New RailBus trial for Nambour line - from 23 August 2010

[Sunbus610]

From Monday 23 August, a three-month trial will begin for a new route 649 Caboolture to Nambour RailBus service, which will connect with the existing Caboolture train service, departing Central station at 8.07pm, arriving Caboolture station at 9.09pm.

The trial will run until Friday 3 December.

View new addition to route 649 timetable HERE

[mufreight]

While welcome this additional bus service should for the comfort and convenience of commuters be operated by rail rather than by bus which will prove to be an inconvenient, slower in transit time, deterrent to use when compared with a continuation of the connecting rail service from Caboolture.

[Fridge]

At the Sunshine Coast CRG, some have been advocating an extre 1 or 2 City-Landsborough, Landsborough-City services in the morning and evening.  This would give extra peak capacity and also plug some of the off-peak holes.  The Sunshine Coast is meant to be a destination but it is really hard to travel there from the City via public transport.

We were informed of this change and were told that our proposal was considered and rejected due to capacity consraints and that this extra Railbus serivice would be added instead.

[#Metro]

We were informed of this change and were told that our proposal was considered and rejected due to capacity consraints and that this extra Railbus serivice would be added instead.

Capacity constraints?  But there are hardly any trains up there anyway!

[Golliwog]

Maybe not passenger trains but more than likely there would be a number of freight trains

[mufreight]

Yes there are freight services that operate around the time frames for the additional service that would be operated but there is sufficient capacity to operate the services without impinging on the paths for the freight services to any detrimental degree.
It is worth noting that some of these train paths that could be affected to a minor degree, by five minutes or less, are for conditional services that are rarely if ever operated.
The only capacity constraints here are in the mental capacity of Translink who obviously prefers to operate the lower cost bus-centric option and again attempts to apportion blame for the inconvenience caused by their failure to provide a comfortable convenient service to commuters to others, in this case again QR
Of course if the duplication to Landsborough had been completed this pathetic excuse for justification would not exist.
Madam Bligh's bean counters and seat polishers strike again.

[#Metro]

The only capacity constraints here are in the mental capacity of Translink who obviously prefers to operate the lower cost bus-centric option and again attempts to apportion blame for the inconvenience caused by their failure to provide a comfortable convenient service to commuters to others, in this case again QR
Of course if the duplication to Landsborough had been completed this pathetic excuse for justification would not exist.
Madam Bligh's bean counters and seat polishers strike again.

What I have often thought, but have never been game to say.
Thanks mufreight!

[somebody]

The only capacity constraints here are in the mental capacity of Translink who obviously prefers to operate the lower cost bus-centric option and again attempts to apportion blame for the inconvenience caused by their failure to provide a comfortable convenient service to commuters to others, in this case again QR
Of course if the duplication to Landsborough had been completed this pathetic excuse for justification would not exist.
Madam Bligh's bean counters and seat polishers strike again.

What I have often thought, but have never been game to say.
Thanks mufreight!

I would not go that far.  Brisbane didn't have a reasonable train service before Translink's formation.  Can you really blame TL for that, except in the sense of failing to do anything about it?

I especially like the Corinda terminus of the weekday extra trains on the inner Ipswich line, which is something which has nothing to do with Translink.

[#Metro]

I would not go that far.  Brisbane didn't have a reasonable train service before Translink's formation.  Can you really blame TL for that, except in the sense of failing to do anything about it?

I don't know. Anyone who wants to claim credit, must also cop blame! Its all Queensland Government anyway.
I feel sorry for Sunshine Coast commuters, I really do. They have to put up with truly terrible transport to the CBD.

[Arnz]

We were informed of this change and were told that our proposal was considered and rejected due to capacity consraints and that this extra Railbus serivice would be added instead.

Capacity constraints?  But there are hardly any trains up there anyway!

Freight trains.  There are plenty of them from the privatised freight companies of Pacific National and QR National, but only one track north of Beerburrum to share with Passenger and Traveltrain services.

On another note, there is a rarely used triangle siding at Landsborough.  The triangle siding there can be demolished and replaced with a electrified siding to turn back trains without blocking the mainline.  This, however will require (theoretical Landsborough originators and terminators, possibly all southbound commuter trains too) to depart from Platform 2, so it doesn't block the mainline.

[somebody]

On another note, there is a rarely used triangle siding at Landsborough.  The triangle siding there can be demolished and replaced with a electrified siding to turn back trains without blocking the mainline.  This, however will require (theoretical Landsborough originators and terminators, possibly all southbound commuter trains too) to depart from Platform 2, so it doesn't block the mainline.

That may be, but I am unsure what that would achieve that the second platform at Landsborough doesn't.

[railmike2005]

On another note, there is a rarely used triangle siding at Landsborough.  The triangle siding there can be demolished and replaced with a electrified siding to turn back trains without blocking the mainline.  This, however will require (theoretical Landsborough originators and terminators, possibly all southbound commuter trains too) to depart from Platform 2, so it doesn't block the mainline.

That may be, but I am unsure what that would achieve that the second platform at Landsborough doesn't.

This could happen after Traslink / State Govt seriously considers a Lightrail service that could commence from Landsborough across to Caloundra then on to Noosa via major centres such as Tafe's, Uni's, Mooloolaba precint, Maroocydore CBD, Sunshine Airport, then Noosa. Could be constructed in 3 - 4 stages. That's where the budget comes into it and planned patoronage. 

[#Metro]

This could happen after Traslink / State Govt seriously considers a Lightrail service that could commence from Landsborough across to Caloundra then on to Noosa via major centres such as Tafe's, Uni's, Mooloolaba precint, Maroocydore CBD, Sunshine Airport, then Noosa. Could be constructed in 3 - 4 stages. That's where the budget comes into it and planned patoronage.

This isn't such a bad idea- except maybe in peak hour when you really need the capacity of a train.
I think you can get light rail to run of train tracks-- with a bit of difficulty, but I think it can be done.

A light rail service could be run more frequently, could be fast and also run on roads. It is also cheaper with costs hovering around 30-50 million/km (compare to heavy rail which is at least double this in QLD). Transfers could be available at some rail stations.

A unusual, but interesting idea.

On the other hand, I am a very very strong supporter of CAMCOS. They should just build it.

[Golliwog]

No real difficulty, it has been done before. Just need to make sure the guage is the same.

[#Metro]

Ha ha, I should know, they are Tram-Trains 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tram-train

Though I have to say, I prefer a heavy rail solution. But happy to hear tram-train proposals!

[somebody]

This could happen after Traslink / State Govt seriously considers a Lightrail service that could commence from Landsborough across to Caloundra then on to Noosa via major centres such as Tafe's, Uni's, Mooloolaba precint, Maroocydore CBD, Sunshine Airport, then Noosa. Could be constructed in 3 - 4 stages. That's where the budget comes into it and planned patoronage. 

I would presume you are a Sunny Coast resident?  Then why would you want to have to change at Landsborough?  Also, a heavy rail option is likely to have higher speed runnning.

[#Metro]

I would support a heavy rail option, but some light rail vehicles are capable of very high speed too - 100km/hr.
The advantage of LRT is the cost and the ability to go where trains can't - down the middle of the street, deep into suburbia and replacing buses. It is also much more scalable than heavy rail with demand- you can get short vehicles and keep adding sections as patronage grows. With trains the minimum is a 3 car unit I would think.

On the other hand, there would need to be an interchange somewhere, but this is not too different to what happens now anyway- you must drive and interchange or bus and interchange at a rail station.

So I don't know. Heavy Rail but LRT is viable too.

[colinw]

I would not go that far.  Brisbane didn't have a reasonable train service before Translink's formation.  Can you really blame TL for that, except in the sense of failing to do anything about it?

I would go that far.  The train service has barely altered since TL's formation.  The last substantial improvement in frequency was in the early '90s when weekend service went from hourly to half hourly. Since then, there has only been tinkering around the edges.   Seriously - compare the timetable now to what it looked like in (say) 1994.  Stuff all has changed, although many services are a few minutes slower with more fat in the timetable.

We get lots of press releases about additional SEATS, and some fancy branding, but the reality is that there is no will to run the rail system as the backbone of our public transport system. The only real improvements have been to frequencies of bus services (many of which run to areas that darn well should have rail, and are trying to perform the line haul task with the wrong technology).

The root problem is cultural within the Government & QLD Transport/TransLink.  The planning processes here are just plain broken, and focused on doing as little as possible because public transport is seen as the welfare option of last resort.

I'm sick of mincing my words on this issue.  The Government and TransLink's efforts in giving Brisbane a public transport system that is actually useful and attractive other than for the daily commute to the CBD have been 3rd rate at best.  Quite simply, NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

[#Metro]

We get lots of press releases about additional SEATS, and some fancy branding, but the reality is that there is no will to run the rail system as the backbone of our public transport system. The only real improvements have been to frequencies of bus services (many of which run to areas that darn well should have rail, and are trying to perform the line haul task with the wrong technology).

The root problem is cultural within the Government & QLD Transport/TransLink.  The planning processes here are just plain broken, and focused on doing as little as possible because public transport is seen as the welfare option of last resort.

I'm sick of mincing my words on this issue.  The Government and TransLink's efforts in giving Brisbane a public transport system that is actually useful and attractive other than for the daily commute to the CBD have been 3rd rate at best.  Quite simply, NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

I agree. Being stuck waiting for the train at the platform (which ended up taking longer than the journey!) was just really too much for me.   World class PT systems do not have trains coming only every half hour.

What we need is a giant broom to sweep through. Fly in people from Zurich, Vancouver, Perth etc which have proper planning systems in place, maybe in exchange for Dept. of Transport/Roads and TL. Even basic things (like transport to Port of Brisbane) are lacking, there are critical, frequency-limiting bottlenecks on almost all lines- Cleveland (single track), Gold Coast (single track), Sunshine Coast (landsborough), Shornecliffe (single platform and track), Beenleigh (GC trains and merivale bridge).

Many of these problems seem to have accumulated over a very long time, and now we are being faced with having to fix them all in one go, put them off-- or not at all. Which will ultimately put the system under more strain.