Statement: Train passengers arrive on-time

[ozbob]

Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Scott Emerson

Train passengers arrive on-time

Queensland Rail passengers are enjoying record high levels of on-time running under a Newman Government program to improve train reliability.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said delivering on the government's election promise to revitalise frontline services meant up to 18,000 more passengers a day across south east Queensland were arriving at their destination on time, compared to the final months under Labor.

"The biggest improvements have come on the Sunshine Coast and Caboolture lines," Mr Emerson said.

"Under Labor almost one-in-four trains to and from Caboolture were late and that is now down to one-in-25 outside the four minute benchmark.

"Across the network, more than 96 per cent of peak trains have run on time over the past six months, compared to 86 per cent in the final months of the previous government.

"Queensland Rail now has a taskforce dedicated to on-time running, ensuring train control, train crew and station staff all work together to provide the best possible services for passengers."

Mr Emerson said passengers would also see a significant improvement in frequency next year with more than 200 additional services added to the network from January 20.

"An expansion of the off-peak 15-minute services on the Cleveland, Beenleigh and Caboolture and Shorncliffe lines would boost frequency for more than 30 stations," he said.

"This is a big win for passengers with improved connections, better reliability and more frequent services."



Line by line on-time running:

Rail Line

Jan - Mar 2012

Apr - Jun 2013
   
Jul - Sep 2013

Beenleigh
89.92%
97.44%
97.13%

Caboolture
76.93%
94.61%
94.86%

Cleveland
88.53%
94.86%
96.35%

Doomben
86.94%
97.13%
97.77%

Ferny Grove
86.66%
97.04%
97.38%

Ipswich
90.75%
97.70%
97.94%

Shorncliffe
78.57%
96.77%
97.50%

Richlands/Springfield
88.95%
97.60%
97.37%

Gold Coast
92.81%
96.51%
98.05%

Sunshine Coast
83.02%
94.04%
95.62%

[ozbob]

From the Queensland Times click here!

Peak train reliability up 10%, says Emerson

Peak train reliability up 10%, says Emerson

IPSWICH commuters are experiencing a near-perfect run of train reliability on the city's main train line as peak services reach record highs of on time performance.

Transport Minister Scott Emerson said 98% of peak services arrived within four minutes of their scheduled time in the last quarter.

The improvement is up 8% since the Bligh Government lost power in March last year.

Mr Emerson said across the network, 96% of peak trains had run on time over the past six months, compared to 86% under the previous Labor government.

"We now have a strong focus on network reliability and improved maintenance programs for trains and network infrastructure, are clearly delivering results for commuters," he said.

"Passengers are already benefiting from the recently opened Springfield rail line with services to run every six to 12 minutes in morning peak and every 12 minutes in afternoon peak."

A QR spokesperson said more than $30 million had gone into maintenance and reliability upgrade work along the Ipswich line.

"We are pleased these initiatives, combined with our strong focus on network reliability and improved maintenance programs for trains and network infrastructure, are delivering results for Ipswich commuters," the spokesperson said.

"We aim to be the safest, best performing customer-focused railway in Australia and we are now achieving higher on-time running results than other operators despite our performance targets being the most stringent in the country."

Commuter advocate Robert Dow congratulated QR, but called on figures for off-peak times to be published for full transparency.

[Jonno]

The ones that are left using the service after the fare hikes!!  congrats to Quednsland Rail as the service provider

[techblitz]

"Under Labor almost one-in-four trains to and from Caboolture were late and that is now down to one-in-25 outside the four minute benchmark.

lol@emerson

wasn't it labor that introduced the 'weekend trackwork' system so that your figures could suddenly look better?

[DayboroStation]

It's a pity that there are no stats on the number of trains running PM counter-peak on the Ipswich line that are "switched" to avoid delayed trains on the Caboolture line during PM peak.

For example, the train that leaves Milton for Petrie at 5:00pm is often switched to a Caboolture express train if it is running more than 2 minutes late (as was the case yesterday). This results in passengers having to change trains and wait up to 12 minutes for the next Petrie all stations train.

I understand that there are circumstances where a train has to be "switched" due to mechanical reasons (eg SM8208 during AM peak due to lack of air conditioning yesteday), but to switch a train for the sake of boosting statistics is another matter entirely.

[Golliwog]

It's a pity that there are no stats on the number of trains running PM counter-peak on the Ipswich line that are "switched" to avoid delayed trains on the Caboolture line during PM peak.

For example, the train that leaves Milton for Petrie at 5:00pm is often switched to a Caboolture express train if it is running more than 2 minutes late (as was the case yesterday). This results in passengers having to change trains and wait up to 12 minutes for the next Petrie all stations train.

I understand that there are circumstances where a train has to be "switched" due to mechanical reasons (eg SM8208 during AM peak due to lack of air conditioning yesteday), but to switch a train for the sake of boosting statistics is another matter entirely.

Used to happen all the time with trains through Park Rd inbound in the PM peak often announcing a change of destination whilst crossing the river. In that case it actually ended up with QR announcing some minor timetable changes to in-effect, make the timetable show what actually happened.

From memory, this was after this was queried at a CRG meeting as something that bugged passengers as while it wasn't always a regular occurrence, it still happened a number of times that an Airport/Doomben/Shorncliffe line train would come through Park Rd and I'd ignore it because the screens showed a FG bound service coming through a few minutes later, only to have that service typically turn into a Shornecliffe service and the FG service be formed by an empty service at Roma St, a FG service that I could have made if I'd caught the earlier train and done a transfer at Roma St.