Lack of peak services to Alderley - feedback received.

[ozbob]

Since the major QR timetable reschedule this year in queensland there has been no trains available in the afternoon from central station in brisbane to alderley station between 5.03 (not possible to get if you finish work at 5pm) and 5.24.   

I have made numerous calls to QR, local councillors etc all to no avail.  I find it ridiculous that at peak hour there is no train for 25 minutes.  Is this too much to ask?  Prior to the new timetable, the times were quite reasonable (5.07, 5.19, 5.30) Is there anything you can do to put pressure on someone to fix this?  It seems one person can't make any changes as I think I have exhausted all my options!

Thanks for the feedback.  We will continue to highlight these anomalies. 

Admin

[stephenk]

I totally agree here, and have complained about the current Ferny Grove Line timetable on many an occasion.

The 20min + gaps are due to QR running the rather pointless express services to/from Ferny Grove. Due to the single track section, trains can only be run to and from Ferny Grove approx every 10mins. Thus by running an express service, this creates a 20+ minute gap for stations not served by the express service (Windsor to Gaythorne). Yet the second evening express only cuts journey times to Ferny Grove by 3mins. Doesn't quite add up does it! Mitchelton trains having to reverse in a platform rather than a siding as at Beenleigh also creates operational problems.

Personally I think that any wait more than 15mins during the peaks is unacceptable and not attractive to public transport, particularly on a line as busy as the Ferny Grove Line. QR should seriously rethink the Ferny Grove Line timetable, maybe scrapping express services and Mitchelton reversers and run all stations services approximately every 10mins during the peaks.

The gaps that need filling are the:-
21 mins between 06:45 and 07:06 ex Ferny Grove (stations Ferny Grove to Enoggera)
23 mins between 06:45 and 07:17 ex Mitchelton (stations Alderley to Windsor)
20 mins between 16:37 and 16:57 ex Central (stations Windsor to Gaythorne)
21 mins between 17:03 and 16:24 ex Central (stations Windsor to Gaythorne)

[ButFli]

I really don't understand the reasoning behind express services when there are less than 3 tracks. The tiny improvement in travel time does not justify the increased gaps between all-stations services.

[ozbob]

Media Release 26 June 2008

SEQ:  Improve peak rail services on Ferny Grove line by removing express services

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport users has suggested that removing the express services on the Ferny Grove line would actually allow for  improved commuter urban rail services for all commuters on the Ferny Grove line during peak times.  The Ferny Grove line has very heavy peak loadings but the line is only 16 kilometres long.  Improved services would be possible if the timetable complications of express pattern services were removed and more frequent services stopping at all stations were introduced.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

?The two morning and two evening express services on the Ferny Grove Line only reduce the journey time by one to five minutes, yet create gaps between trains of between 17 to 24 minutes at stations which are not served by the express services.?

?These gaps are unacceptably long for what is one of the busiest train lines in Brisbane.?

?This makes public transport very unattractive.?

?The current mix of express services and trains reversing at Mitchelton could also be eliminated.?

?A better timetable for this line would be services running approximately every 10 minutes during the peaks stopping at all stations.?

?This would create a frequent train service attractive to commuters from all stations on the Ferny Grove line.?

Contact:
Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[AnnaW]

Hello

For those of you who don't know me I proudly work at QR Passenger.

I've taken the comments about the Ferny Grove line that you've taken the time to post here and I've sent them off to our timetabling team copying the boss of operations, Kevin Wright and the Executive General Manager of QR Passenger, Paul Scurrah for a response.

We have recently welcomed with open arms to our team Kevin (General Manager, Operations).  For those of you who haven't heard of Kevin he most recently was in charge of RailCorp's passenger business and before that he was at QR for many, many years.

Kevin doesn't just like timetables and the challenge of integrated scheduling - he loves it!  So, I am looking forward to working with him to continuously improve our services to you, our customers.

Thank you for sharing.

Cheers
Anna

[ozbob]

Welcome Anna!

Thanks for  your comments. 

There are some ideas here that are well worth adding to the timetable-melting pot for sure and thanks for that confirmation.

Regards
Bob

[stephenk]

It good to see that QR will be looking at the Ferny Grove Line's timetable problems, although whether changes are made is another thing!

I decided to have a look at how Connex in Melbourne timetables express service patterns to see how they do things differently to QR. Here are a few examples:-

Glen Waverley Line:
2 am peak expresses resulting in 13 and 15 minute gaps for non-served stations
2 pm peak expresses resulting in 12 min gaps for non-served stations
It should be noted that this line has 2 tracks throughout, and usually runs 7 min peak headways.

Epping Line:
No express services on branch - limited to 12 mins min headway due to single track sections. Where shared with Hurstbridge Line express services run, gaps for non-served stations 9-17mins during peaks.

Sandringham Line:
No express services - this line has a single track terminus, and 9 min peak headway.

Belgrave & Lilydale Lines:
Extensive express services on core section, with no gaps longer than 15mins during busiest part of peaks (in fact most gaps no more than 10mins).

Caulfield Group:
Gaps for stations not served by expresses no more than 15mins for core section during peaks. Gaps for stations not served by expresses on branches no more than 15mins (1 exception being 19mins).

So in general, the express service patterns in Melbourne have few gaps for non-served stations of more than 15mins. It should be noted that even off-peak, all stations have either a 15 or 20min service, yet QR/Translink cannot even provide this service to some stations on the Ferny Grove Line during the height of the rush hour! Some lines in Melbourne such as the Glen Waverley and Sandringham Line operate a high frequency all stations service instead of a mix of all stations and express services.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, QR/Translink should re-write the Ferny Grove timetable to either replace the mix of Ferny Grove expresses and Mitchelton reversers with frequent all stations trains, or if they really have to run expresses (to keep people who commute from Dayboro happy) re-write the timetable so that there are no service gaps of more than 15mins for any station.

Bringing forward the duplication between Keperra and Ferny Grove would also significantly help improving the Ferny Grove Line's service in conjunction with the new trains on order. The half-baked duplication between Mitchelton and Keperra has not significantly increased the capacity of the line.