Article: Trains have their best times in 10 years (Sunshine Coast Daily)

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Article: Trains have their best times in 10 years

Sunshine Coast Daily
by Kathy Sundstrom
1st Aug 2013 6:00 AM

QUEENSLAND Rail has achieved its best results in more than a decade for getting people to work on time.

Figures supplied show 97.42% of services arrived on schedule from April to June.

This means the train was no more than 3.59 minutes late in Queensland, although a slightly longer time of 5.59 minutes applies for the Sunshine and Gold coasts.

Regular Sunshine Coast commuter Jeff Addison praised Queensland Rail and the Government for the good results.

His records also show there has been "remarkable improvements in on-time performance and a significant reduction in time lost from delays".

"The last seven months have been far less than the previous average total time lost of two hours 25 minutes 26 seconds," Mr Addison said.

Transport and Main Roads Minister, Scott Emerson, said the results were achieved by Queensland Rail introducing measures after a maintenance audit.

"There is now a taskforce dedicated to on-time running, ensuring train control, train crew and station staff all work together to provide the best possible services for customers," Mr Emerson said.

The new initiatives were delivering results, he said.

"In the past financial year Queensland Rail has halved the number of delays due to network and operational issues - from 4689 in 2011-12 to 2314 in 2012-13," he said.

"Out of the 12 criteria used to measure on-time running we have seen improvement in all but one in the last financial year compared to 2011-12."

Customer satisfaction has also improved from the previous financial year. Mr Emerson said customer perception of Queensland Rail had significantly improved.