Oxley Station Upgrade

[mufreight]

The upgrade of Oxley station is more than welcome however it falls far short of the mark.
If it is to be effective the platform height needs to be raised to provide disability access for the full length of the train and to reduce station dwell times.
The reconstruction would have been simplified had the fourth platform been constructed when the additional tracks were provided and the fourth track wired which would have then meant that it would have been possible to route all passenger services through what would then have been platforms 1 and 4 leaving platforns 2 and 3 avaliable for unimpeded reconstruction, they built a temporary platform at Darra to enable the unimpeded reconstruction of the island platform, now platforms 2 and 3 there, why not at Oxley.
The raising of platforms is long overdue and despite all the misleading spin about creating clerance problems with freight operations due to curvature carriage floor height platforms reduce station dwell times and provide unrestricted disability access, the other advantage is that at a future time they enhance the possibility of the operation of driver only trains which would provide a substantial reduction in the operating costs which can the be divirted to the operation of more frequent services.

[ozbob]

Transport planning in SEQ can be summed up as 'penny wise, pound foolish' ...

Oxley is just another on a long long list ...

It is a vicious circle, because of the botched initial infrastructure projects eg. Oxley, Ferny Grove, they then spend a lot more in rectifying the obvious stuff ups which means there is less funding long term for real movements forward. The Queensland Auditor General highlighted the fundamental problems big time, has anything really improved since?   Seems not ...  still a basket case ...

[mufreight]

There has to be a more accountable and responsible approach to ensure money for infrastructure overall and more specificly for rail infrastructure is not simply poured down the drain as has for too long been the case as a result of no foresight and beancounter politicaly motivated planning.  As a older and wiser man once said, do it once, do it properly, it is far more ecenomical that way.  Oh incidentaly the old blokes name was Ben Chiffley

As Ozbob said quoting the Auditor General.

Building cost projections 'flawed', says auditor-general
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Patrick Lion

July 01, 2009 12:00am

ANNA Bligh's building program has been slammed again with another report finding poor planning was risking cost blowouts and short-changing taxpayers.

In his third critical report in as many weeks, Auditor-General Glenn Poole yesterday identified a severe communication breakdown between departments that left them applying different methodologies to several similar policy areas.

The report found agencies were risking inaccurate cost projections and blowouts by using different methods to calculate the true cost of projects several years away from completion.

Mr Poole also found the same inconsistency was causing large project land resumptions to be leased back to landholders below market rates and for as little as $1000 a year.

The whole-of-government report comes after damning individual audits of Queensland Health and Transport and Main Roads departments and casts doubt on the billions being spent on water, road and hospital projects.

The report has also foreshadowed a future focus on the Rudd Government's stimulus package after departments were asked to spend money in short time frames.

It also found a risk to the security of personal information with IT systems protecting sensitive data only comparable to those of a medium-sized business and not that required by a government agency.

Ms Bligh yesterday said it was the role of the auditor-general to find problems and recommend improvements. "I understand this report does that and we'll certainly be looking at it very closely," she said.

The report found Education Queensland's OneSchool initiative, which profiles every state school student on an intranet, had no clear directions to deliver it on-time, within scope or on-budget. It was estimated to cost $45 million but had a current price tag of $97 million.

Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said the report highlighted the appalling mismanagement of the Premier and her ministers.

"The Bligh Labor Government can't manage their way out of a paper bag," he said.   

Need more be said.