Article: Call to ease cattle classes on trains

[ozbob]

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Call to ease cattle classes on trains

Call to ease cattle classes on trains

13 Aug 08 @ 11:50am by Nicole Carrington

BRISBANE: A support group for rail users is calling for the urgent introduction of extra morning peak-hour trains to ease commuters? woes on the ?cattle class? Caboolture and Ipswich lines.

Rail Back On Track spokesman Robert Dow said overcrowded trains made life ?hellish? for long-haul commuters with inner-city loop services the solution.

?By the time trains arrive in the inner-city, they are heavily congested,? Mr Dow said.

?Trains are far too packed at peak times. Trains leave Ipswich at 6.14am and by the time they get to Indooroopilly at 6.50am, they are overcrowded.

?There has been a real lack of transport infrastructure planning and the inner-city community is also affected.?

Mr Dow said the Ekka loop services currently running in addition to the normal train timetable suggested there were sufficient resources for Queensland Rail (QR) to introduce urgently needed extra early peak services.

And Rail Back On Track recently conducted its own passenger survey on the Ipswich line, Mr Dow said.

?The six-car trains that run at peak time comfortably house about 750 passengers but we have counted up to 1300 passengers now that is some serious overloading,? he said.

?Often these services present real risks to the well-being of passengers. It is time for action not promises and spin.?

Rail Back On Track is also outraged over the fact that Ekka buses were free but rail users were slugged with an additional fare.

At the time of going to press, Queensland Rail (QR) had not responded to repeated City News requests for comment.

To contact Rail Back on Track, visit http://www.backontrack.org.

[ozbob]

This is a follow up to media release here -->  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1221.0

Thanks for highlighting these issues Quest City News!

Cheers
Bob