Some timetable comments

[ozbob]

Posted on behalf of John Rigby, thanks John.

Caboolture line.

This is probably the most heavily trafficked line. Off peak times when operating on 30 minute service:
Shorncliffe trains leave Northgate a few minutes before the Ipswich train arrives, often it is held up waiting near the Mail Exchange for the Shorncliffe train to clear the points at Northgate.

Ferny Grove trains leave Bowen Hills at the same time  or a minute before the Ipswich train arrives.
The train from Shorncliffe arrives at Northgate a few minutes after the Caboolture train has left.
Connection between the cityexpress bus at Carseldine and both up and down trains would become a viable travel alternative if the bus left a few minutes later.

Shorncliffe line.

The Up train departs from Boondall simultaneously with the Cityexpress bus. I used to live at Zillmere and travel regularly from Redcliffe. It was quicker for me to hope the bus was a little, if it had left it was still quicker to walk to Zillmere than to change trains at Northgate.

There needs to be some form of communication between function promoters at Boondall and train services to ensure that 100 or more patrons do not wait on the platform for almost half an hour for a 3 car unit.

Tourists are still looking for Brunswick Street station. It may easily be a year before overseas travel agents find out the station has been renamed, in the meantime tourists are giving Brisbane a bad name especially after being robbed by the excessive fare for the journey from the airport. I have heard the initial of the first word of the re-named station being used for a shortened name promoting the sex industry for the area.

[Derwan]

Posted on behalf of John Rigby, thanks John.
Shorncliffe trains leave Northgate a few minutes before the Ipswich train arrives, often it is held up waiting near the Mail Exchange for the Shorncliffe train to clear the points at Northgate.

Ferny Grove trains leave Bowen Hills at the same time  or a minute before the Ipswich train arrives.
The train from Shorncliffe arrives at Northgate a few minutes after the Caboolture train has left.

These are the so-called "connections" that we have.  Those travelling between Northside lines have up to a 28-minute wait because of these poor connections.  Of course a minor adjustment could throw things out at the other end.  Must be a frustrating task for time-tablers.  Bring on 15-minute off-peak intervals!!

[stephenk]

Connections cannot be made to suit everyone, there will always be winners and losers. As Derwen mentioned a 15min off-peak timetable would help considerably in this respect!

[Arnz]

Infrastructure on some parts of the lines needs to constructed first, otherwise the strain on the lines which also have the interurban service (namely Beenleigh and Caboolture) would just make it worse with the interurban express ending up having to do a "stopping at all red signals" service all the way through the suburban line.

[Markus]

Yes, user unfriendly timetabling is a pain, and Im not sure what the solution is in the short term, however, my aim here is to avoid such problems in the future. ** Refer to my email message relating to Brisbane turnback times and pairings on the 8th Oct 2008 was written so similar problems at pulse stations can be avoided in the future.

Having lived in SYD for many years I have seen several examples whereby these basic issues are not addressed leading to problems for timetablers and passengers for many years. Examples Im referring to are:
- reversals on the Bankstown line being impossible for the line to run according to the "human hour clock" for regular frequency so decision makers had to build an expensive 5th platform at Lidcombe.
- The Merrylands Y Link ( 1996, $50Mill ), now has only rare usage as this very expensive and relatively new link doesnt synthesise with Western line trains. 

Fellow readers, please note, this message is mainly for the BNE CBD inner City study decisionmakers to take these expensive mistakes into account when giving the go ahead for projects.
In approving rail projects PLEASE ensure maximum efficiency with the current system.

[Arnz]

On another side note, anyone noticed that the Sunshine Coast/Nambour timetables seem to have been rebranded from Green to Sky Blue, as per Christmas and New Year timetables. 

All other lines have kept their respective colors on the Christmas/NY timetables.  Perhaps a rebranding/minor timetable changes for Nambour-Gympie is in the works considering the upgrade works are almost completed?