Zillmere to Caboolture 6 day track closure 16 - 23 Sep 2016

[ozbob]

Meanwhile ...

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Twitter

TransLink ‏@TransLinkSEQ 5 minutes ago

Accident on Bruce Highway Sth cleared, no further delays to Elimbah & Caboolture express rail replacement buses #TLalert

[Stillwater]

Every Sunshine Coast passenger affected by the Nambour-Caboolture service interruption AND is forced to board a bus between Caboolture and Zillmere should be given a bottle of champagne.  As if SCL passengers don't suffer in the normal course of events in order to carch a train to and from Brisbane.

[red dragin]

A friend has a 61 seat coach to herself this afternoon. 

And a chatty driver 

[ozbob]

Can never have too many 

They certainly have thrown a lot of buses at this 220 or thereabouts.

For the Frankston line closure they used 91 buses.  The span here is a bit longer though plus the complication of two lines in effect.

[red dragin]

This afternoon's report:

Straight onto a Shorncliffe train from the Valley. Two minute wait for a bus, which left after a few minutes. Then stuck in traffic as the bus went Beams Rd then Gympie Rd (why not straight onto the Gateway?).

About a 40 minutes added to the return trip.

[ozbob]

Every Sunshine Coast passenger affected by the Nambour-Caboolture service interruption AND is forced to board a bus between Caboolture and Zillmere should be given a bottle of champagne.  As if SCL passengers don't suffer in the normal course of events in order to carch a train to and from Brisbane.

Most long haul Sunny Coast commuters will be de-training (some de-busing) at Elimbah and boarding express buses to Boondall for train to CBD and onwards.  In fact the arrangements for the Sunshine Coast commuters are very good under the circumstances.  Also free travel both train and bus north of Boondall ( or Zillmere if they get on the wrong train/bus!  )

[ozbob]

This afternoon's report:

Straight onto a Shorncliffe train from the Valley. Two minute wait for a bus, which left after a few minutes. Then stuck in traffic as the bus went Beams Rd then Gympie Rd (why not straight onto the Gateway?).

About a 40 minutes added to the return trip.

Thanks.  I was contacted by a number of media outlets today and having yours and other reports helped to steady them down.

They expected chaos and meltdown I suspect but was able to reassure that the arrangements have been well planned and well resourced and that most folk were only experiencing an extra 40 to 45 minutes above their normal journey time.    The 90 minute caveat really is an up to.  If road congestion gets really bad then delays will lengthen of course.  But all round seems like a good effort this by TransLink and Queensland Rail.  A few trains pulled around the network but I expect some positioning problems here and there but overall good.

[ozbob]

12 South East train stations affected by closures until 23 September. @sarahbestqld https://t.co/wg4iVqs8Wo #7News https://t.co/p6kUDCCGwi

— 7 News Queensland (@7NewsQueensland) September 19, 2016

[Arnz]

Every Sunshine Coast passenger affected by the Nambour-Caboolture service interruption AND is forced to board a bus between Caboolture and Zillmere should be given a bottle of champagne.  As if SCL passengers don't suffer in the normal course of events in order to carch a train to and from Brisbane.

I've taken the rail-bus method this morning from Elimbah express to Bondall via the Bruce Highway and Carseldine (instead of the Gateway) and it isn't as bad as some claim.  Only up to 30 mins late than usual, in part to the usual North Lakes turnoff congestion, but less highway traffic overall due to school holidays.  morning load was about 30 passengers leaving Elimbah at 7am.

Having just returned now, it was only 25mins later on the afternoon journey via the Gateway and Bruce Highway express to Landsborough only. (departed Central at 4:20pm on the Sandgate train).  The bus back only had 20 passengers, less than half full and most of us had rows to ourselves.

I'll be doing this again tomorrow.

[ozbob]

Thanks Arnz.  Seems to be working well.

One thing they do well in Melbourne during the long closures (not that this one here is long really) is they put on snacks, coffee etc. at bus interchange points and so forth.  Sometimes pizza, sometimes fruit, sometimes cakes, sausages etc.  I picked up a ' Level Crossing Removal ' branded neat coin wallet/bag when I went on the bus replacement for the Frankston line last June.

[Arnz]

^^

Forgot to mention that the TL SNO's (at Boondall) and QR AO's (at Elimbah) were handing out the 7-11 free coffee cards at those stations today. (This morning).

[ozbob]

 

[red dragin]

^^

Forgot to mention that the TL SNO's (at Boondall) and QR AO's (at Elimbah) were handing out the 7-11 free coffee cards at those stations today. (This morning).

Told my wife and she's like "yeah, I got one but I don't drink coffee". I do though 

Going to see if we can collect 4 

[wbj]

Report from the frontline
Dakabin to Central
Arrived at Dakabin station a little later than normal.  Only 30% of usual cars parked in and around station.  "up to 90 mins extra travel" must have scared a lot of punters.
Waited at pickup point for about a minute before bus arrived.  Only 2 of us when normally would have 50-100 commuters.  Only a  dozen on bus from Narangba pickup.  Traffic congestion on Gympie Arterial Road quite light compared to normal workday.  Turned off at Strathpine and took Bracken Ridge Rd and Sandgate Rd to Boondall.  Again only light congestion.  Arrived at Boondall and boarded train in 1 minute.
Arrived at work with about 20 mins extra commuting time.

Central to Dakabin
Shorncliffe train to Boondall.  Waited about 5 mins for a batch of buses to arrive.  Only a dozen boarded our bus.  Completely different eturn route avoiding Gateway and Gympie traffic.  Light congestion through Strathpine and especially Petrie roundabout which is usually a notorious bottleneck.  Arrived at Dakabin and immediately 2 further buses arrived.
About 30 mins additional travel time.
Tuesday will be the real test if many commuters just took today off.

[ozbob]

Thanks for the report wbj.  Very useful. Yes, might be a few more punters around today.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

20th September 2016

Zillmere to Caboolture 6 day track closure going well

Good Morning,

Update on the track closure and the bus replacement arrangements.

It is going well.  A number of our members have reported their journeys from the Sunshine Coast and from closed stations on the Caboolture - Zillmere section.

Details here > http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12449.msg180140#msg180140

Journey times have increased from around 20 to 40 minutes.  A most acceptable outcome.

Despite attempts by some media to beat up hysterical hype and transport chaos, there isn't any.  It is a well planned, well resourced (over 200 buses), well executed but necessary track closure.

Well done TransLink and Queensland Rail.

Best wishes
Robert

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

[Attached: http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12449.msg179990#msg179990 ]

[red dragin]

It's not going to be so good today by the look of it.

About 5km more of heavy traffic on the Bruce Highway compared to a normal work day.

[Arnz]

Day 2.
Left Landsborough at 6:18am with the car park less than half-full (would normally be 3 quarters full at this time on a normal day).
28 off at Elimbah around 6:46am and we just left Elimbah now.  Will report back on actual arrival time of the railbus/train from Sandgate. Normal arrival time of the 6:18 is 7:44am at Central

[PollyWouldLikeASeat]

Left Beerwah same time as yesterday, but a lot more traffic on the Bruce highway today, it was about 15 minutes slower this morning than yesterday.  All those cars with only 1 person in them.

It took 3 hours to get home yesterday, but some of that was my fault, I just missed the Shorncliffe train I wanted to catch, so I had 15 minutes wait at central, then of course I just missed all the sunshine coast buses, and had a 20 minute wait at Boondal for the next bus.  My bus went via Beams road out to Gympie road, it seemed to take forever to get off beams road.  Caught an express to Landsborough and got picked up from there, rather than risking missing yet another connection at Elimbah.  Lesson learnt running away from work a bit earlier today.

[Arnz]

Update: arriving in at 8:29am.  45 mins later than scheduled and roughly the same arrival time as the scheduled 7:08am out of Landsborough.

Traffic on the Bruce as reported earlier is heavier than normal for day 2.  75 mins from Elimbah to Boondall via the Gateway (the route the bus driver took).

[ozbob]

^ thanks for the reports.

Road congestion is increasingly a major issue for SEQ and Brisbane.  Simply rolling out more and more roads is not going to do much other than induce more traffic.  Better public transport on class A ROW will improve outcomes for all.

[red dragin]

Drove passed the Petrie area earlier.

All track and overhead work is done. All signal heads are in place. Plenty of electrician's working at each end.

About 6 newbies arrived at the signal hut near the Lawnton crossing as I drove through (all in brand new orange shirts) so they are taking the opportunity to train their staff on the new systems as well.

[tazzer9]

Anyone taking note of how busy the extra shorncliffe trains are between boondall and shorncliffe?  I saw two of the extra's/extensions at banyo and were rather well loaded.  Unsure of how many of those are regular shorncliffe line patrons.

What I saw of the bus operation today in the strathpine/petrie area during the middle of the peak was a lot of buses.  About half were in service but carrying only between 1-8 people, other half were laying over.

[Arnz]

^^

The morning Cannon Hill train (ex-Shorncliffe) I was on had only a handful of backward facing seats available, with many choosing to stand.

As for the afternoon report, I left Central at 3:58pm and just got off the bus at Landsborough (5:30pm).  Early afternoon traffic wasn't as bad with the bus leg taking 58 mins from Boondall to Landsborough.  Passenger load was 18 people for the 4:33pm Landsborough bus.

The corresponding trip is the 4:04pm Nambour service and arriving Landsborough at 5:25pm, so to match the same travel time despite leaving a bit earloer for early afternoon peak (although less highway traffic helped) isn't bad.

Day off tomorrow for me, but will be doing this again on Thursday.

[red dragin]

Told my wife and she's like "yeah, I got one but I don't drink coffee". I do though 

Going to see if we can collect 4 

Current tally is 5 coffee vouchers and now a free poncho 

[ozbob]

^

[SurfRail]

Social media commentary has been fairly complementary except for the odd few comments.  (Why aren't you using the Gateway?  Why are you using the Gateway?  There are too many buses in my street.  I want an express train to Kallangur.)

[ozbob]

Thanks. Yo.  Always be the odd whine, overall a good effort.

[PollyWouldLikeASeat]

This morning's trip was a bit quicker than yesterday, not as quick as Monday.  But there may be an issue with at least one Translink officer's  go-card reader.  They greeted us as we got off the bus to touch-on, but when I got to central I got hit with a fine.  At least one other person in my office had this happen to them this morning, the others may not have noticed.  Translink call-centre were very helpful and dealt with it promptly.

Trip home was much better yesterday, found the bus timetable, so I know when I need to be at Boondall to avoid just missing a bus.

Still impressed with how well this has all worked.   

[ozbob]

[red dragin]

My wife got the same card reader it seems, flat fee at the Valley this morning.

[ozbob]

ALL go card users should check history regularly!  Most fixed fares go undetected by the masses ...

[tazzer9]

Waiting for my train at toowong and am about to board what is the usual 3 car springfield to nambour.
The train is curtailed to northgate, but it still runs full express between bowen hills and northgate.  why bother even sending it all the way to northgate.

Also nice seeing city and sandgate on the pid.  Nice to know they are making use of the available infrastructure.  Also nice seeing a bit more of the colour spectrum on the toowong screens.

[red dragin]

Sounds like a few freight trains heading up the Dakabin bank at the moment (I live about 3km away)

[wbj]

6 trips so far between Dakabin and Boondall and no two identical routes.  Wonder if it's driver discretion or a cunning plan.
Off peak this afternoon, arrived at Boondall to see the waiting buses take off before train passengers could cross the bridge to the busstops.  Waited a couple of minutes for a fresh batch of buses to arrive.  Waited on bus for 5-10 minutes and we all took off as the next train arrived at the station.  Strange thinking.

[ozbob]

Sounds like a few freight trains heading up the Dakabin bank at the moment (I live about 3km away)

I think the lines are effectively open for freight now.  I heard some stacked up trains up north eg. Mackay have headed south.

[ozbob]

Twitter

TransLink ‏@TransLinkSEQ 33 minutes ago

Inbound rail replacement buses delayed up to 30 mins due to traffic congestion following an accident on the Gateway Motorway. #TLAlert

[ozbob]

^

Gateway Mwy Southbound MASSIVE delays after Car & Motorbike Crash in Deagon. Traffic back to Bald Hills #bnetraffic #chopperview pic.twitter.com/jeydmd99Ak

— Olympia Kwitowski (@Olympia_CK) September 21, 2016

[ozbob]

^^

Twitter

TransLink ‏@TransLinkSEQ 4 minutes ago

Rail replacement buses have returned to normal schedule following earlier delays. #TLAlert

[red dragin]

50 minutes from Dakabin to Boondall this morning.