Article: Quarantined Brisbane Transport buses accidentally put back on road ...

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

Quarantined Brisbane Transport buses accidentally put back on road after gas explosion

Quarantined Brisbane Transport buses accidentally put back on road after gas explosion

    by: Sarah Vogler
    From: The Courier-Mail
    January 24, 2012 12:00AM

COMMUTERS were put at risk yesterday after 25 Brisbane council buses quarantined following a gas cylinder explosion were accidentally placed back on the road.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk last night issued a statement apologising for the dangerous "clerical'' error that put passengers at risk of another explosion following the blast at council's Virginia depot early Saturday morning.

"I have been made aware of a serious issue regarding the precautionary grounding of 33 gas-powered buses following the weekend's incident where a cylinder ruptured and damaged two buses,'' Cr Quirk said.

"While locating the above buses from within council's 1175-strong fleet, council officers made a data entry error that led  to 25 of these buses being incorrectly put into service.''

Cr Quirk said he had notified the Rail Tram and Bus Union with drivers also put at risk because of the error.

"I am angry and disappointed that such an error could occur,'' Cr Quirk said of the incident.

"I have sought and received assurances from senior council management that the correct buses will be quarantined before services recommence tomorrow.''

Council CEO Colin Jensen will brief the Lord Mayor today on measures to ensure the incident does not happen again.

Two buses were damaged in the explosion at the Virginia depot although nobody was injured.

Thirty-three of 569 buses fuelled by compressed natural gas, which is less harmful to the environment, were meant to have been taken out of service yesterday as investigations continued into what caused the incident.

Brisbane Lord Mayoral candidate Ray Smith said he was horrified the buses ended up on Brisbane's roads.

"This is gross negligence from the Lord Mayor and his LNP administration that has put the lives of Brisbane commuters and bus drivers at risk,'' he said.

"This is basic council administration and it's inexcusable for this to have occurred.

"All reports and communications about this incident should be publicly released to Brisbane residents otherwise they'll never have confidence in council's bus services again.

"The Lord Mayor must do better than this.''

It's the second such incident aboard a council CNG-fuelled bus in four years.

In 2008, 30 buses were taken off the road after an explosion at the Upper Mt Gravatt fuelling station injured five workers.

Gas cylinders on the operational buses are now only being partially filled while more regular safety checks are also being conducted.

Compressed natural gas buses make up almost half of the council fleet although Cr Quirk said the council was now buying more diesel buses.

[ozbob]

The reduction in gas pressure in the gas bus fleet does mean more frequent re-fueling and some modification to the longer runs.  Will add to an increase non-revenue running too I expect.

[ozbob]

Interesting blog post at Brisbanetimes http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/council-error-puts-quarantined-buses-back-in-service-after-gas-explosion-20120124-1qei3.html

    This is the second time that the pressure of the gas storage in these buses has beenn refuced not the first.
    Their capacity has now been reduced to roughly half of their original design effectively reducing their range between refuling by half.
    As the high risk of operation of these gas fueled buses is the refuling this further reduction in the storage pressure of gas in the buses means that the risk at refuling has been doubled as they will now need refuling twice as frequently.
    For a storage cylinder to have exploded it must have neen flawed so obviously a more rigerous, stringent and frequent testing program is needed is needed for these cylinders.


Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/council-error-puts-quarantined-buses-back-in-service-after-gas-explosion-20120124-1qei3.html

[ozbob]

From the Brisbane mX 24th January 2012

Safety of buses assured

[ozbob]

Article from 7 June 2012, had not seen this before ..

From the Couriermail click here!

$1.5m later and Brisbane City council admits it has no idea why two buses exploded at refuelling depot

$1.5m later and Brisbane City council admits it has no idea why two buses exploded at refuelling depot

    by: Sarah Vogler
    From: The Courier-Mail
    June 07, 2012 6:43AM

THE cause of a gas explosion which damaged two Brisbane City Council buses in January is still unknown.

City Hall's third budget review revealed council had so far spent about $1.5 million on acoustic emission testing to determine the safety of the cylinders used to power 569 buses in the 1175-strong fleet.

One of the cylinders exploded on January 21 as it was being refuelled at the Virginia bus depot in the second such incident in four years.

While no one was injured, two buses were damaged and 33 were quarantined.

Council came under fire after 25 of the quarantined buses were accidentally put back on the road.

Since then the gas cylinders have been replaced and all buses put back in service.

Council has also overhauled its checking procedures.

But four months on, a council spokesman said investigations into the blast were yet to determine the cause.