10 Oct 2009: SEQ: Rail commuters concerned with rail network reliability

[ozbob]

Media Release 10 October 2009

SEQ:  Rail commuters concerned with rail network reliability

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has suggested that the regular track and signal failures on the suburban and urban rail network needs to be addressed.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"There are many factors that impact on the ontime train performance.  Some of these factors are network problems particularly signal and track failures, power problems, level crossing incidents, Citytrain and freight train failures, crew and passenger illness, increased dwell times due to overloading and other police incidents."

"QR Passenger's ontime train performance is being significantly impacted by what seems to be almost daily signal and track failures. Most of the factors that are impacting on the ontime train performance are not under the direct control of the operator, that is QR Passenger."

"Why are we suffering these constant signal and track failures?  Is network maintenance being properly performed?  These are questions frustrated rail commuters would like answers too."

"Yesterday evening, more signal failures on the Sunshine Coast line again caused major disruptions. QR Passenger managed these disruptions well but these now almost regular delays and disruptions must be turned around (2)."

References:

1.   http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?board=20.0

2.   http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1999.msg14649#msg146490

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[ozbob]

As if on queue  ..

http://www.citytrain.com.au/ Accessed 10.50am 12th October 2009

Ipswich/Rosewood Line : Delays
12 Oct 2009

15 mins delay for services on Ipswich/Rosewood Line due to track fault. Service to resume by 3:00 PM.

Revised:

http://www.citytrain.com.au/ Accessed 1.20pm 12th October 2009

Ipswich/Rosewood Line : Disruptions between Dinmore and Corinda
12 Oct 2009

Disruptions on Ipswich/Rosewood Line between Dinmore and Corinda due to track fault. Expect 15 mins delay. Service to resume by 4:00 PM.

[#Metro]

I'm worried. What if there is an accident? From another thread, there is no ATP on the network.

[ozbob]

Signal systems are designed to fail safe, but the constant failures do cause concern IMHO.

[Arnz]

I'm worried. What if there is an accident? From another thread, there is no ATP on the network.

There is ATP on the Sunshine Coast Line north of Caboolture.  Suburban Network Control switches to North Coast Network Control at Beerburrum.

[ozbob]

Another 'signal failure' on the Caboolture line today.  See http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1862.msg15227#new

[ozbob]

Interview 612 ABC Brisbane  click --> here! 

This was follow up on the problems at Beenleigh today 23rd October 2009.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes clickhere!

'Shoddy' maintenance blamed for train delays

'Shoddy' maintenance blamed for train delays
MARISSA CALLIGEROS
October 23, 2009 - 9:37AM

Daily delays faced by Brisbane rail commuters are the result of the State Government's failure to properly maintain the track network, Queensland's peak rail lobby group says.

Three peak hour services from the Gold Coast and Beenleigh were cancelled this morning due to an electrical fault causing overcrowding on trains and delays of up to 30 minutes for Brisbane-bound commuters.

The point failure closed all but one track between Beenleigh and Ormeau.

Earlier this month signal failures on the Sunshine Coast line also caused major disruptions to peak hour services between Brisbane and Caboolture.

While level crossing incidents, freight train derailments, crew and passenger illness and increased boarding times were responsible for some delays on the network, rail lobby group Rail: Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said recurrent disruptions endured by commuters were often the result of shoddy maintenance.

"Daily signal and track failures can only be the result of poor maintenance," Mr Dow said.

"QR Passenger's on-time train performance is being significantly impacted by problems that quite simply should not be occurring as regularly as they are."

Earlier this year QR was fined $6.7 million for poor on-time performance during 2007-08.

Translink fines QR if it does not meet the target of having 92.4 per cent of Citytrain services run on time each financial year.

Yesterday less than 90 per cent of all rail services ran on time, causing delays for peak hour commuters.

Mr Dow said the passenger arm of QR had worked hard to improve on time performance, but QR Network which is responsible for track maintenance, was failing CityTrain services.

"We've noted that there have been a lot of proactive things done by QR Passenger to rectify the delays, but they can only do so much if they're being let down by constant track and signal failures.

"Most of the factors that are impacting on the on-time train performance are not under the direct control of the operator, that is QR Passenger."

Comment was being sought from QR, although Mr Dow said the department had failed to answer questions on maintenance works inthe past.

"We want to know why network maintenance is not being properly performed.

"The reality is people are missing flights and long-standing medical appointments and they are late for work."

[O_128]

This extends to trains aswell. I was on SMU 269/26? this afternoon on the 3:27 cleveland train. every time the train went around a sharp corner a massive thud could be hear as if something was hitting something it isnt supposed to.

[ozbob]

QR Network IS responsible for the network.

SEQ

? is responsible for infrastructure in South East
Queensland where more than 60 million journeys
are completed each year, as well as managing
significant coal and other freight traffic to the Port
of Brisbane and other terminals.

From QR Network Leadership Team responsibilities

QR Services carries out the actual maintenance but the overall responsibility belongs to QR Network.

[ozbob]

Already some issues:

http://www.citytrain.com.au/

Cleveland Train : Delays from Roma Street
24 Oct 2009

15 mins delay for the Cleveland train departing Roma Street at 4:48 AM due to signalling fault. Service to resume by 5:48 AM.


24 Oct 2009

15 mins delay for the Bowen Hills train departing Manly at 5:12 AM due to signalling fault. Service to resume by 6:12 AM.

[#Metro]

I think this is quite scary.
I mean, if the signals aren't being maintained properly... what else isn't being maintained?

[longboi]

@tramtrain

99% of the time signal faults are due to some connection problem between control and the actual signal, not poor maintenance of the signals themselves.

[ozbob]

As mentioned before Tramtrain signal systems are designed to fail safe.   Nonetheless the constant failures are impacting on service reliability.

Once upon a time we had local signal boxes, often rods and linkage controlled points and signals.  It was labour intensive but by gosh reliable.  Centralised control arrived and  offered many benefits.  Better safety lower costs but possibly not as reliable as it is highly dependent on secure reliable communication networks.  It appears that these networks do often fail. Is there a back up system other than written train orders?  Sometimes the signal itself fails as happened on the FG this week, a globe failure, but it does appear to be communication/power issues often.

Track failures are happening with some regularity  (one right now between Redbank and Bundamba).  It seems quite a while now since I last saw some gangers walking the tracks as they used to.  Visually inspecting the right of way on foot, armed with some basic tools and able to identify issues and fix minor issues before they became significant problems.  How often is the track between Central and Roma St visually inspected?  Daily, weekly or not at all?  I think it used to be daily but is now done weekly? Twice weekly?  The recent derailment of a service from Cleveland as it approached central may will have been avoided with more frequent inspections.

The article from Brisbanetimes above has twisted a little the thrust of our media releases and my comments (ABC Radio).  It does appear that the level of maintenance may well have decreased (the amount of funding reduced).  What maintenance is done I would suggest would be to a very high level.

Bottom line is though that the network is increasingly unreliable, that does not mean it is unsafe.  What about the poor souls Cleveland bound this morning for work etc?  Their service cancelled due to a signal fault and forced to wait an hour for the next service.  Railways never used to operate like this.  



PS Check out this --> http://www.signalbox.org/overseas/australia/brisbanecentral.htm

[O_128]

are there no plans for a new signal system? i remember this was one of the things that the LNP wanted. Signal failures are now becoming an almost daily occurence something needs to be done

[mufreight]

These are a few points that might be of interest in relation to the consistent failures of QR Network's administration of maintenance of the rail system.
Maintenance of the network is carried out (internally sub-contracted to) by QR Services at the direction of QR Network who authorises the funding, this convoluted paper shuffling provides another avenue to evade responsibility but at this time like it or not QR Network is ultimately responsible for the standards and level of maintenance of the rail infrastructure for the commuter network and as such is responsible for ALL infrastructure failures.
That Translink has still not finalised the funding for the operation of commuter rail services for the 2009 - 2010 financial year four months after the start of the year clearly indicates another area of failure by both Translink and Government that impacts on the ability of QR Passenger to provide the levels of service that commuters need.
A solution for the long suffering commuters would be for QR Passenger to be given full control of, ownership of and responsibility for the commuter network, and to be funded so that the infrastructure could be maintained to the standards needed to ensure safe reliable operation of the network. At the present time it obviously is not being maintained to the appropriate standards that in the interests of reliable SAFE operation the levels and maintenance would be appropriate.
QR Passenger would then be able to provide a better SAFE and reliable commuter service and would be obliged to provide paths for the operation of freight services through the commuter network.
More and better focus through a single entity would remove the blame gain and wasted effort.
It would be most interesting to hear what Minister Nolan has to say on this matter.

[ozbob]

Oh dear ... and it is the car race weekend ...

http://www.citytrain.com.au/

Gold Coast Line : Disruptions
24 Oct 2009

Disruptions on Gold Coast Line due to track fault. Expect 40 mins delay. Service to resume by 9:00 PM.


Alt. transport operating between Coomera and Helensvale.

[ozbob]

Does anyone doubt we have some serious issues with our rail network?

Today, multiple signal and track failures.  Ok it is not peak but fair dinkum, how bad does this have to get before someone takes responsibility and fixes it?

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

24th October 2009

Greetings,

Well another typical Saturday on the Citytrain network.

We commence early morning with signal failures resulting in disruption on the Cleveland line.

Then there is a track fault between Redbank and Bundamba on the Ipswich line.

And then we have another track fault between Helensvale and Coomera on the Gold Coast line, and on the weekend of the much hyped car races ....

Does anyone doubt there are actually some real issues to be addressed?

How on earth can QR Passenger maintain timely services on a network that is constantly failing?

Again we ask.  Why is this so?

Yours in apprehension,

Robert




RAIL Back On Track Admin wrote:
> Media Release 10 October 2009
>
> SEQ:  Rail commuters concerned with rail network reliability
>
> RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has suggested that the regular track and signal failures on the suburban and urban rail network needs to be addressed.
>
> Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:
>
> "There are many factors that impact on the ontime train performance.  Some of these factors are network problems particularly signal and track failures, power problems, level crossing incidents, Citytrain and freight train failures, crew and passenger illness, increased dwell times due to overloading and other police incidents."
>
> "QR Passenger's ontime train performance is being significantly impacted by what seems to be almost daily signal and track failures. Most of the factors that are impacting on the ontime train performance are not under the direct control of the operator, that is QR Passenger."
>
> "Why are we suffering these constant signal and track failures?  Is network maintenance being properly performed?  These are questions frustrated rail commuters would like answers too."
>
> "Yesterday evening, more signal failures on the Sunshine Coast line again caused major disruptions. QR Passenger managed these disruptions well but these now almost regular delays and disruptions must be turned around (2)."
>
> References:
>
> 1.   http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?board=20.0
>
> 2.   http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1999.msg14649#msg146490
>
> Contact:
>
> Robert Dow
> Administration
> admin@backontrack.org
> RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[#Metro]

I think this is an omen. How can you have multiple, independent failures on the same day?
The probability of that happening on the same day is very low.

[mufreight]

It is now reaching the point where commuters who are now experiencing an increasingly unreliable commuter network due to the increasing numbers of infrastructure failures must be starting to question as to if the infrastructure is maintained to a safe standard and if it remains safe to travel on the commuter network.
It would seem inevitable that in time given the numbers of infrastructure failures in recent times that the safety of commuters is no longer guaranteed.
The question now is is the system safe?

[ozbob]

For interest the ontime peak performance for last Friday (23rd Oct) dipped to low levels as a result of the points failure at Beenleigh ...

23 Oct 66.5% 145/218 

[ozbob]

http://www.citytrain.com.au/

Caboolture Line : Disruptions
25 Oct 2009

Disruptions on Caboolture Line due to track fault. Expect 30 mins delay. Service to resume by 2:00 PM.

and

25 Oct 2009

Disruptions on Caboolture Line, Shorncliffe Line between Northgate and Albion due to track fault. Expect 30 mins delay. Service to resume by 2:00 PM.

[#Metro]

  Wow. This is unbelievable.

What will Monday bring?

[ozbob]

The 12.58 pm Robina service from Bowen Hills has been cancelled as well the return journey.

Hope this is sorted soon as I expect a lot of folks possibly want to head home on the train from the coast after the car races.

[ozbob]

I trust that Monday will bring some serious navel gazing at George St, QR and TransLink.

This shambles is unacceptable.  It must be having an impact on repair crew (fatigue) as well as rail crew (frustration), not to mention the poor punters ...

Time for someone to stand up and take responsibility and act!

[longboi]

This is goig to be one of the worst months for on-time running in a long time 

[ozbob]

25 Oct 2009

The Bowen Hills train departing Ipswich at 2:41 PM is cancelled due to signalling fault. Service to resume by 3:11 PM.

[#Metro]

Not another one! 
If there is another fault, commuters already annoyed at GoCard fare hikes will be faced with a rail non-service.
They won't be happy campers...

[ozbob]

http://www.citytrain.com.au/

All services normal ...

[ozbob]

Ipswich/Rosewood Line : Delays between Redbank and Milton
26 Oct 2009

15 mins delay for services on Ipswich/Rosewood Line between Redbank and Milton due to signalling fault. Service to resume by 9:00 AM.


http://www.citytrain.com.au/

[ozbob]

From the Queensland Times 26th October 2009 page 5

Track fault causes Ipswich train delays

[ozbob]

Ipswich/Rosewood Line : Delays between Redbank and Milton
26 Oct 2009

15 mins delay for services on Ipswich/Rosewood Line between Redbank and Milton due to signalling fault. Service to resume by 9:00 AM.


http://www.citytrain.com.au/

Expected to resume now at 10am

[#Metro]

Wow. Its so predictable.

[ozbob]

All services now normal.

[ozbob]

Hope the Ipswich line holds together for tomorrows peak ....  

Ipswich line delays between Darra and Redbank - effective 1 November 2009

Buses are replacing trains between Darra and Redbank stations until further notice due to a signal fault at Wacol.

http://www.translink.com.au/alert.php?id=215

Just went down to Darra.  Hundreds stranded.  Greyhound bus and BBL bus eventually arrived.











Photographs R Dow 1st November 2009

[ozbob]

On behalf of the stranded punters "  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!"

Feel better now?

Seriously,  this is beyond a joke.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

1st November 2009

Greetings,

Well, we almost made it through this weekend.  Damn, another signal failure at Wacol.  Trains now terminating at Darra.

Some photographs --> http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=2849.msg15857#msg15857

QR Passenger staff are doing the best they can under the circumstances.

Does anyone really doubt that we have some major issues with network reliability?  More importantly, is anyone actually doing anything about it??

These weekend/off peak failures often miss the attention of the mainstream media but they are a very significant disruption to the poor punters so stranded.

Let us hope the Ipswich line, and the rest of the network hold together for tomorrow mornings onslaught.

Cheers
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
RAIL Back On Track

[ozbob]

"There are many factors that impact on the ontime train performance.  Some of these factors are network problems particularly signal and track failures, power problems, level crossing incidents, Citytrain and freight train failures, crew and passenger illness, increased dwell times due to overloading and other police incidents."

"QR Passenger's ontime train performance is being significantly impacted by what seems to be almost daily signal and track failures. Most of the factors that are impacting on the ontime train performance are not under the direct control of the operator, that is QR Passenger."

"Why are we suffering these constant signal and track failures?  Is network maintenance being properly performed?  These are questions frustrated rail commuters would like answers too."