Article: Rail commuters face massive delays after power problems

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Rail commuters face massive delays after power problems

Rail commuters face massive delays after power problems

    Sherine Conyers, Maroochy Journal
    From: Quest Newspapers
    August 19, 2011 9:29AM

Rail commuters suffered transport chaos again today on the single-line track south of Nambour due to an overhead power fault south of Eudlo.

The Translink website reported normal services were suspended between Landsborough and Nambour during morning peak services and the delays continued to blight the commute home.

A train shuttle service is currently running north of Landsborough after an electrical failure south of Eudlo.

"Normal services are suspended between Landsborough and Nambour,'' the Translink website reports.

"Linesmen are on site fixing the problem and hope to have normal services running again by 3pm.

A train shuttle is running all stations between Eudlo and Nambour, where customers can catch a bus to Landsborough for normal train services into the city.

Trains are still running between Gympie North and Nambour.

Rail back on Track member and Palmwoods commuter Jeff Addison said the entire morning had been a nightmare as other commuters kept him in the loop.

"I received a report of a tree fallen on wires at Eudlo.

"I was offered a lift to Caboolture which I accepted," he said.

Mr Addison made it to work late, however he said other's were not so lucky, with some boarding trains that went from Nambour to Eudlo, returning to Nambour where commuters were then placed on buses back to Landsborough.

"It's been a very long morning for hundreds of Sunshine Coast QR 'customers' as they call us nowadays.

"The 'customer' however isn't always alright," he said.

Today's problems follow a series of major errors along the Sunshine Coast rail line this month, including power faults, signal failures and mechanical faults.

Mr Addison, who will meet with the Minister for Transport Annastacia Palaszczuk next Thursday said he wanted the minister to be aware of the significant issues surrounding rail passenger services and freight rail transport between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane and called for the track duplication to be completed.

The Sunshine Coast will grow by 60 per cent in the next 20 years and is the third highest growth area in Queensland. It is the second highest growth region in the south-east quarter.''

"A sign of single-line track congestion, a staggering 44 per cent of total weekday services from Nambour to Caboolture are buses in lieu of trains.

"This 54km journey takes up to three times longer than a car. These buses should be passenger trains.''

He said the timetable changes on June 6 had added 10 minutes journey time to what was already the longest journey in the SEQ rail network.

"The Sunshine Coast experiences many significant and regular delays which are exacerbated by a single line track from Beerburrum.''

"Up to 19 August, the line had experienced eight major delays in 15 working days,'' he said.

For service information visit the Translink website http://translink.com.au/travel-information/services-and-timetables/trains/sunshine-coast-line

[Stillwater]

An interesting discussion on Thursday.

[mufreight]

Would like to be a fly on the wall for that meeting on Thursday.
The Ministers office is more than well aweare of the problems arising on the NCL due to defered maintanence and the failure to continue with the realignment and duplication between Beerburrum and Nambour.
One must question is the Minister being informed of what the bureaucrats and her office administration know only too well or does the Minister know and is either unable to remedy them or not allowed to?
It will be interesting to hear what FF comes away with from that meeting, will he breathless from being run around in circles while being given more spin or might he actually get some honest answers and comittment to rectify the failings as a consequence of decades of neglect that are becoming more apparent with each passing day