Article: Rail woes revealed

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Rail woes revealed

Rail woes revealed
Daniel Hurst
October 28, 2011 - 5:47AM

About 30 signalling problems occur across the southeast Queensland railway network each week, but the number of overhead power glitches that cause major disruptions has declined.

Figures released by Queensland Rail yesterday reveal the extent of various unplanned incidents that affect city network services, along with a breakdown of which rail lines have the best and worst on-time running performance.

The figures came as the opposition separately attacked the government's handling of planned track closures, citing a leaked internal document containing scathing comments about replacement bus services and poor co-ordination in August.

Queensland Rail's figures show 388 signalling system incidents were recorded throughout April, May and June this year, the latest quarter for which figures were available, equating to 30 a week.

Such faults can relate to any part of the signalling system, including signals, track circuits, points and level-crossing equipment, with impatient motorists running into boom gates often causing commuter woes.

The number of disruptive overhead powerline incidents has been on a downward trend in recent years, with seven recorded throughout April, May and June this year, compared with 26 per quarter in 2009/10.

brisbanetimes.com.au sought the figures a month ago following a day of commuter chaos after a bird flew into overhead lines near Fortitude Valley station. The power loss led to the suspension of services in the area and then delays of up to an hour during the evening peak.

The figures also show problems with train tracks – including sleepers and the actual rails – occur at the rate of about 80 a quarter, or six a week.

Robert Dow, from commuter lobby group Rail Back on Track, said the number of signal faults was higher in 2010/11 than the previously financial year, although this could partly be blamed on last summer's wet weather.

Separate figures reveal passengers on the Shorncliffe line copped the highest share of late services in April, May and June this year, when just 86.5 per cent of trains were on time.

The best-performing line in the same period was the Gold Coast with 96.3 per cent of services deemed to be on time, although Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast services can be within six minutes of timetable (rather than four minutes elsewhere) to be counted.

The overall average across all lines was 92.9 per cent for the quarter.

Queensland Rail chief Paul Scurrah said the organisation was trying to meet an annual on-time running target of 93.77 per cent, as late trains affected customer satisfaction.

The state government drew fire on a different front yesterday, with the opposition pointing to a leaked document as evidence passengers were left "stranded" during maintenance-related track closures on August 6 and 7.

Services on the Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines were suspended between Dutton Park and Varsity Lakes for that weekend so track work could take place.

A Queensland Rail internal log of issues experienced during the weekend included about 120 negative entries, many about poor replacement bus services.

The document included comments that the bus services were inconsistent, with sometimes an hour between services, and drivers passed people who were waiting or did not stop at all stations.

A pregnant woman reportedly had to wait for nearly an hour for a replacement bus at Kuraby station.

"Sunday was just as bad as Saturday for the track closure," one staff member wrote.

"Buses getting lost and therefore getting delayed, 5 buses did not show up ... and in one case left a pregnant woman waiting for almost an hour until we somehow managed to get in touch with a bus co-ordinator and arranged the Sunnybank 'as required' bus to come and pick her up along with 8 other people and take them directly into central station."

Opposition transport spokesman Scott Emerson said the number of negative entries in the staff log was many times more than usual and showed "disastrous management of the weekend rail closure".

Mr Emerson said that weekend was the first test of Transport Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk's decision to give TransLink the job of providing alternative public transport arrangements during planned track closures, a task previously done by Queensland Rail.

"The complaint register detailed bus drivers didn't know where they were going, replacement buses were infrequent and unreliable, internal communication was dysfunctional, and commuters were kept in the dark resulting in missed connections and excessive waiting times," he said.

However, a TransLink spokesman said only six customers made formal complaints about the track closure, out of the 30,000 trips passengers would normally take on the affected part of the network on a weekend.

He confirmed TransLink was now responsible for organising buses for use during planned track closures, saying it was better placed than Queensland Rail to negotiate with bus providers.

Mr Emerson questioned whether transport authorities were capable of handling the impending closure of South Brisbane railway station for $10 million renovations.

But Mr Dow said he was confident authorities had given adequate notice of the six-week South Brisbane closure and they had arranged free shuttle buses between South Bank and South Brisbane stations.

During the closure – starting this Monday – trains will be able to keep travelling through South Brisbane station but not stop there. The renovations are to improve wheelchair access and restore the heritage-listed station.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/rail-woes-revealed-20111028-1mmhm.html#ixzz1c0vZygiG