Article: Couple left stranded at the station

[ozbob]

From the Sunshine Coast Daily click here!

Couple left stranded at the station

Couple left stranded at the station

12:00a.m. 5th September 2009

| By Anne-Louise Brown

What began as a trip to visit their sick grandson turned into a nightmare for Ronald and Kathleen Gietzel when the train on which they were travelling home left them stranded at Landsborough station.

Every fortnight 70 year old Kathleen boards a Queensland Rail train from Nambour, the closest station to her Bli Bli home, and heads to the Brisbane suburb of Northgate to help her daughter in law care for her sick three year old son.

But this week was different.

On Wednesday Kathleen, who was travelling with her 76 year old husband, boarded the train home at Northgate at 6.22pm.

Everything was going as planned until the train reached Landsborough station about 8pm and a call came over the train?s speaker for passengers in back carriages to move to the front.

This had happened before, so Kathleen was not concerned.

The Gietzels left the train but seconds later the doors slammed shut and the train left, leaving them stranded.

?I couldn?t believe it. I was in shock,? Kathleen said.

?We were just doing as we were told, but the train left within seconds of us getting out. There was no one on the platform to let the driver know people were changing carriage. I was disgusted.?

A young man was stranded with the Gietzels, who were forced to call a relative from Ilkley to come and pick them up and take them to their car, which was parked at the Nambour station.

Kathleen said she was appalled no checks were in place to ensure that passengers from the three rear carriages re boarded the train prior to its departure.

?This incident caused us a great deal of inconvenience and I am thankful I was travelling with my husband,? Kathleen said.

?I would have been terrified if I?d been left on my own.?

Kathleen complained to Queensland Rail about the incident but has not received a reply.

When asked what checks were in place to ensure such incidents did not occur, why passengers were required to change carriages at Landsborough and whether there were specific times given for passengers to change carriages, QR?s response was very brief.

A QR spokesman said all complaints were taken seriously and the incident would be investigated and appropriate action taken.

[Derwan]

It sounds like the guard assumed that people were disembarking at Landsborough rather than moving carriages.  Do they lock the doors to the rear 3 carriages once the train is in motion?  If so, perhaps the guard was more interested in checking the cameras to make sure there were no passengers in the last 3 cars, rather than standing at the door where he would've seen waving passengers.

My advice would be:

1.  If you want to disembark at a station north of Landborough, get on the first 3 carriages
2.  If overcrowding on the first 3 carriages is an issue, get on the 4th carriage and switch via the door closest to the guard
3.  If you need to get on the 5th or 6th carriages, move to the 4th carriage prior to arriving at Landsborough
4.  If none of these are an option, move up the train at Landsborough and switch via the door closest to the guard

This is a case where the zero-harm policy worked in reverse - and left people at risk rather than protecting them.

[rob2144]

This is not the first time this has happened, I've seen quite a few people get left behind with this zero harm bullsh*t.