When Delays Occur - Communication Please

[Mozz]

From a personal perspective today Friday 10.10.08 could have been better.

Caught 8.12am from Oxley to Central - supposed to be 20 mins express however ended up 15mins or so late into Central - no advice to commuters on the train at all during the entire journey - train stopped between stations, travelled slowly, stopped, travelled slowly, stopped, continuously during the journey - please please please keep commuters informed.

This afternoon arrived at Central at 3.25pm to catch the 3.35 to Oxley. Lots of commuter arrived at the station, then lots and lots more, then lots, more, then lots more, time kept ticking by, then lots more commuters on the platform. No train arrived at 3.35 however the monitors kept pushing out the arrival and departure time - still nothing to advise commuter as to what was happening. Approvimately 500 - 700 people were waiting for a train and no advice on what was happening. Around 3.46pm a train arrived and commuters filled it with very little space left. A couple of hundred people including myself decide to stay behind and wait fot the next train - a central to redbank train which should have been quite empty due to the previous delays.

Well that was a stupid and bad decison for which I need a kicking - I should have pushed an shoved my way onto the crowded train and not believed the details being displayed on the QR monitors.

Because at 3.52 (when the 3.51 train to Redbank hadn't arrived) the speaker announcement was that there were overhead power problems on the Ipswich line - but nothing else about what that would mean for the many hundreds of commuter waiting at the platform for a train.

Then at 3.57 another message over the speakers saying that all service "from" Ipswich have been delayed.

Then at 4.04 an announcement that the 3.51pm to Redbank was on the way.

Then at 4.06 it arrived filled pretty much to capacity, then left to travel towards Roma Street, leaving many passengers who could not get on at Roma Street behind, arriving at Oxley at around 4.36pm

I don't know what happened, but continue to advocate for regular updates to commuters to allow commuters to make informed decisions on which trains they should catch. As can be seen by this post, had I been informed of the information I may have well been able to catch an earlier train rather than blindly believe the QR timetable information posted on the CRT screens.

[stephenk]

Customer service is something which is very much lacking at QR. At the last meet the managers event I was told that they are trying to rectify this, however I haven't seen any improvement. Examples are trains cancelled with no announcement (or announcements well after the timetabled departure time). Platform alterations without announcement. No apologies for delays when waiting at stations or whilst onboard trains.

The next train monitors do not help in that it seems that cancelled trains are not removed until after their timetabled departure time has passed. By then it's a bit late the change your journey plan!

[Derwan]

Friday was crazy.  The Redbank train that Mozz mentioned was delayed for about 15 minutes AT Bowen Hills.  (My partner was on that service.)  There were apparently no announcements about the delay or its cause.

We proceeded to Central at about 5:15 expecting to jump on the 5:20 Shorncliffe train.  There was chaos on all lines (particularly the Ipswich line) - with several announcements being made about delayed services.  There was no announcement about the Shorncliffe train and the time kept getting pushed out.  At one stage it disappeared from the list and we thought it had been cancelled - but it reappeared as times on various services were readjusted.  The train eventually arrived just after 5:30.

An overall announcement indicating that "services on all lines are currently experiencing delays of up to 15 minutes" would have been good.

Edit:  "Friday 10/10/08 Trains on time 141 of 213 (66.1%)"

[ozbob]

Yesterday afternoon unfortunately there was a 'medical emergency' on the 4.36 Ipswich service from Central.
Shortly after the train (EMU03) leading arrived at Taringa at 4.49pm, the guard announced that there was a medical emergency and any qualified medical staff could they please assist.  At 4.53pm the guard announced that the train will delayed until further notice due to a medical emergency.  The ambulance arrived at Taringa at about 5.04pm.  The train was underway again at 5.14pm.

The guard made a follow up announcement enroute to Indooroopilly and a general apology on behalf of QR.
The guard was very professional and it was a good example of clear, concise timely communication keeping everyone informed and at ease. 

Incidents will occur, but timely and prompt communication is essential.

Well done to our guard!

[stephenk]

A good example of lack of communication occurred today on the 4:30pm Bowen Hills to Ferny Grove. As far as I'm aware a passenger was taken ill on the train at Wilston, with the train being delayed as a result. The delay itself I don't have a problem with. However, during and after this 13 minute delay there was not a single announcement by either guard or driver to advise passengers of why the train was delayed. QR need to realise that uninformed passengers = unhappy passengers.

An announcement finally went out just before Enoggera to announce that the train would terminate at Keperra instead of Ferny Grove due to late running, but still no reason given for the delay.

[O_128]

Well this afteronoon on the 3:27 ex central cleveland train [i guess more delays will follow] We were Normal until southbank where i looked up fromt he paper and realised we were at platform 3 at southbank [usually platform 1] no announcemnts from the guard adn i heard the person at southbank telling passengers to board on platfrom 3 many kids were left behind at platform 1 due to lack of communication.then at park road still no announcemnts [even for stations] and we were at platform 3 at parkroad we then went to dutton park [on beenleigh line] and there was still no communication there beenleigh line passengers were then getting on this train and the driver came up to the rear [now front of train] telling them to get off rudely. we then went to buranda from there. I am guessing that there was an issue between south bank and buranda as we used the little used link between the beenleigh and cleveland lines [On SMU 222 adn 223] There was absolutely no station announcemnts or reasons for the delay.On the other hand the WOman guard on the 7:17 bowen hills service [ex manly] was very good telling what side to exit what platfoms to go to etc

[stephenk]

oramal

Is that a new word?

[Arnz]

This afternoon on the 12:45 ex Central to Nambour train, our train got held up at Caboolture for 40 mins due to the crossing involved in yesturday's derailment having the boomgates fail (they were stuck open).  The guard did keep us informed, and at the 30 min mark contacted station staff to start calling the bus companies to provide extra buses.  At 40 minutes, the service was terminated at Caboolture, apologised for the delay and that replacement buses were scheduled outside in front of the station and ready to go.

Although most of the passengers were agitated, most did praise the guard and caboolture station staff for the communication provided during the delay.  The boom gates were eventually fixed, and the inbound Cooroy-Brisbane train, which was SMU263 eventually was the first to go through.

[Derwan]

Had a fun trip yesterday - with good communication from the guard.

I was on the 4:29 (ex Central) Shorncliffe train.  We stopped just north of Nundah to let a train go through on Up Main before we could cross from Down Main to Down Suburban.  (This is a common occurrence.)  The guard announced that we had to wait for the track to clear.

A minute or so after the other train went through, the guard announced that there would be a further delay as they were having problems with the points.  A few minutes later the guard announced that we would be going to Virginia and then back to Northgate.  He made several announcements reassuring passengers that we were still en route to Shorncliffe.

We crossed to Up Main and arrived on platform 3 at Northgate.  (There must've been a problem with points crossing from Up Main to Down Suburban.)  We then proceeded to Virginia, crossing to Down Suburban (I don't know if it's still called that after Northgate) just before we arrived.  The driver went to the other end of the train and we went back to Northgate (platform 2).  The driver changed ends again and we continued towards Shorncliffe.

All through the trip, the guard kept making announcements, reassuring passengers that we were still a Shorncliffe Train and explaining what was happening (e.g. "Driver is changing ends").  Good job!   

[ozbob]

Just dropped me wife at Oxley for a trip to town at about 8.30am (Sunday 7th).  On the platform was a very large number (particularly for a Sunday morning) of passengers. Many of them were extremely frustrated and they were quick to let me know as to the cause of their frustration and in some cases anger. Apparently the 7.40am service from Oxley didn't make an appearance. To complicate matters there was no announcement according to them.  End result some of them had been waiting for an hour or more. One person, who probably not fully aware of the time table had been waiting for an hour and a half.

I contacted control and was told that the earlier service had been cancelled and passengers should have been advised by the PA.

This cancellation has caused a lot of inconvenience for many.  Due to the infrequent service Sunday morning  a cancelled service has a very significant impact for the punters. There was even a QR Heritage Volunteer who had to make alternative arrangements to get into town for the Steam Train Sunday runs today.

I am not sure what can be done at this late stage.  Consideration needs to be given to perhaps allowing people to taxi it under limited circumstance when these things occur and claim back.

The PA system at Oxley needs to be checked out as well.  It is possible that an announcement may have been made but simply not heard.  These announcements must be repeated a number of times.  This is a failure of communication.

I assume the problems have been magnified at all stations from Ipswich.  The up service eventually arrived at Oxley at about 8.45am, with a heavy load of pax for a Sunday!

[ozbob]

Just heard on the radio that there has been a disruption to services between Redbank and Ipswich due to an incident at Riverview.  That explains the above, but doesn't excuse the failure to inform the punters properly.

Update:  http://www.transinfo.qld.gov.au/  9.10am

Ipwich line delays - effective 7 December 2008

Buses will replace all train services between Redbank and Ipswich stations. For more information, call TransLink on 13 12 30.

[glen_2006]

From another perspective, I myself volunteer at a Brisbane radio station - and I have occasionally presented a Drive program on a weekday afternoon. Knowing the frustration that is sometimes had on the rail-lines, I check out the QR site to check if theres any services that have been cancelled they are advising of.

Most of the time, the notice only comes through about 2 or 3 minutes before the actual train is due to leave Central, and sometimes, it would be for some reason that may/could have been forseen (eg. Previous train being late, or crew illness). So there isn't alot of leverage for us to get the message out there if people are already on the platforms waiting!

On the same note - as far as I know, QR don't actually notify us (refering to media organisations) of problems that happen, unless they are really major, like the one Bob mentioned below about the Riverview incident. And even that takes a while to filter through. I know one Government Opposition spokesman (I think Tim Nicholls, if memory serves me right), said they would like to see a QR update with train information mentioned in radio station traffic reports. We'd be more than happy to if we actually got the information, before it everything has gotten back to normal!

[Derwan]

QR was trialling an sms notification system for disruptions - but I think it would be quicker and easier for them to provide an Internet feed (e.g. RSS) that media and other organisations could receive information from.

Private companies could then offer the sms service as a "third party" using the RSS feed.  (Of course it wouldn't be free.)

[glen_2006]

An RSS feed would be exactly perfect of what we need. Because otherwise we have to keep refreshing the QR page manually - and if your trying to do that while report on the rest of Brisbanes traffic - I can tell you it easily slips the mind!