Article: Queensland Rail says sorry

[Fares_Fair]

Article: Queensland Rail says sorry
Sunshine Coast Daily
by Patrick Williams
14th August 2012 7:07 PM

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2012/08/14/train-delays-anger-workers/

UPDATE 10.36AM: Queensland Rail has apologised to customers affected by yesterday's disruptions.

Queensland Rail services on the Caboolture line were delayed yesterday morning following two power outages and a track fault between Morayfield and Narangba stations.

They said the first incident occurred between Morayfield and Burpengary at 7.02am and was rectified within minutes before a second outage occurred near Narangba station at 7.07am.

The outages occurred when a train unit tripped the overhead wires.

A second train was brought in to tow the train to Narangba station and allow customers to safely disembark at the station.

At 8.10am a second train was forced to stop between Morayfield and Burpengary due to a broken rail.

The train was delayed for approximately 100 minutes as crews inspected and worked on the track before giving the all clear for the train to proceed on its scheduled route.

During this time all services between Caboolture and Narangba were redirected onto the other track, causing delays of up to 90 minutes.

Outbound trains were terminating at Petrie, with customers transferred to buses to continue their outbound journeys toward Caboolture/Sunshine Coast.

 

Train delays anger workers

TRAIN commuters have lost more than five hours of their precious time so far this month after another lengthy delay on services yesterday morning.

Travellers on the Caboolture and Sunshine Coast lines were hit with 90-minute delays due to a track and power fault between Morayfield and Burpengary.

Trains were forced to run slow, with some coming to a halt for up to 10 minutes at a time between stations.

Passengers also were forced to swap trains at different stations.

Buses ran between Petrie and Caboolture to assist with delays.

Engineers fixed the issues about lunch time, with services returning to normal not long after.

Sunshine Coast commuter advocate Jeff Addison said while the recent theft of copper wire from various stations and the resulting delays were understandably out of Queensland Rail's hands, he called for an immediate fix to the problems affecting local lines.

"People are fed up," he said.

"These track faults and power outages are happening so often.

"I think the government really needs to act quickly to resolve it."

Mr Addison said because of the lengthy delays in the mornings, employees late to work were being asked to stay behind and make up the time lost.

"Not everyone's boss is necessarily understanding of why they're late all the time," Mr Addison said.

"Up to a point bosses should be lenient of these kinds of things.

"But you can understand they're paying employees to do a job but every now and again there should be leeway with this kind of thing, and have some consideration for situations out of the employee's control."

Mr Addison said train delays in the afternoon were just as bad, with parents copping additional fees because they were late to pick up children from day care.

[Fares_Fair]

Thank you to Queensland Rail for the apology and the detailed communication.   

[Stillwater]

To be truly sorry, QR needs to fix the root causes of these outages, broken rails, faulty signals, rolling stock maintenance etc that so plague the Sunshine Coast Line.  People would feel respected if they were engaged in consultation well in advance of the next five-year Translink/QR Service Contract for the NCL, beginning 1 July 2013.

[somebody]

To be truly sorry, QR needs to fix the root causes of these outages, broken rails, faulty signals, rolling stock maintenance etc that so plague the Sunshine Coast Line.  People would feel respected if they were engaged in consultation well in advance of the next five-year Translink/QR Service Contract for the NCL, beginning 1 July 2013.

I don't think these problems are confined to the Sunshine Coast line.  Arguably, the Sunshine Coast line is more bitten because of the single track though.

[ozbob]

Sorry Fares Fair!  Sorry John, sorry Tan, sorry Mary ... and sorry to you too!

========================

http://jp.translink.com.au/travel-information/service-updates/details/1345063516

Caboolture/Sunshine Coast line delays

Last updated: 6.55am Thursday 16 August 2012

Caboolture/Sunshine Coast line trains may be delayed up to 20 minutes in both directions due to a signal fault at Morayfied.

Queensland Rail technicians are en route to investigate the fault.

The boom arms will be down at Station Rd, Morayfield during this time.  Queensland Police are en route to redirect traffic

[ozbob]

Here is a song to cheer you up ...

This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers - Augie March - 06

[Stillwater]

Be interesting to see the next lot of on-time running stats.  No doubt, the poor performance of the SCL will be homogenised among the total performance for all lines.

[ozbob]

Nope, new definition, not overloaded unless you stand for 51 minutes and 23 seconds, and on time if it actually gets there on the same day ...

Bit like the bus OTP, let's just make it all up ...

[somebody]

Nope, new definition, not overloaded unless you stand for 51 minutes and 23 seconds, and on time if it actually gets there on the same day ...

Bit like the bus OTP, let's just make it all up ...

And patronage growth is relative to 1977 (pre Merivale bridge)

[ozbob]

As you stand out another delay, you can come an visit here, and play and sing together  (but not in the quiet carriage now  )...

[ozbob]

Sorry!

===============

erail 17 Aug 2012 5.35am

30 mins delay for services on Caboolture Line due to signalling fault. Service to resume by 6:15 AM.

[Stillwater]

 :conf 

[SurfRail]