Slowness South Bank-Park Rd

[somebody]

What's the reason for this?  It feels like it should be able to be done faster.

[mufreight]

What's the reason for this?  It feels like it should be able to be done faster.

Maybe it is but when you are not on the train.

[O_128]

This goes for South bris to South Bank as well, its straight yet dreadfully slow, The 13 min it takes from Park Road to the city can be done in 10

[petey3801]

This goes for South bris to South Bank as well, its straight yet dreadfully slow, The 13 min it takes from Park Road to the city can be done in 10

South Brisbane -> South Bank on the Up line is 80km/h (on green signals).
South Bank -> South Brisbane on the Down line is 60km/h (on green signals).

As for South Bank -> Park Road: On the up, it is 80km/h till the Gloucester Street tunnel which is 60 until after the LH curve after the tunnel where it goes to 70. Before the LH into Park Rd it goes back to 60 then 40 before the platform. Raising the speed on the 70km/h straight is virtually pointless, as on a 6-car train, by the time you clear the 60 section and power up to 70, it's pretty much time to brake for the 60 curve and 40 into Park Rd.

Of course, the thing that really starts to slow the trains down is restricted signals (max. 75% road speed on restricted signals). This is especially the case during peaks.

[somebody]

40km/h seems a pretty harsh restriction through there, given that CityRail have upped the bit through Wollstonecraft which is quite a bit tighter to 50km/h.

I presume that the same speeds apply northbound, and there is also the (apparently) poorly placed points from Platform 3 to the Down Sub right before Annerley Rd.  Perhaps that's to get the points away from the curve.

[Mozz]

I host many people from around the world, particularly European countries, in the last few months unsolicited comments are that we have the slowest trains they have ever travelled on.

Now to be fair they generally travel outside of peak not in peak hour so I suggest it is more noticeable outside of peak.

However travelling from oxley to the the first cbd station (Roma street) taking 23 mins for a 12 or so kilometre travel and only reaching 50 or so kph as a top speed and long dwell times at stations in order to stick to the timetable (not leave a station early) is something that people actually notice even if they are not train or public transport geeks.

[O_128]

However travelling from oxley to the the first cbd station (Roma street) taking 23 mins for a 12 or so kilometre travel and only reaching 50 or so kph as a top speed and long dwell times at stations in order to stick to the timetable (not leave a station early) is something that people actually notice even if they are not train or public transport geeks.

Why is this though, are the speed limits to slow, dwell times to long (we know this already). In europe the trains seemed to pull out of the stations much faster.

[petey3801]

40km/h seems a pretty harsh restriction through there, given that CityRail have upped the bit through Wollstonecraft which is quite a bit tighter to 50km/h.

I presume that the same speeds apply northbound, and there is also the (apparently) poorly placed points from Platform 3 to the Down Sub right before Annerley Rd.  Perhaps that's to get the points away from the curve.

The 40km/h board just before Park Road is for the curve in the middle of Park Road platform.

Speeds northbound are roughly the same, except the 70km/h straight is shorter (starts after the points from the 3rd road) and it's 60km/h from the RH curve before Gloucester St tunnel until South Brisbane. 3rd Road at Park Road is 50km/h from the points between Dutton Park and Park Road until the 70km/h straight between Park Road and South Bank (after the 3rd road goes into the Down road).

Why is this though, are the speed limits to slow, dwell times to long (we know this already). In europe the trains seemed to pull out of the stations much faster.

Not really. We're pretty good for speeds into/out of stations (60km/h entry into stations where the speed limit permits and generally around 60km/h by the time the end of the train has left the platform, where speed limits permit. Depends on unit performance also).

Speed limits are a main part of the problem, but they're there for a reason. Only thing that can really fix the speed limits in most locations is curve easing/realignment.

However travelling from oxley to the the first cbd station (Roma street) taking 23 mins for a 12 or so kilometre travel and only reaching 50 or so kph as a top speed and long dwell times at stations in order to stick to the timetable (not leave a station early) is something that people actually notice even if they are not train or public transport geeks.

There are some high speed limits between Oxley and the City (up to 100lm/h), however it is difficult to achieve these speeds on all-stations trains due to the need to stop at the stations. Dwell times are an issue though, I do agree. The current Ipswich line timetable is pretty good for peak services (could use a minute or two trimmed Wacol-Darra section and a minute or so trimmed Darra-Indooroopilly, but other than that it's pretty good). Off-peak, it could nearly go back to the old timetable (maybe an extra minute added Darra - Wacol section) and keep pretty good time. But yes, sitting on a train that's stopped at a station waiting for the timetable to catch up is something everyone notices and is annoyed by.

[somebody]

Speed limits are a main part of the problem, but they're there for a reason. Only thing that can really fix the speed limits in most locations is curve easing/realignment.

I don't really accept that they can't up the 40km/h limit on the present alignment at Park Rd.  I still think 40km/h is too harsh, given that the MUCH tighter curve through Wollstonecraft was able to be raised to 50km/h.  There's a few differences obviously.

Getting some re-alignment through there would be nice, and may be achievable on the present corridor so long as Platform 1 could be extended (temporarily or permanently) towards South Bank.