad for an outer urban service). Improvement to the service would actually encourage more people to use it.  The patronage on the line is likely to increase in the future with planned TOD around the stations/towns serviced by the line.

(TOD=Transit Oriented Development)

[ozbob]

Some more feedback received.  Thankyou 

QR  - provision of bicycle lockers (or possibly Council, if QR is resource constrained in the infrastructure it can roll out I don?t see why others can?t pitch in to achieve the same positive results, I note this is happening already in the delivery of the SEQIP Rail projects being built as aliances)
Ipswich City Council - improved pedestrian access to stations
QR (or possibly others) - improve the amenity of stations to make them an attractive focal point for residents that will draw people towards them.

[ozbob]

Feedback received, thanks!


I counted the loading on the 6:00 Rosewood this morning and there was only 17 people in my car at Wulkuraka which is about 7% seated capacity, however I'm sure that the 7:00am, 7:30 and 8:00am ish trains are more patronised. From my recollection, the Rosewood that connects with the 4:48pm from Central is probably 1/2 full, next time I catch it I will take closer note.

[ozbob]

Ipswich News will be a doing a story on these improvements this week.

Regards
Ozbob

[ozbob]

Ipswich News done a story Re timetable Improvements Ipswich Rosewood Line.

Thanks for your interest Ipswich News and support of community issues.
Copy below.

Regards
Ozbob