15 July 2007: Brisbane: Caboolture Line Congestion

[ozbob]

RAIL Back On Track - Media Release 15 July 2007

Brisbane:  Caboolture Line Congestion

RAIL ? Back On Track (http://backontrack.org)  a web based community organisation for the promotion of rail throughout Australia has called for priority be given to the provision of extra Citytrain services between Caboolture and Brisbane City during the weekday peak times.

Robert Dow said:

?Passenger number increases for the morning peak on Citytrain have averaged an increase of 9.1% from 2006 to 2007 for all lines.  The Caboolture line has had a 13.5% increase!  This is the greatest increase of all lines.?

?There are many new housing and industry developments north of Brisbane and increasing road congestion will only place even more demands on the Citytrain services from Caboolture.  There is an immediate need for an additional service to leave Caboolture at 6.50 am Monday to Friday.  This would ease congestion on the 7.00 am and 7.10 am services from Caboolture.  This should be given a high priority.?

?RAIL Back On Track notes that some extra services were introduced from the 18th June.  Many passengers have complained recently about the increasing congestion.  Priority must be given to introducing additional services on the Caboolture line as trains become available as new trains are placed into service on the Gold Coast line.?

Contact:

Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track

http://backontrack.org

[brad C]

As a regular commuter on this line since 1973,  I agree on the need for an additional service from Caboolture between 6.30am and 7.00am.
This has been a neglected time gap in timetables since electrification began in 1986 and the only subtle change has been to wind back the starting time of the current 6.40am Darra service.
Following the departure of that service from Caboolture there is a six car empty train from Nambour that forms the 7.05am service out of Petrie.
Whilst this service could be timetabled to pick up passengers at intermediate stations, this may prove problematic in the long term as loadings on this service from Petre are quite high.
My observations of the additional express workings from the Sunshine Coast as 'sweepers' to the 5.40am and 6.24am services out of caboolture is that they have had limited success as many workers at that time of the morning detrain at Geebung and Sunshine for industrial premises in these areas and must of necessity continue to catch the all stations services.
The only real beneficiaries to these services have been Petrie commuters who continue to enjoy additional express services.

One of the most obvious improvements to a long term rail strategy in the outer northern areas is the eventual extension of triplication to caboolture.
This will be especially so once duplication works north of caboolture are completed with a correspionding increase in services from the short north.
Combine this with freight and long distance passenger services and headways required for express running and one concludes that the planning of further peak hour services to or from caboolture will be difficult.
In fact there have been no additional AM peak hour services from caboolture serving Morayfield, Burpengary or Narangba since the 1993 timetable changes.The bi directional signalling over this section has limited success during peak periods due to the volume of traffic in both up and down directions and the absence of high speed crossovers at Caboolture, Narangba and Petrie North.

It would be beneficial for timetable planners to actually talk to some of the more 'rail aware' passengers when proposing new timetable changes.

Brad C

[ozbob]

Welcome Brad!

Thanks for your feedback.  We will continue to put this to QR Passenger Services.

There are gaps on many lines.  Work has changed over the years, it is no longer a 9-5 workforce.

Hopefully there will be improvements as new units introduced into service and more crew trained.

Regards
Ozbob

[ozbob]

For another comment re Caboolture line see here --> http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=178.0

Thanks.

Regards
Ozbob

[ozbob]

Feedback received, thanks!

A major problem on the Caboolture line is service connections generally both
ways with services to Shorncliffe, Doomben and Ferny Grove, the last is the most
frustrating as the train for Ferny Grove arrives at Bowen Hills at the same time
as the train from Caboolture and both tend to leave simultaneously. On Saturday
I wanted to travel from the Caboolture line to Doomben and forgot the time
table, the connecting train was in 56 minutes. My walking time from Doomben
to Eagle Junction is less than that, I've tried it. Similarly with buses. The bus
pulls out of Carseldine as the train from Caboolture arrives. I used to travel from
Sandgate to Zillmere fairly regularly. Of the three ways of travel, train to
Northgate, then train to Zillmere, train to Boondall, only to see the bus
disappear at the same time as the train pulled out, or walk from Boondall to
Zillmere, no prizes for which was the quickest. Some potential travellers do not
want to travel radially which seems to be the only the time tavellers seem to
consider, why use public transport at the weekend when the car is so much
more attractive for time?

John Rigby