Sunshine Coast Line - rail improvements (Effective from 29 June 2009)

[Sunbus610]

Some times have changed as a result of the track duplication between Caboolture and Beerburrum being delivered. The new timetable removes any unnecessary waiting time.

Click HERE for more details via the TRANSLink website.

[Arnz]

Has a "DRAFT" in the background of the timetable in the link.

Also, the Platform information is outdated, as it still refers to "Beerburrum" as 3-platforms.  That needs to be fixed up.

[Fares_Fair]

The "new" timetable's overall departure and arrival times seem to be what it was before the current timetable. e.g. Nambour to Central peak hour times haven't actually changed with the new section of duplicated track in between.

Result is no actual improvement in running times !

Regards,
Fares_Fair

[Arnz]

I do not think the timetable was to change/improve peak running times.  It was more to help the counter-peak services which had to wait for the peak services to pass.

This timetable revision merely cuts "the fat" from those services.

[Fridge]

I hate to disagree with you arnz, but nothing has changed.  It had been advertised that the duplication between Caboolture and Beerburrum would improve travel times by on average 3mins. Therefore most if not all services should be changed to reflect it.  Only 1 weekday inbound service, 1 weekday outbound service, 1 Saturday service and 1 Sunday service had been changed.

All other services have the same arrival and departure times for Central, Caboolture and Nambour.

The bar at the side of the timetable that shows average travel time between stations has not been changed either.

Overall FAIL.

There are other issues with how the timetable presentation has changed as well.

Over the weekend I will write a very detailed submission to Translink and then bring it to the Nambour CRG meeting next Wednesday, which is actually focusing on timetabling issues.

[Fares_Fair]

Sorry too Arnz, but Fridge is right.

Where is the efficiency in duplicating the track from Caboolture to Beerburrum
if it made no difference to the travelling times for commuters, none at all - not one minute.

The question needs to be asked "where has the time saving gone ?"
or has it been swallowed up by QR's 'Freight priority' policy over Passengers ?

One good point with the new timetable is the clear differentiation (by numbers) of the
express services that go all the way from Caboolture to Bowen Hills (denoted by a 5) and Petrie - Northgate
intermediate stops (denoted by a 4). Also the platform numbers being shown,
albeit with a disclaimer that they can change without notice.

Regards,
Fares_Fair

[Fridge]

As per my earlier rant....

My submission to Translink about the new Nambour timetable:

_ _ _


I have several issues with the new Nambour/Sunshine Coast Rail Timetable released for commencement on 29 June 2009.  They are the actually time changes and the timetable document display.

1.   The reason for this timetable adjustment as stated on the Translink website was to remove any unnecessary waiting time.  This has not occurred for all services, furthermore all train services should have their travel time adjusted to reflect the time savings created by the Caboolture to Beerburrum track realignment and duplication.  It was promoted that the duplication would provide an average time saving of 3 minutes per trip.  This new timetable shows only 4 trip changes:
-   Weekday City to Nambour service (arrive Nambour at 2.36pm);
-   Weekday Nambour to Caboolture service (depart Nambour at 11.11am);
-   Sunday Nambour to Caboolture service (depart Nambour at 7.56pm); and
-   Saturday City to Nambour service (arrive Nambour at 8.28am).
In particular the train I catch on a weekday morning, from Caboolture to Nambour (arrive Nambour at 8.56am) used to cross a Citybound service at Elimbah before the track duplication, now on the new tracks we cross that same train somewhere between Elimbah and Beerburrum Stations and we wait 3-4 minutes at Beerburrum Station before we leave for Glasshouse Mountains Station.

2.   The integration of rail services at Caboolture must be improved to remove long waiting times to change services.  The situations this applies to include:
-   Changing between the Nambour/Caboolture Railbus and the Caboolture/City train;
-   Changing between the Nambour/Caboolture train shuttle and the Caboolture/City train; and
-   Changing between Nambour/City express train and the Caboolture/City all stations train.
My personal opinion is that these waiting times should not exceed 10 minutes. The new timetable shows that there are 23 weekday and 22 weekend services that exceed 10 minute waits for a change in service.  Some notable waiting times include:
-   27 minute wait at Caboolture for the Weekday City train for travellers on the Caboolture train that departs Nambour at 11.11am;
-   27 minute wait at Caboolture for the Weekday all stations train to the City for travellers on the Roma St express train that departs Nambour at 6.37pm; and
-   21 minute wait at Caboolture for the Weekday Nambour express train that arrives at Nambour at 2.36pm for travellers who catch the all station train to Caboolture; and
-   40 minutes wait at Caboolture for the Sunday Nambour express train that arrives at Nambour at 9.43am for travellers who catch the all station train to Caboolture.

3.   Timetable presentation ? on the old timetable, short platform information was included on the station list for each individual timetable in addition to the timetable footnotes and an information box.  In the new timetable this information is not included, only the footnotes and information box.  Listing this information will next to the station name in each timetable will make it easier for those who do not travel regularly to identify where they should sit.  It will also help to facilitate QR?s ?Safety Initiatives? for the Sunshine Coast Line.

4.   Timetable presentation ? there have been no changes to reflect the time savings on the display bar that shows the travel times between stations on the Sunshine Coast Line, especially Caboolture-Elimbah-Beerburrum travel times.

[Fares_Fair]

Hello,

In light of the start of construction next month (I'm told that the contract has been awarded)
of the temporary platforms to short platform stations on the North Coast line - scheduled to take 6-8 weeks - it will be interesting to see the outcome given that QR have stated in our CRG meeting that the reason for the non-improvement in train times is because of the time taken for the zero harm procedures currently in place for short platform stations ...

Once the platforms have their temporary extensions in place then the time should improve for travel along the new duplicated section from Caboolture to Beerburrum.

Interesting to wait and see ...

Regards,
Fares_Fair

[Fares_Fair]

Footnote to the above... nothing changed time wise !
In fact, under the new June 6, 2011 timetable, journey times increased by over 6%.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.