Easter 2017

[Stillwater]

Caboolture Line worst hit by cutbacks

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-rail-data-breaks-down-cancellations-per-line-from-october-2016-20170414-gvl0b5.html

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland Rail data breaks down cancellations per line from October 2016

The Caboolture train line has been hit the hardest by Queensland Rail's cancellations, new data has revealed.

The figures, released after a Liberal National Party question on notice in State Parliament, show 3.3 per cent of services on the Caboolture rail were cancelled between October 17, 2016 and February 28, 2017.

Queensland Rail has been under fire since October 21, when 167 services were cancelled and numerous issues were uncovered that led to the wide-ranging Strachan inquiry, several top QR employees resigning and the resignation of transport minister Stirling Hinchliffe, despite being cleared of responsibility.

The saga was sparked following the opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula line on October 4, despite two external agencies warning QR months earlier it did not have enough drivers and guards to meet the increased timetable.

There were also 261 services cancelled on Christmas Day - more than one-third - due to driver unavailability, unplanned absences and limited rostering flexibility.

The figures, analysed by Fairfax Media, reveal spikes in cancellations across the network in the weeks beginning December 5 and 19 (the Christmas Day cancellations).

A "confluence of infrastructure mishaps and misfires" including storm damage and a broken down train caused lengthy delays on December 8, leading to more than $300,000 in refunds being paid to commuters.

The Caboolture line particularly suffered the week beginning October 24 when 14.58 per cent of services were cancelled.

Commuters faced lengthy delays and were forced onto buses on January 30 after a telemetry failure on the Redcliffe Peninsula Line, with 1.65 per cent of services cancelled that week.

QR has introduced six different timetables since October, including this weekend's reduced Easter rail timetable, which involves most services running only hourly and some only every two hours.

The January timetable has a 9 per cent reduction in the number of weekly services compared to the October 4, 2016 timetable.

After the roll out of the summer timetable on December 28, with significantly fewer services than the other iterations, the data shows large spikes in train cancellations becoming somewhat less common overall.

But QR board chair Phillip Stachan warned QR will not have sufficient train crew to deliver the full timetabled services until mid to late 2019 with no overtime.

Opposition transport spokesman Andrew Powell said it was clear "Labor's rail fail is here to stay".

"There's still two more years of the rail fail cuts and cancellations to go," he said.

Mr Powell also described the Easter rail timetable as "disgraceful".

"This long weekend, when families are trying to enjoy the break and spend time together, they face being left at the station waiting for one train an hour - or one every two hours if you wanted to visit the Sunshine Coast," he said.

But Transport Minister Jackie Trad said a lot of work had been done to investigate the driver shortage and the wider issues at QR were in the making very several years, blaming the former LNP government for cuts.

"The Palaszczuk government's 'fixing the trains' action plan sets out how Queensland Rail will work to deliver a modern reliable railway which puts the customer first," Ms Trad said.

Ms Trad said cancellations were caused by a range of factors, including mechanical and track faults, as well as issues outside of QR's control, such as medical emergencies, level crossing incidents and severe weather events.

"We have been working around the clock to restore reliability of services for commuters and to increase the number of drivers in training," she said.

"Queensland Rail will continue to implement the recommendations from the Strachan inquiry to reach a sustainable solution and ensure any similar situation doesn't occur in the future."

" Mr Powell also described the Easter rail timetable as "disgraceful". "

Yes, it is a disgrace.  Made a lot more worse than it needed to be because of the changes from standard clockface times, and so rendering a lot of broken bus/rail connections.  Smacks of contempt for passengers by QR and TransLink.

It is also very disappointing that OUR ELECTED POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES meekly accepted the garbage from QR and TransLink. 

#qldvotes with baseball bats ..

[#Metro]

It is also very disappointing that OUR ELECTED POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES meekly accepted the garbage from QR and TransLink.

Elected representatives know nothing about public transport or complex rail operations. The operator knows much much more about the system than the regulators/supervisors/politicians supervising them do.

They don't have the expertise to challenge Queensland Rail because Queensland Rail is the expert in train operations and that is the single fountain of knowledge from which their advice springs forth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry

Couple this with an inability to choose an alternative operator and a bonus-only environment (no penalties can stick remember) it is not a surprise.

In contract theory and economics, information asymmetry deals with the study of decisions in transactions where one party has more or better information than the other. This creates an imbalance of power in transactions, which can sometimes cause the transactions to go awry, a kind of market failure in the worst case. Examples of this problem are adverse selection, moral hazard, and information monopoly.

Let's say you have a doctor and they give you mediocre advice/the "wrong" advice. How would you know/verify that it was not right? They're the expert and you are not.

It is incredible that after eight months the ELT and Board are intact. There really must be some very powerful reason as to why both have not been removed and replaced.

[ozbob]

Changing the clock face times is dumb. 

Even the Minister/ Staffers etc. should have sent the Easter timetable back to the drawing board.

It is going to cost big time ... 

[#Metro]

Meanwhile...

#BeLikePerth  Same trains, power and gauge as Queensland. DOO.

[BrizCommuter]

Some more unhappy campers on TransLink's Facebook, mainly related to the replacement buses between Park Rd and Kuraby:

"The way TransLink has managed the park road station and the buses for those closed stations beyond park road is completely disappointing, the service was inadequate to start with - one bus an hour that doesn't even meet up with the trains, the staff didn't communicate and were disinterested and some customers were there with learning difficulties left completely confused"

"There was numerous people trying to get home from the broncos game. Caught a train to park road only to be told to sit and wait for 40 minutes. Even though the buses are apparently lined up with the train timetables but was only running them once an hour after the game. This is totally crazy to begin with. While the busses sat there empty, half of the people were going to train stations including Fairfield and yeronga, yerongapilly and moorooka the buses could have easily done this route and be back with time to spare for the next scheduled time. "

The staff hardly communicated and even walked away from someone who was trying to find out where to go as he had a speech problem and must of deemed it to difficult to try to understand and obviously didn't want to deal with it. There was multiple people with learning disabilities standing around confused about what to do and families with young kids who would be lucky to get home before 11-11:30 for a game that finished at 9:40."

"It's a shame you didn't update your journey planner system to compensate for the buses replacing trains between Kuraby & Park Rd, as it tells me there is no way home on the GC line, so I've constantly had to ask staff on the way to Brisbane and now the way back. The way up had buses from Kuraby to Central rather than Park Rd but now we have to train from Central to Park Rd then bus to Kuraby, then train again. Why isn't this route even displaying on the journey planner?"

"Our journey home has been quite frustrating. After a 45 min wait at Central for the next GC train to Park Rd — as the earlier Park Rd train was randomly cancelled without any announcement — and a bus to Kuraby, we've had to wait another 20 mins for the next train. Why wasn't there a GC train waiting to meet the bus when we arrived at Kuraby, considering the services from Central are hourly? The Beenleigh line had a train waiting and then still another arrived before the GC one. After leaving an event at 9:30 in the Valley, we aren't going to get home until after midnight, which is a bit ridiculous."

"Appalling! I can confirm that the bus schedules yesterday were not aligned with the trains arriving at Park Road. We had to wait ages for the next bus - even though it was sitting right there."

"Great. Can't see my family on the S Coast because you canceled alot of times. Seriously thanks..... NOT"

[SurfRail]

Meanwhile, GoldlinQ were running to a weekday timetable yesterday, as is usually the case for all public holidays that fall on weekdays.  Well patronised as always, and even feeder buses were doing reasonably well.

Queensland isn't completely incompetent, just mostly...

[achiruel]

Meanwhile...

#BeLikePerth  Same trains, power and gauge as Queensland. DOO.

Of course TransPerth also has the good fortune of being a relatively modern system, not trying to run a suburban service on track alignments dating back to the 1800s.

[#Metro]

Perth is a mix of old and new lines. They made an effort to separate freight, then upgrade. Not sure if it always has been DOO.

[HappyTrainGuy]

....by originally cancelling passenger services to allow more freight trains to run and running the passenger railway into the ground worse than what Connex managed to do. Perth ended up getting really lucky with their railways with the majority of their network being built over the last 15 years as the population over there boomed.

[ozbob]

New data shows the Caboolture line has endured the most cancellations on the southeast rail network. @SimoLove #7News pic.twitter.com/4d3S0uGcoa

— 7 News Queensland (@7NewsQueensland) April 15, 2017

[achiruel]

What is considered benchmark for OTR? 99.5%?

[Cazza]

What is considered benchmark for OTR? 99.5%?

Well it would be good if it was 100%...

But 99.5% seems fairly reasonable (and achievable). If the GC and Airport lines can achieve 99% (or so) during times like these, I don't see why 99.5% would be difficult. The only reasons for cancellations should be only for incidents beyond QR's control (with the occasional 'operational issue'- driver sick etc.)

[#Metro]

I find the "population has boomed" reason unconvincing.

Perth works well exactly because they made an effort. Queensland seems to be intent on blaming (read: avoid responsibility)

for its situation by sheeting home blame to passive factors: density, age of network, "lack" of federal gov't funds, geography, freight

running, blah blah blah. Our busways and Light rail show that excellent transport outcomes are possible, even here.

Perth used to carry far fewer passengers, less than QR, and now it carries far more. If anything, Brisbane should be far ahead of Perth given the population, density and set of regional cities (Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Gold Coast) that is much weaker in the Perth case.

[Mr X]

Meanwhile...

#BeLikePerth  Same trains, power and gauge as Queensland. DOO.

Didn't Anna Bligh once have plans for 160km/h trains to the sunny/gold coast trains once...?

[HappyTrainGuy]

You would think that if you looked at some random graph. You need to dive back into the 70's, 80's and 90's to see the population increasing and how Perth was setup from a town planning perspective with preserved highway corridors and new housing going in. Its still expanding. Building a railway network was just p%ss easy in the grand scheme of things.

[#Metro]

You would think that if you looked at some random graph. You need to dive back into the 70's, 80's and 90's to see the population increasing and how Perth was setup from a town planning perspective with preserved highway corridors and new housing going in. Its still expanding. Building a railway network was just p%ss easy in the grand scheme of things.

Adelaide is even more well planned than Perth was. The comparable city in this graph is Adelaide.

You can see they both started from an almost standing start - about 10 million passengers in both cities on the rail network in the 1990s.

Given the success in Perth, both Auckland and Adelaide have initiated major investments in modernisation.

It isn't luck - the same effects are being reproduced in Auckland, NZ.




Application of a commuter railway to a low density settlement.
Peter Martinovich, director of rail infrastructure planning, PT Authority of WA.
https://bitre.gov.au/events/2009/files/2009_Infrastructure_Colloquium_Peter_Martinovich.pdf

[BrizCommuter]

Heading a bit off topic !

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

18th April 2017

Re: #FleeQLD for Easter

Good Morning,

Back from Melbourne and luxury of 10 minute train services on the Metro Melbourne network, with excellent connections.
Something sadly lacking on our public transport network in SEQ.

[ Melbourne April 2017 > http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12637.0 ]

My journey back from Brisbane Airport, included a wait time of 28 minutes for the Airtrain service, then a 42 minute wait at Eagle Junction for an Ipswich service.

Fortunately I was spared the problem of a failed bus connection too at my destination station, many passengers were not.  A relatively simple journey from the Airport to Goodna includes waiting time of one hour and 10 minutes.  Hardly a success is it?  It demonstrates the degree of failure this Easter Rail Timetable was, a serious reduction in services with broken connections bus and rail.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

Sent to all outlets:

13th April 2017

#FleeQLD for Easter

Good Morning,

Off to Melbourne today.  And I am looking forward to being able to use a proper connected public transport network with good frequency.  Trains and trams are running normal timetables essentially in Melbourne over Easter.  No service cuts as in the case with SEQ.

A failed rail operator in SEQ that has not only reduced service frequency to the worst in the Nation, but has also treated public transport users with contempt by moving from the clock face times and rendering the bus/rail connections largely ineffective and subject to long waits for users.  This compounds with the low frequency on the rail system.  TransLink has failed the community by standing aside and allowing this mess to occur.

Melbourne service notices

Yarra trams: http://www.yarratrams.com.au/using-trams/service-changes/service-changes/2017/easter-public-holidays-friday-14-monday-17-april/

VLine trains: https://www.vline.com.au/News-Alerts/News-Articles/Easter-services-2017

Metro trains: http://www.metrotrains.com.au/easter-travel-period-2017/

The only  public transport jurisdiction that is unable to properly service its community is SEQ.

My advice is to allow 2 hours longer on public transport journeys, 4 hours if heading to or from the Sunshine Coast.

Yes, it has come to this sadly.

Happy Easter!

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

[ Attached: https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12713.msg190856#msg190856 ]

[ozbob]

Latest: ' Re: #FleeQLD for Easter '
> https://t.co/e52wgNFfTh#qldpol@jackietrad @AndrewPowellMP @QueenslandRail @TransLinkSEQ pic.twitter.com/zqZmMkcbIj

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) April 17, 2017

[Cazza]

Guys, I finally found a positive of the Easter timetable...... it makes the interim one look like it has fallen from heaven!!!

[BrizCommuter]

Worst frequencies in Oceana.
Scores of p%ssed  off passengers.
Trains still running late.
So we can only assume QR will inform their board and ministers that the Easter timetable was a success!

[ozbob]

 

[ozbob]

Worst frequencies in Oceana.
Scores of p%ssed  off passengers.
Trains still running late.
So we can only assume QR will inform their board and ministers that the Easter timetable was a success!

Fancy being done over by Adelaide!   

[STB]

Feedback received from Queensland Rail and TransLink re: Easter timetable and lost connections with buses.

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns in relation to the timetable for the Easter and School Holiday weekend.

Firstly, on behalf of Queensland Rail I extend my sincere apology for the delay in responding to your feedback.

At Queensland Rail safety is our number one priority and we understand the importance of providing a safe and reliable service for our customers. On the weekend of 8-9 April and during the Easter long weekend, we operated hourly services across most of the network.

We understand that the change in the timetable may not have suited your travel requirements on this occasion and we regret and apologise for any inconvenience afforded to you and our other valued customers during this time.

These changes were put in place to ensure reliable services and to give certainty to commuters, while helping to manage our resources. We know from train patronage data that customer numbers drop by as much as 68 percent during the School holiday and Easter long weekend. With that in mind, hourly services on most lines ensured reliability and certainty that services ran as scheduled. Services under this schedule were optimised to maintain train connections were possible.

The timetable was available in our Journey Planner and MyTransLink app and customers were encouraged to plan their journey ahead and visit the TransLink website prior to travelling.

Once more we apologise for any inconvenience experienced during this time and ask customers for their continued patience while we work to return our network to normal operation.

[ozbob]

^

Queensland Rail simply does not get it.  Mindless spin that response.

Thanks STB for your support on these issues.

[#Metro]

At Queensland Rail safety is our number one priority and we understand the importance of providing a safe and reliable service for our customers. On the weekend of 8-9 April and during the Easter long weekend, we operated hourly services across most of the network.

What does a bad timetable have to do with Safety?

Does it make sense to extend Queensland Rail's service contract again?