Redcliffe Peninsula line & associated changes - rail

[Fares_Fair]

When @AnnastaciaMP Govt announced 650 services/week for #RedcliffePeninsulaLine.
Did they not check to see if staff/driver numbers were available?

Welcome to Queensland...
Where shirking comes naturally.

[#Metro]

8. What have the Government been doing for 18 months, seemingly unaware there was a problem even when 50 services were cancelled Friday week ago. Followed by a spectacular 100 last Friday?

What were they doing? "La la la la la..." is my guess.

CEO Helen Gluer is just going to be the blame donkey. In reality, everybody here at RBOT has been harping on for YEARS about driver training, will we have sufficient trains, why isn't there enough train crew and NGR trains on order etc.

We know that we don't have enough crew - every time I suggested on this forum 15 min trains for the Springfield lines etc, it was a case of "we don't have enough crew. Won't happen for a while." So this is a known thing!

Simple response is Queensland Government was sleeping at the wheel (as ususal, it is also doing this with the BCC buses, also with Cross River Rail, also with Ipswich bus problems) based on the (wrong) assumption that tomorrow will be just like today and yesterday.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland Rail scrambles to design temporary Citytrain timetable

Queensland Rail expects to have a modified train timetable in place by Tuesday in a bid to avoid a repeat of Friday's calamitous cancellation of more than 100 Citytrain services.

Chief executive officer Helen Gluer, who on Friday accepted responsibility for the disruption, said trains would operate as normal on Monday as Queensland Rail scrambled to put together a modified timetable.

But she warned passengers faced weeks of potential disruptions and timetable changes before the system would be fully up and running.

A modified timetable will operate from as soon as Tuesday while QR attempts to train enough drivers to fulfil its service commitments.

The cancellations were caused by a shortage of qualified train drivers and crews in the wake of the opening of the new Moreton Bay Rail Link.

Ms Gluer once again apologised to commuters for "uncertainty" created by timetable changes, and said the service was "disappointed that we have not been able to deliver on the high service we pride ourselves on".

"Our aim is to provide a first-class rail service and it is clear that we haven't delivered that over the past couple of weeks," she said.

"We have worked tirelessly to try to achieve workarounds to make the new timetable work and, unfortunately, we have not been able to deliver this.

"We are urgently progressing an interim timetable solution to alleviate the strain until our driver training on the new line is completed and we have new traincrew commence work as part of our recruitment program."

Ms Gluer said QR had been covering its driver shortage with staff coming back from leave early and working extra shifts, but this had reached a "crunch point" leading to Friday's cancellations.

"We are pulling out all the stops, but I want to prepare customers that we may face a couple of weeks with further changes to services as we transition to the new interim timetable," she said.

"We ask that our customers to continue to check the TransLink website to plan their journey."

Ms Gluer said recruitment of an additional 100 drivers was approved in November 2015 but it took a year to train a driver to QR requirements.

The question is now long will the ' interim timetable ' with its service degradation be inflicted on the long suffering public transport user community?

How long ??

At what stage of training are the new drivers?  Months and months away before they are qualified ??

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

23rd October 2016

Comment on new ' interim rail timetable '

Good Morning,

The latest in the service delivery crisis for rail is that a new ' interim timetable ' will be in place from Tuesday however ' passengers are warned they face weeks of potential disruptions and timetable changes before the system would be fully up and running '.

The public has lost confidence in the public transport network.  It is not only rail but bus is poorly performing as well.  Cancelled services, no shows and chronic late services means missed connections, hours added to journey times.  Extra child-care fees for some, lost wages particularly for casual workers, missed appointments for many. It has got to the point where it is near impossible to rely on public transport in SEQ for critical time appointments.  There are no compensation mechanisms.   As we enter the examination periods for tertiary students they would be well advised to add plenty of time to their journeys so they don't miss the examinations.  All adds to the stress.

The attitude of the transport authorities is that although public transport is mediocre tough luck mugs!  Basic reform of the failed public transport is too hard.  Lets play with our new ' tower of power ' ...

With respect to the new ' interim rail timetable '.  How long will this degraded service level be inflicted on the public?

How long before new train crew will actually be certified and the train crew shortage actually be overcome?  Six months or longer ??

Is it time to come clean with the problems with New Generation Rollingstock?  Or is that going to be swept under a cloud of desperate hope too?

We have no confidence in the present Government or the Opposition for that matter.

Mediocre transport policy now from a succession of Governments has finally culminated in this debacle.

Good luck SEQ.  You are going to need it from here.  A failed state ..

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org


Reference:

Brisbanetimes: Queensland Rail scrambles to design temporary Citytrain timetable
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-rail-scrambles-to-design-temporary-citytrain-timetable-20161022-gs8g6i.html

[ Attached: http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12435.msg181926#msg181926 ]

[ozbob]

Latest media: Comment on new ' interim rail timetable '
> https://t.co/qumZIaKqBH#qldpol@AnnastaciaMP @TimNichollsMP
failure manifest! pic.twitter.com/c9OL425KkS

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) October 22, 2016

[ozbob]

Only a matter of time before ' heads roll ' .... 

[ozbob]

The Queensland Government Cabinet is off to the Whitsundays today ...  another nice jaunt ..

Meanwhile the crisis deepens.

CEO of Queensland Rail Ms Gluer, who I have found very communicative, will probably be lined up for the chop. Hope I am wrong.

Sadly for Ms Gluer she was appointed by the Newman Government.  So I can guess what the political expedient response will be, to show they are ' managing ' the situation.  Hope the comms are good in the Island paradise.

TransLink is dysfunctional. Maybe sorting that out too might help a bit.

Looks like the punters will just be abandoned to chaos. 

[#Metro]

Ad was made in Queensland... 

QUEENSLAND!!

[BrizCommuter]

Apparently the new Brisbane themed version of Monopoly is the only version of Monopoly where the players move backwards around the board.

Land on a QR station and you have to stay there for 60 minutes.

[ozbob]

LOL. Chance card ' Your train is delayed and you miss your bus connection, pay $100 go card fixed fares! '

[Fares_Fair]

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland Rail scrambles to design temporary Citytrain timetable

Queensland Rail expects to have a modified train timetable in place by Tuesday in a bid to avoid a repeat of Friday's calamitous cancellation of more than 100 Citytrain services.

Chief executive officer Helen Gluer, who on Friday accepted responsibility for the disruption, said trains would operate as normal on Monday as Queensland Rail scrambled to put together a modified timetable.

But she warned passengers faced weeks of potential disruptions and timetable changes before the system would be fully up and running.

A modified timetable will operate from as soon as Tuesday while QR attempts to train enough drivers to fulfil its service commitments.

The cancellations were caused by a shortage of qualified train drivers and crews in the wake of the opening of the new Moreton Bay Rail Link.

Ms Gluer once again apologised to commuters for "uncertainty" created by timetable changes, and said the service was "disappointed that we have not been able to deliver on the high service we pride ourselves on".

"Our aim is to provide a first-class rail service and it is clear that we haven't delivered that over the past couple of weeks," she said.

"We have worked tirelessly to try to achieve workarounds to make the new timetable work and, unfortunately, we have not been able to deliver this.

"We are urgently progressing an interim timetable solution to alleviate the strain until our driver training on the new line is completed and we have new traincrew commence work as part of our recruitment program."

Ms Gluer said QR had been covering its driver shortage with staff coming back from leave early and working extra shifts, but this had reached a "crunch point" leading to Friday's cancellations.

"We are pulling out all the stops, but I want to prepare customers that we may face a couple of weeks with further changes to services as we transition to the new interim timetable," she said.

"We ask that our customers to continue to check the TransLink website to plan their journey."

Ms Gluer said recruitment of an additional 100 drivers was approved in November 2015 but it took a year to train a driver to QR requirements.

The question is now long will the ' interim timetable ' with its service degradation be inflicted on the long suffering public transport user community?

How long ??

At what stage of training are the new drivers?  Months and months away before they are qualified ??

November 2015 a decision was made to employ 100 extra drivers.
Way too late, and by this Government.

When was the decision made to provide 650 services/week on Redcliffe Peninsula Line?
if they had of decided upon 550/week, would we be having this discussion at all?

[ozbob]

As Petey has explained FF.  Before they could move on the drivers the tutor and trainer drivers had to be re-established, guards trained etc.  It takes time, but the train-crew deficit should have been realised I agree.  Must be something seriously wrong with the modelling software or whatever they use I reckon.

[ozbob]

" When was the decision made to provide 650 services/week on Redcliffe Peninsula Line?
if they had of decided upon 550/week, would we be having this discussion at all? "

Yes, because there would have been other service increases to cover that deficit.   It does appear that they simply got the committment between services and train crew availability wrong. 

Why that was not identified is the real mystery.  Advice to me was that the system indicated that it would all work fine (albeit a bit tight) till additional crew rolled on.  The committment for pilots and the need to certify crews on the fly also has had an impact and possibly the impact of that not factored in properly.

They would have been a lot better off just leaving things as they were.  Shuttle on the Kippa_Ring branch for a month or two while crew brought up ' route-ready ' then rolled over to the new timetables.  This is what happened on the Richlands branch at the time.

There was also the complication of the signalling issues.  How much an impact that has had on actual running is a moot point, but probably hasn't helped.  Also crew availability was lessened as some train crew went north with NGR 701.   

For interest here is the Richlands Interim Timetable effective 24 Jan 2011

> http://backontrack.org/docs/tt/110124_richlands.pdf

Some ran through, some shuttles.  This allowed some time to get crew up to speed.  With the benefit of the ' retrospectroscope ' maybe this approach should have been followed for the Kippa-Ring branch.

I consider the 2011 sector 1 timetable implementation as one of the best efforts by QR and TransLink (considering the limitations at the time).  It was June 2011 remember.

[tazzer9]

This is my personal $2 worth.

I'm tired of hearing the blame for this debacle laid on cuts to the public service by the former LNP Government.
An utter load of rubbish in my personal opinion, based upon the facts.
This Government is wholly to blame for these circumstances.
Queensland Rail acknowledges their failure with a trained driver shortage, made apparent only after the 650 new services kicked in on 4 October 2016.

Rationale is as follows:

1. This Government tried to hide the truth, and delibetately misled our RBoT Administrator.
2. This responsibility shirking government has been in power for 18 months!
3. The Redcliffe Peninsula Line agreement was signed in July 2010 by then PM Julia Gillard et al.
4. Construction contract awarded to Thiess, was signed in August 2013.
5. Early construction works commenced in January 2014.
6.  Under the former LNP Government, on time running hit a peak of 96%.
7. On time running today is at around 84% under Labor.
8. What have the Government been doing for 18 months, seemingly unaware there was a problem even when 50 services were cancelled Friday week ago. Followed by a spectacular 100 last Friday?
9. How long does it take to train driver trainers? Over 18 months? No.
10. This extraordinary debacle is unprecedented in the history of transport in Queensland, but it appears we better get used to them.
11. At the opening on 4 October was a Prime Minister, a Queensland Premier, a Queensland Deputy Premier, a Transport Minister, local State MP's, a Mayor of Moreton Bay, a Federal Opposition MP, a Federal MP et al.
At the debacle announcement all were in apparent hiding while Queensland Rail was made to walk the plank.
13. Human error is clearly the reason and the CEO of QR has apologised.
If only the State Government could do the same.

This just looks like a bashing from someone is fundamentally right wing.   

It takes a very long time to train a driver.   In sydney it is well over 1 year.   Queensland would be similar, thats not including time it takes to essentially "hire" people and cull the ones not suitable.  Its not something that takes two weeks. 
Its also a case of not as many being able to teach them.   

This govt is far from innocent, but the LNP started the chain of events.

[red dragin]

Noticed the signal south of Kallangur at yellow and route set to run wrong road to Petrie.

Shuttle operations in place already?

[#Metro]

This just looks like a bashing from someone is fundamentally right wing.   

It takes a very long time to train a driver.   In sydney it is well over 1 year.   Queensland would be similar, thats not including time it takes to essentially "hire" people and cull the ones not suitable.  Its not something that takes two weeks. 
Its also a case of not as many being able to teach them.   

This govt is far from innocent, but the LNP started the chain of events.

This is one of the reasons ANY metro proposal for Brisbane MUST be automatic. Machines do not require training!

I do not buy CEO Helen Gluer's statement that "the system said it was OK". That makes no sense to me at all.

Timetabling is such a critical and complicated thing (both on the network and complying with EBA provisions etc) that lots of complicated modelling goes into it.

I just do not believe that "the system" would approve timetabling like this.

[wbj]

" When was the decision made to provide 650 services/week on Redcliffe Peninsula Line?
if they had of decided upon 550/week, would we be having this discussion at all? "

Yes, because there would have been other service increases to cover that deficit.   It does appear that they simply got the committment between services and train crew availability wrong. 

Why that was not identified is the real mystery.  Advice to me was that the system indicated that it would all work fine (albeit a bit tight) till additional crew rolled on.  The committment for pilots and the need to certify crews on the fly also has had an impact and possibly the impact of that not factored in properly.

They would have been a lot better off just leaving things as they were.  Shuttle on the Kippa_Ring branch for a month or two while crew brought up ' route-ready ' then rolled over to the new timetables.  This is what happened on the Richlands branch at the time.

There was also the complication of the signalling issues.  How much an impact that has had on actual running is a moot point, but probably hasn't helped.  Also crew availability was lessened as some train crew went north with NGR 701.   

For interest here is the Richlands Interim Timetable effective 24 Jan 2011

> http://backontrack.org/docs/tt/110124_richlands.pdf

Some ran through, some shuttles.  This allowed some time to get crew up to speed.  With the benefit of the ' retrospectroscope ' maybe this approach should have been followed for the Kippa-Ring branch.

I consider the 2011 sector 1 timetable implementation as one of the best efforts by QR and TransLink (considering the limitations at the time).  It was June 2011 remember.

So, was the new timetable always to be rolled out in October 16 or just when the new line opened?  As the Redcliffe line unexpectedly opened 6 months late, it makes you wonder how many drivers would have been certified at the original opening date.  If the root cause of this problem is the lack of time to train up sufficient drivers to man the new timetable then some serious questions have to be asked of QR management.  Either their judgements were poor, their expertise was lacking or they had to comply with unrealistic deadlines imposed from above.

[#Metro]

So, was the new timetable always to be rolled out in October 16 or just when the new line opened?  As the Redcliffe line unexpectedly opened 6 months late, it makes you wonder how many drivers would have been certified at the original opening date.  If the root cause of this problem is the lack of time to train up sufficient drivers to man the new timetable then some serious questions have to be asked of QR management.  Either their judgements were poor, their expertise was lacking or they had to comply with unrealistic deadlines imposed from above.

Need to call an Inquiry IMHO. The story does not add up! They got 6mths extra time. But the thing I just cannot believe is how "the system" managed to say that the timetabling was possible, when it wasn't? Doesn't that just strike you as unbelievable?

I just don't believe it. In fact this is a testable thing. Queensland Rail can program in the same timetable settings and should be able to reproduce the "this timetable is OK" result. It should be a reproducible error in the system - and therefore directly testable!!

[ozbob]

They may have had more drivers had the line opened early in 2016! Probably lost some this year due to retirement, resignations and so forth!

They simply have misjudged present crew availability with services. Possible reasons have been outlined but I think a more measured approach with shuttles first would have helped.

I think the problems with the signalling may have also distracted to some degree. Were some other issues with the branch as well.

It is a blunder, no doubt about that.  Retrieving it from here is the main game now though.

We will see on Tuesday (hopefully before then) what the plan will be hey?

[#Metro]

We will see on Tuesday (hopefully before then) what the plan will be hey?

I have a feeling that this "interim" timetable will last for a good 6 months or more. The lead time is quite long.

[ozbob]

So, was the new timetable always to be rolled out in October 16 or just when the new line opened?  As the Redcliffe line unexpectedly opened 6 months late, it makes you wonder how many drivers would have been certified at the original opening date.  If the root cause of this problem is the lack of time to train up sufficient drivers to man the new timetable then some serious questions have to be asked of QR management.  Either their judgements were poor, their expertise was lacking or they had to comply with unrealistic deadlines imposed from above.

Need to call an Inquiry IMHO. The story does not add up! They got 6mths extra time. But the thing I just cannot believe is how "the system" managed to say that the timetabling was possible, when it wasn't? Doesn't that just strike you as unbelievable?

I just don't believe it. In fact this is a testable thing. Queensland Rail can program in the same timetable settings and should be able to reproduce the "this timetable is OK" result. It should be a reproducible error in the system - and therefore directly testable!!

I am sure there will be a measured inquiry into the timetabling issues.  The Board has been tasked to examine a number of things today, from this I have no doubt a more formal inquiry will be forthcoming.

No, it does not strike me as being ' unbelievable ' at all.  I think they largely under-estimated the impact of the other factors that I have indicated.

The Richlands Jan 2011 interim timetable is a good example of an approach that would have been better for the Kippa-Ring introduction, certainly to allow time for all crew to be ' route ready ' ...

[ozbob]

We will see on Tuesday (hopefully before then) what the plan will be hey?

I have a feeling that this "interim" timetable will last for a good 6 months or more. The lead time is quite long.

Maybe not that long.  I am sure I have seen trainee drivers out on the network the last few months.   

[ozbob]

But, in any case it is a great big ..

[ozbob]

Noticed the signal south of Kallangur at yellow and route set to run wrong road to Petrie.

Shuttle operations in place already?

Practise? 

[BrizCommuter]

Very concerned about the unknown end date of the interim timetable, and that it looks like that there may be more cancellations on top of that timetable for a few more weeks. 

[HappyTrainGuy]

Either their judgements were poor, their expertise was lacking or they had to comply with unrealistic deadlines imposed from above.

Its interesting if you follow the events going back from the Newman Government up until now.

3 year employment freeze was put on QR. Around 145m was cut saved from the MBRL project if I recall. QR was booted out of the MBRL project despite having its own area dedicated to the task. TMR took over. 500 jobs at QR (about 8% of the workforce) had to go with many at old age/lots of years/those that would have to change positions at QR taking the redundancy packages across many areas - the Government made it feel like they were going to privatise it again when 'asset sales' or leasing or whatever they tried to call it were heavily mentioned. Others retired naturally over the course of time. To fill the voids left by those that left you had others moving internally to fill those positions. PT is now up front in the headlines and we did good with the 15 mins on the FG line so they put 15 min trains on other lines that ate into more crew resources. Government swap. The employment freeze was lifted. Before you could train more drivers/guards you had to have enough people certified to be able to do this which takes time. It was announced that they were hiring more drivers. Many issues still plagued the MBRL project which is now up front in the public domain creating negative headlines.

As Bob has said. It's a massive cluster f**** with its origins starting for the Newman Government razor. And like usual QR is the scapegoat as not to paint a bad picture if it comes to removing/cutting train services that were promised by the previous government because the public don't care about the reason. They hear 'cut' and everyone panics. Just like the Translink/BCC network review a few years back.

[ozbob]

 

' heads could roll '   

"I am furious and I don't blame commuters for being furious too." Heads could roll. @AnnastaciaMP talking train cancellations @tennewsqld pic.twitter.com/VKuoZuyOlT

— Tegan George (@tegangeorge) October 23, 2016

[ozbob]

@QueenslandRail Board meeting to discuss changes to timetables on back of staff shortagaes @ABCNewsBrisbane pic.twitter.com/92aXyQq9ig

— Andrew Kos (@AndrewNKos) October 23, 2016

[Gazza]

Isn't this history repeating itself? The "Bombay Express" reputation the GC line had for a while was a result of staff and rolling stock shortages right?

[ozbob]

Isn't this history repeating itself? The "Bombay Express" reputation the GC line had for a while was a result of staff and rolling stock shortages right?

Yes.  It was bit over-done though.  I remember at the time that congestion on the inbound trains on the Ippy was far worse.  Often there would be a short parallel run into Roma St and we would gaze over to the inbound Goldies and basically wonder what the fuss was all about.
But it was a matter of length of journey without seats. Some punters took their own. Was resolved of course by a better timetable, frequency and balance.

[ozbob]

  < ---- A furious cat.

<---- a Prime Minister who is not furious.

<---- furious ' punters ' Tuesday morning ....

[ozbob]

Sunshine Coast Daily --> Crisis meeting under way to solve SE Qld rail shutdown


FRUSTRATED: Sunshine Coast commuters Kieron Wallace and Jeff Addison, pictured in 2015, are among those frustrated at the state of current rail services.

QUEENSLAND Rail is currently holding an urgent board meeting in a bid to avoid a repeat of Friday's service crisis that saw more than 100 Citytrain services cancelled due to a shortage of drivers.

A Queensland Rail spokeswoman said the meeting was ongoing this afternoon to try and find the fix with a statement set to be made at 2pm.

The driver shortage was reported to have come as a result of the opening of the new Moreton Bay Rail Link, which led to a shortage of qualified drivers for other services.

An interim timetable is being constructed as we speak, the Queensland Rail spokeswoman said that was expected to be finalised by tomorrow and would come into effect on Tuesday.

Queensland Rail has said trains will run as usual tomorrow, although it was unclear whether all usual services would remain unaffected.

The spokeswoman said the interim timetable would not affect one specific area and would try to avoid affecting peak-period services.

RAIL Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow slammed the interim timetable and the expected "weeks of potential disruptions" before the system was back to full capacity.

"The public has lost confidence in the public transport network," Mr Dow wrote in an email to the Daily this morning.

"It is not only rail but bus is poorly performing as well. Cancelled services, no shows and chronic late services means missed connections, hours added to journey times.

"It has got to the point where it is near impossible to rely on public transport in SEQ for critical time appointments. There are no compensation mechanisms."

Mr Dow said the service disruptions would place unnecessary pressure on many tertiary students heading into exam periods.

[ozbob]

^ has made the QT too!

> http://www.qt.com.au/news/crisis-meeting-under-way-to-solve-se-qld-rail-shut/3103537/

[ozbob]

Meanwhile in tropical wonderlands ..

At #Whitsundays #CommunityCabinet with Mayor Andrew Wilcox & Mayor Lyn McLaughlin from Burdekin. pic.twitter.com/2N1I4LfBC9

— Jackie Trad (@jackietrad) October 23, 2016

[ozbob]

I remember at a CRG meeting a while back that there was some discussion on ' the work rules ' that govern the conditions of employment of train crew and how these do complicate timetabling. I recall STB has commented on this before.

I may be wrong but hasn't there been recent changes to the employment rules and maybe this has been a factor in settling down this new timetable?  There may well be sufficient crew but with the new rules and all the other stuff going on this has lead to the shortfall?  If so, I don't expect major issues to be ongoing particularly once all crew are made ' route ready '.

Rules specify work breaks (among other things) and this may have been altered from before.

[STB]

I remember at a CRG meeting a while back that there was some discussion on ' the work rules ' that govern the conditions of employment of train crew and how these do complicate timetabling. I recall STB has commented on this before.

I may be wrong but hasn't there been recent changes to the employment rules and maybe this has been a factor in settling down this new timetable?  There may well be sufficient crew but with the new rules and all the other stuff going on this has lead to the shortfall?  If so, I don't expect major issues to be ongoing particularly once all crew are made ' route ready '.

Rules specify work breaks (among other things) and this may have been altered from before.

I remember during my time as a Planner at QR, we had to take into account the work rules for the train crews which consisted of things from walking from the roster office to the yard, to checking the train before leaving the depot, through to of course meal breaks and leaving enough time for the crew to stow the train and return to the roster office to sign off.  For meal breaks, they had to be taken within a certain window of time and had to be a minimum set of time and only at allocated locations on the network.

Honestly, rostering is just as complicated as timetable and route planning and both has to compliment each other in order for it to work.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Deputy Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington criticises transport minister

The LNP opposition has called the Queensland government's transport minister "incompetent", claiming he has gone into hiding after a lack of staff caused massive train cancellations on Friday.

It comes after more than 100 Citytrain services were cancelled on Friday due to a lack of crew, with the recent opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula line cited as the main reason for the debacle.

Deputy Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington called on Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe to tell commuters what he knows, when he was briefed and "what he knows about this issue".

"This is an issue that didn't happen overnight," Ms Frecklington said.

"He has that responsibility to talk to the people of Brisbane about whether they can get to work on Monday.

"The buck stops with this minister.

"When it comes to a debacle like this, he's nowhere to be seen - he's in hiding."

Mr Hinchliffe said the Queensland Rail Board met at my instruction on Sunday

"I addressed the board and executive leadership team to express the clear expectation that government has for the highest level of service delivery in public transport," he said.

"The board is providing a response report to me overnight."

The Queensland Rail board met on Sunday to discuss the crisis and put in measures to address service issues.

Ms Frecklington deflected questions over whether staffing cuts under the previous LNP government contributed to the commuter chaos and whether Queensland Rail should be fined for not meeting on-time running targets.

"The LNP are incredibly proud of our record when we were in government, when we left government trains were running on time at 96 per cent," she said.

Mr Hinchliffe previously said he would ask the board to advice on any impact made by staffing reduction to train crew and training workers under the former government.

Ms Frecklington also asked where Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was, what she was doing about the staffing crisis and "why is she protecting another incompetent minister?"

Ms Palaszczuk and some members of her cabinet are in Proserpine for the Whitsunday Community Cabinet meeting.

An average of 95 per cent of Citytrains must run on time each quarter or Queensland Rail can be hit with an "abatement charge".

The latest data available reveals that on Thursday, 89.03 per cent of trains on the city network were on time during the morning and afternoon peak periods, measuring customer impact.

On Friday, Queensland Rail chief executive officer Helen Gluer said she unreservedly apologised for the cancellations.

Ms Gluer said trains would operate as normal on Monday as Queensland Rail scrambled to put together a modified timetable.

A modified timetable will operate from as soon as Tuesday, while Queensland Rail attempts to train enough drivers to fulfil its service commitments.

But Ms Gluer warned passengers faced weeks of potential disruptions and timetable changes before the system would be fully up and running.

It is fair to point out that the best OTR performance for a decade was recorded prior to  commencement of RPL this year.  I don't think it really matters who the Government is, I don't think the outcome would have been any different.  There are longer term systemic issues that are not helping public transport as a whole in SEQ.  It is frankly a basket case, and we all know it.  Fragmented politicised and crying out for network reform.

So they all go off on a tangent on an absurd Quack metro proposal that would further send the system into terminal decline.  The basic cost neutral network reform that would deliver significant benefit is avoided because it is too hard.  It is not too hard in other jurisdictions, for fuk sake even Hobart achieved it.

[ozbob]

I remember at a CRG meeting a while back that there was some discussion on ' the work rules ' that govern the conditions of employment of train crew and how these do complicate timetabling. I recall STB has commented on this before.

I may be wrong but hasn't there been recent changes to the employment rules and maybe this has been a factor in settling down this new timetable?  There may well be sufficient crew but with the new rules and all the other stuff going on this has lead to the shortfall?  If so, I don't expect major issues to be ongoing particularly once all crew are made ' route ready '.

Rules specify work breaks (among other things) and this may have been altered from before.

I remember during my time as a Planner at QR, we had to take into account the work rules for the train crews which consisted of things from walking from the roster office to the yard, to checking the train before leaving the depot, through to of course meal breaks and leaving enough time for the crew to stow the train and return to the roster office to sign off.  For meal breaks, they had to be taken within a certain window of time and had to be a minimum set of time and only at allocated locations on the network.

Honestly, rostering is just as complicated as timetable and route planning and both has to compliment each other in order for it to work.

Thanks STB.  I think there are factors here that have impacted.  Hopefully there might be a full and detailed explanation forthcoming.

[ozbob]

ABC News --> Queensland Rail disruptions: Annastacia Palaszczuk 'furious' over 100 cancelled trains in Brisbane

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will not rule out sackings at Queensland Rail (QR) following major disruptions to Brisbane's network on Friday due to a lack of drivers.

More than 100 trains were cancelled because not enough drivers were trained to operate the new Redcliffe Peninsula line, which opened earlier this month.

"First of all I'm absolutely furious. I don't blame commuters for being furious as well," she said.

"Let me make it clear - I want answers. And my Minister wants answers."

Ms Palaszczuk said Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe would brief Cabinet on Monday about the issues.

"It's around the issue of not having enough train drivers. I want to know very clearly from the Queensland Rail board, how did this happen? And why was my Minister not notified about it at an early date," she said.

"It's absolutely fundamental to our south-east Queensland network to have our trains being able to provide commuters to get to and from their place of work and go about their daily business.

"Surely someone in Queensland Rail knew that this was going to be a problem and failed to alert higher up the line."

The QR board met this morning to discuss the issue as well as work out interim arrangements to restore services across the network.

A report will be handed to Ms Palaszczuk tomorrow.

QR's chief executive Helen Gluer apologised for the disruptions on Friday, saying QR underestimated staffing and training requirements for the new service.

[ozbob]

9 News --> Qld premier 'furious' over rail chaos

A "furious" Queensland premier has refused to rule out firing those responsible for a shortage of train drivers that thre Brisbane's rail network into chaos on Friday.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has demanded Queensland Rail explain why the government and public weren't notified of the driver shortage until the night before more than 100 services were cancelled.

The driver shortage is linked to the opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula Line in early October but Ms Palaszczuk said the first she or transport minister Stirling Hinchliffe knew of the shortage was Thursday night.

"I am absolutely furious... I want to know very clearly from the Queensland Rail board: how did this happen?" she told reporters in Proserpine.

"Surely someone in Queensland rail knew this was going to be a problem and failed to alert higher up the line."

The driver shortage is expected to affect Brisbane lines for several weeks and Queensland Rail is rushing to pull together a scaled-back timetable.

The government says 100 extra drivers should come online soon after completing their training.

Ms Palaszczuk indicated the jobs of senior Queensland Rail staff might be on the line over the debacle.

"I would not rule that out, because how did it get to this?"

But Deputy Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said Mr Hinchliffe should take responsibility for the cancellations.

"This is an issue that didn't happen overnight, it's an issue the minister needs to stand up and take some responsibility for."

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/10/23/15/11/qld-premier-furious-over-rail-chaos#27GjxyScD7zII2Ht.99