Article: Ticket to Nowhere

[ozbob]

From Northside Chronicle April 2 click here!  Article extract from front page and page 4.

Ticket to Nowhere

Ticket to Nowhere
By CATHERINE NOBLE

RAIL passengers are being left behind at Nundah and Toombul stations due to overcrowded train carriages, but they?ll have to wait for extra services and they?ll have to ask for them.  New timetables and extra services begin on the Gold Coast, Beenleigh, Ferny Grove and Cleveland lines this week despite the largest growth being on the Caboolture (13.5 per cent) and Shorncliffe (9.9 per cent) lines last year.  The Gold Coast line has only shown a 6.1 per cent growth in passenger demand since 2006, yet is about to undergo a $324 million upgrade.
 
A Queensland Rail spokeswoman said it was ?too early to say? if September?s planned timetable changes on the Caboolture and Shorncliffe lines would deliver extra trains or increased services.

?It will take time ... we can?t do everything at once,? she said.

Nundah resident Nikki Sutton catches the train to and from work every day in the city and said trains arriving at Toombul station around Sam were often full to overflowing.  ?I?ve had the doors shut in my face several times, with the conductor saying the train is full,? Ms Sutton said.

?Quite often the 8.07am and the 8.09am arrive at Toombul at the same time on different platforms and inevitably the platform everyone
is standing on is the one with the full train.

?The other train will pull out before anyone can change platforms.?

Councillor Kim Flesser (Northgate) said he?d had numerous reports about congested rail services and station platforms at Northgate, Nundah and Toombul stations.

?The influx of residents at Toombul and Nundah due to the area being identified as a Transport-Oriented Development (TOD) has had an impact on the numbers of people using the train,? he said.

Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said the Caboolture line was suffering severe congestion problems at peak, with increasing traffic problems north of Brisbane putting pressure on rail services.

[Derwan]

Without trying to sound like a broken record, I've suggested before that there needs to be peak services commencing/terminating at Northgate to service the huge growth areas in Nundah, Toombul, Albion and now Bowen Hills.

I sent an e-mail to this effect to QR following the Meet-the-managers day - along with my suggestion to use a "tidal flow" system between Bowen Hills and Northgate to increase peak capacity and allow for trains to/from Caboolture and Shorncliffe to run express.

These ideas need to be considered for the September timetable change.  It is already getting too late as we have seen.

[ozbob]

Great suggestions Derwan.
It is clear that some innovations are necessary.



Also from the same edition of the Northside Chronicle

THE GREAT TRAIN FARCE

Enough is enough. Northside train services are bursting at the seams during peak hour.
We need an urgent review of timetables and more trains on the Caboolture and Shorncliffe
lines and we need them now.

If you're left standing high and dry on the train platform, The Chronicle implores commuters
to register their dissatisfaction online at www.citytrain.com.au or by contacting QR's Customer Liaison Unit on 3235 3580.

[brad C]

The solution to the service problems in the inner northern suburbs is not Northgate to City trains.
Apart from being a junction between 2 lines, Northgate is not a significant station. It has no bus interchange and apart from industrial premises nearby has no commercial or educational alliance, unlike Toombul.
In addition, there is limited opportunities to tie up valuable track space at Northgate at the expense of through trains.
It should be realised that up to 9 trains in the AM peak from Petrie originate as empties from Bowen Hillls or Roma Street via the exhibition.
Most of these empty services traverse the main down through Northgate.

Given the need for addditional services from Shorncliffe particularly, it would be better to consider partial express running to Northgate then all stations to say EJ, then express to BH.
This service could then be followed by an all stopper to Northgate then express NG to BH.
On the northcoaster, some expresses run Strathpine to Northgate and then EJ to Bowen Hills.

It really is the only way to serve the inner north and relieve congestion further out.
My 2 cents .

Brad C

[Derwan]

The solution to the service problems in the inner northern suburbs is not Northgate to City trains.
Apart from being a junction between 2 lines, Northgate is not a significant station. It has no bus interchange and apart from industrial premises nearby has no commercial or educational alliance, unlike Toombul.
In addition, there is limited opportunities to tie up valuable track space at Northgate at the expense of through trains.

The reason I suggested Northgate is that platform 1 can be used as a turnaround.  Using existing points, trains from Caboolture can arrive on either platform 2 or 3 - and trains from Shorncliffe can route to Platform 2 and then back to the left track or one track to the right as necessary.  The Infrastructure is already there.

At worst, a section of the siding to the Golden Circle factory can be electrified and used as a turnaround point.

[stephenk]

Would a train starting at Northgate actually be reasonably full (i.e people standing in the aisles) by the time it has reached the city? If not then it would not be an efficient use of currently limited track space.

A problem with the line from Bowen Hills to Virginia is the large number of flat junctions:
- Down trains heading to either Doomben, Airport, or Shorncliffe have to cross the Up Suburban Line.
- Where 4 tracks merge into 3 south of Virginia, Down Suburbans to Down Mains have to cross the Up Main to Up Main and vice versa.
- Trains crossing from Surburban to Main lines (or vice versa) at 4 locations between Bowen Hills and Northgate have to cross the paths of either the Up Main or Down Suburban.

All of these flat junctions effectively reduce the line capacity. Maybe a few flyovers or flyunders need to be built to increase the line capacity and improve reliability?