Interim rail timetables

[ozbob]

The SSHTT just gives free kicks to the LNP - themselves rather bereft of sensible public transport policy.

The SSHTT could have been made a lot more tolerable by simply giving off peak fares.  Another blunder, on par with opening RPL with an non-deliverable timetable.

The Government is dumber than dumb .. 

.@AnnastaciaMP must come back from holidays and sack her incompetent Transport Minister @StirlHinchliffe #qldpol pic.twitter.com/d2sKLpg6G1

— QLD Opposition Media (@QldOppMedia) December 28, 2016

[BrizCommuter]

Queensland Rail forces Facebook to consider 0 star ratings!
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/queensland-fail-forces-facebook-to.html

[ozbob]

BrizCommuter
Queensland Fail Forces Facebook to Consider 0 Star Ratings
> https://t.co/1BI7euLDpL#qldpol@StirlHinchliffe @QueenslandRail pic.twitter.com/VCqHRlx25H

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) December 28, 2016

[James]

In terms of the RTI stuff he has, he's certainly done very well there.  I do kinda wish that he comes off less whacky though, he might get taken more seriously by the Minister and QR Management.   I suppose in his mind that if he acts whacky he'll get way more attention and be listened to, that's the logic I keep telling myself.

There are numerous comments on his videos telling him to be less crazy (not to mention the down votes). Either he is really angry, or it's an act he puts on to get views (think Trump etc.). Regardless, what he's saying isn't wrong, although some of it is conjecture/opinion.

[achiruel]

I know there's a lot of comment on here about how terrible the Government/TM has been throughout this episode, but does anyone genuinely think Blue Team could do better considering the flap ups they made which have only recently become obvious, e.g. MBRL signalling, mass redundancies of QR driver trainers, hiring freeze, NGR issues?

I'd like to see the board get the axe and replaced with people who actually know something about railways. Honestly I think a board composed of ozbob, SurfRail, BrizCommuter, Fairs_Fares and mufreight could do a better job than the current numpties.

[ozbob]

'Sick' train drivers to blame for @QueenslandRail's Christmas Day chaos: https://t.co/bVjUQX1IyO #9News

— Nine News Brisbane (@9NewsBrisbane) December 28, 2016

[ozbob]

I know there's a lot of comment on here about how terrible the Government/TM has been throughout this episode, but does anyone genuinely think Blue Team could do better considering the flap ups they made which have only recently become obvious, e.g. MBRL signalling, mass redundancies of QR driver trainers, hiring freeze, NGR issues?

I'd like to see the board get the axe and replaced with people who actually know something about railways. Honestly I think a board composed of ozbob, SurfRail, BrizCommuter, Fairs_Fares and mufreight could do a better job than the current numpties.

Yes, I have made the point many times that both the Government and Opposition are at least equally inept re public transport.  The point is the SSHTT is just allowing more free kicks against the present mob.  The LNP are a policy vacuum.

Re Board.  Thank you for the vote of confidence but I don't think it is actually needed. 

[ozbob]

Lets celebrate the SSHTT !  It is though it is good thing or something ...  PR spin in full flight!

A reminder the new summer school holiday train timetable starts today. View & plan ahead now: https://t.co/ODMEEojDQ6 #SummerTimetable pic.twitter.com/prQwvCCtjj

— Queensland Rail (@QueenslandRail) December 27, 2016

[ozbob]

Sorry, I. cannot. help. myself.     

[red dragin]

I know there's a lot of comment on here about how terrible the Government/TM has been throughout this episode, but does anyone genuinely think Blue Team could do better considering the flap ups they made which have only recently become obvious, e.g. MBRL signalling, mass redundancies of QR driver trainers, hiring freeze, NGR issues?

I'd like to see the board get the axe and replaced with people who actually know something about railways. Honestly I think a board composed of ozbob, SurfRail, BrizCommuter, Fairs_Fares and mufreight could do a better job than the current numpties.

I think it would have been similar (assuming QR wasn't already sold by this point).

Numpties  my favourite insult.
A friend uses "Muppet" so when he rings me, a photo of Kermit comes up and the Muppet theme song plays 

[#Metro]

Jim Benstead, Queensland Rail CFO

Part of the Executive Leadership Team

[ozbob]

Rail bosses called to a crisis meeting to ensure people won't be stranded on New Year's Eve. @DarrenCurtis9 #9News pic.twitter.com/7w1Bu5nIeo

— Nine News Brisbane (@9NewsBrisbane) December 28, 2016

The lady waiting for a bus connection for an hour.  The SSHTT is a diabolical mess for connections.  OFF PEAK fares for all modes for the duration of this step back to the past timetable should be the go.  Appalling the way passengers are being treated. 

" Nothing is perfect "  well you can do a bit to mitigate the pain ..

Very little confidence left I am afraid ..

[cartoonbirdhaus]

Very little confidence left I am afraid

Let's put it this way: In case the train I'm planning on using to connect to the 891 bus to Maleny on Saturday doesn't turn up, I've booked a seat on a Greyhound to Caloundra, just in case.

Perhaps the "summer timetable" debacle is a short-term boon for otherwise struggling coach operators?

[ozbob]

Queensland Rail says it won't commit to rostering numbers for New Year's Eve https://t.co/iE07wxGgag @MarlinaWhop #qldrail #7News pic.twitter.com/VDLiUPFEKf

— 7 News Queensland (@7NewsQueensland) December 28, 2016

" Problems with bus connections "

Are TransLink and Queensland Rail utter morons?

[ozbob]

As we forecast @StirlHinchliffe bus connections and rail connections shambolic now with the SSHTT#qldpol #qldvotes soon ..
OFF PEAK FARES

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) December 28, 2016

[#Metro]

Connections were rubbish even with normal timetable, because of no bus reforms.

But hey, that is another disaster all by itself!

[STB]

I tend to agree with Jim that nothing can be guaranteed when you are dealing with a large(ish) heavy rail system since you can have things happen on the day (eg: medical emergencies, trucks hitting bridges - I saw that there was another incident the other day at Thorneside).  It will be interesting to see how NYE/NYD goes, really does sound like QR is rostering on a fine edge right now with the number of available crews.  What really gets my goat though is misinforming the Minister (allegedly) and the crappy communication they've had between them and TransLink, although I know it can be difficult to get the word out when things happen rather quickly.

I'm a little confused with that woman though, was she catching the 690?

[ozbob]

Connections were rubbish even with normal timetable, because of no bus reforms.

But hey, that is another disaster all by itself!

LOL.  At least there was some attempt to align it.  This SSHTT is just a cluster-fuk.

My guess is the grief will just worsen and magnify as more come back to public transport from Jan 3rd. 

Hey I will be Perth  on Jan 3 Whoa!

[Fares_Fair]

Is Neil Scales still the acting CEO of Queensland Rail?
I understand that he is on holidays in the UK at present, but a Courier-Mail photo caption referred to him as the 'former' CEO.

[#Metro]

LOL.  At least there was some attempt to align it.  This SSHTT is just a cluster-fuk.

My guess is the grief will just worsen and magnify as more come back to public transport from Jan 3rd. 

Hey I will be Perth  on Jan 3 Whoa!

Possible CM Headline:

The Courier Mail
January 3rd 2017

RAIL ADVOCATE FLEES QLD
Queensland "failed state" (Page 2)

[ozbob]

I might have to put out a TIC MR that I have been forced to flee because of chronic public transport policy failure in SEQ ... need a break and travel on systems that have frequency and reliability ..

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Queensland Rail fail: Operator closing in on 1000 cancellations

ACTING Premier Jackie Trad has full confidence in Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe, despite almost 1000 train cancellations in less than three months.

Ms Trad, who is filling in for Annastacia Palaszczuk, told The Courier-Mail she continued to back the embattled Mr Hinchliffe and was being kept briefed in the lead up to New Year's Eve services.

"I have been regularly briefed by Stirling and have full confidence he is doing everything in his power to fix these current issues," she said.

QR yesterday revealed it did not know how many unplanned service cuts there had been since the fiasco struck on September 30, or how much had been spent on taxi fares to rescue stranded rail commuters.

But analysis by The Courier-Mail reveals at least 945 train services have been unexpectedly axed since driver shortages first paralysed the network.

Ms Trad's vote of confidence came as in Mr Hinchliffe wouldn't commit to fully releasing a report he's expecting to receive this week into the Christmas Day chaos when a third of services were cancelled.

"Once I've got a chance to look at the comprehensive report, digest it and understand it, I'll then be making decisions about what information is appropriate to be made available out of the report," he said.

Mr Hinchliffe's comments followed a planning briefing with Queensland Rail's acting chief executive Jim Benstead and TransLink around New Year's Eve services.

The Minister said while he had "great confidence" there would be enough train crew to run December 31 services, he still couldn't "guarantee" there wouldn't be issues.

"You can't, when you're running a heavy rail service, you can't make a statement like guarantee because there are a range of issues that may impact upon services," he said. "There may be a bridge strike, there may be a points failure, there may be rolling stock issues."

Mr Hinchliffe said there would be fewer New Year's services than last year but said they would focus on getting people to and from key destinations such as South Bank.

Meanwhile, Mr Benstead wouldn't reveal how many drivers had to be dragged off rostered days off to fill the New Year's Eve's roster to ensure there wasn't a repeat of the Christmas Day meltdown.

"In this particular case, there is no number in relation to how many of those that will be required to work that are currently on RDOs," he said.

"But my assurance to you is that the rosters for the timetables put in place for New Year's Eve right through to New Year's Day ... are filled.

"We do have an overflow, a spare, to call on if required if unplanned leave spikes in some way."

Neither Mr Benstead nor Mr Hinchliffe were able to say how much the Christmas Day cancellations cost QR, which was forced to use taxis to transport stranded commuters.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

29th December 2016

Re: SEQ: Summer School Holiday Train Timetable - off peak fares only is the call!

Good Morning,

As reported by 9 News and 7 News plenty of issues with the Summer School Holiday Train Timetable (SSHTT) for passengers making connections to bus/rail.

We did warn this would be an issue - hey we warned about the sad rail fail too.  But who listens to rail advocates?

The SSHTT delivers essentially off peak service for peak. Many journey times are lengthened, particularly with connections.  It is great shame that the opportunity and our calls to roll out off peak fares for all modes for the duration of the SSHTT were simply dismissed.  In the same way the present government will no doubt be dismissed at the next election.

Off peak fares for the duration of the SSHTT would have  been an acknowledgement of the decreased service, problems with connections and some compensation for the months of disruptions.   The fare box is preserved.  It makes political sense.

Attempts to spin the SSHTT as good news are simply ' lipstick on a pig '.



Anger in the community is seething with the incompetent delivery of public transport services in SEQ. It is not only rail, bus is abysmal particularly for Brisbane Western and Southern regions.  Just check the TransLink Tracker.

Best wishes
Robert

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

[ Attached: https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12524.msg185841#msg185841 ]

[ozbob]

Latest Media:
' Summer School Holiday Train Timetable - lipstick on a pig '
> https://t.co/pzlzd00zjM#qldpol@StirlHinchliffe @jackietrad pic.twitter.com/Cu4bNIMA8I

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) December 28, 2016

[ozbob]

[SurfRail]

I might have to put out a TIC MR that I have been forced to flee because of chronic public transport policy failure in SEQ ... need a break and travel on systems that have frequency and reliability ..

You can chalk me up as being driven to Hong Kong for a week from New Year's Day as well.  I suspect the Kwun Tong line isn't going to have quite the same issues we have.

[ozbob]

^ Happy travels SurfRail.


New 'C-Train' EMU in service on the MTR Kwun Tong line

Anymore fleeing to better public transport parts?

:bi

[BrizCommuter]

^ Wellington and Auckland. Pretty sad when a city with 200,000 population has a more frequent train service than Brisbane!

[brissypete]

^ Happy travels SurfRail.

Anymore fleeing to better public transport parts?

:bi

Been in Melbourne since Monday, back to mediocrity tomorrow evening.

That said the journey to Gold Coast Airport on Monday morning was trouble free.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

[ozbob]

^ Commiserations!  I will be in Melbourne for a few days from the 7th Jan.  Looking forward to it!   

[ozbob]

^ Wellington and Auckland. Pretty sad when a city with 200,000 population has a more frequent train service than Brisbane!

Happy travels Briz!  Look forward to your impressions of public transport in the land of 'fush and chups' !!

{Auckland is doing very well, able to do the network reform that Brisbane is too terrified to manage .. }

[ozbob]

Interesting fact.  Puffing Billy has more trains than Queensland Rail north of Nambour today ..

[ozbob]

[Hmmm ... this is building to a good little story hey?  RBoT members heading off internationally and interstate to seek refuge on frequent, reliable and accessible public transport away from the madhouse that is SEQ at present ..   ]

[achiruel]

Interesting fact.  Puffing Billy has more trains than Queensland Rail north of Nambour today ..

Of course, their network is also slightly smaller.  I reckon QR beyond Nambour will be hauling more passenger km.

[ozbob]

^ not so sure about that.  There would be 1000s of passengers today at Puffer ...

But the point is TIC.  It is all about frequency ...

[#Metro]

[Hmmm ... this is building to a good little story hey?  RBoT members heading off internationally and interstate to seek refuge on frequent, reliable and accessible public transport away from the madhouse that is SEQ at present ..   ]

Going to Sydney, thank goodness! Will try to check out the NorthWest Rail link and Light Rail.
Having 2nd thoughts about using BNE AirTrain...

Both Auckland and Wellington rail networks IIRC are privately contracted to TransDev NZ.

Perhaps Brizcommuter might consider what the maintenance is like there, whether they have their rail networks falling apart or not, and what the locals think.

They have a good Rail Advocacy Group there too http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/ Maybe they will recommend something.

The major project in NZ at the moment is the City Rail Tunnel (CRL) from Britomart.

Last time I was in Auckland, they still had the ex-Perth diesel trains, and they still had conductors on board selling paper (punch?) tickets.

It was a horror show and I openly wondered if I were on a toy train system. It has moved very far since then, so many changes I expect.

This was in the pre-electrification days.

Auckland also has an excellent busway system in some ways modelled on the SEB, goes to the North Shore.

Links

http://transportblog.co.nz/

http://www.transdev.co.nz/

Welcome to Transdev Auckland

Transdev Auckland proudly operates Auckland's passenger rail services on behalf of Auckland Transport (AT).

We employ over 660 team members and are incredibly proud of the part they have played in the transformation of Auckland's rail service since we began operating in Auckland in 2004. We now deliver approximately 3,300 services each week and in 2016, patronage has reached a record 17.3 million annual passenger journeys.

[James]

Auckland also promotes their local PTUA, something which wouldn't happen anywhere on TransLink's network.



Auckland is making significant progress. When I last visited the network was still very spaghetti-y, but they're making in-roads, and most importantly, produce network maps for all the regions of Auckland! Very helpful.

[Arnz]

I was in Hong Kong in late November.  Also noted MTR hires crowd controllers during peak periods when trains are every 90 seconds.  The buses (by many various operators under the Octopus card system) were also trouble free.

The Airport train (which charges a premium like SYD and BNE) offers group discounts for 2 or more.

Makes me kinda wished I was back there after returning to the land of mediocrity that is SEQ.

[ozbob]

Back to SEQ reality sadly ..

Couriermail > http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-rail-fail-operator-closing-in-on-1000-cancellations/news-story/02c7b6d477978c3e59d1f74d21e0edac

ANOTHER Queensland Rail executive has resigned over the timetable crisis.

QR's chief operating officer Kevin Wright resigned from the role on Wednesday evening, just days after the troubled rail operator was forced to cancel nearly a third of its services on Christmas day because of a major roster stuff up.

It comes after former chief executive Helen Gluer and board chairman Michael Klug resigned in October after the initial timetable crisis exploded when the Redcliffe Peninsula Line was opened and not enough train crew were employed to deliver the new services. QR's head of train service delivery was also stood aside in October over the bungle, after he was allegedly warned about the impending crisis but failed to act.

Mr Wright was the man in charge of the unit responsible for rostering and its performance is expected to be examined by both the comprehensive report ordered by Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe and the Strachan Inquiry.

Mr Wright was overseas during the beginning of timetable crisis, having stayed after a two-week, $37,500 junket there with Ms Gluer in September.

They pair visited rail operators and manufacturers in the UK, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland and Mr Wright stayed on for a two-week private holiday afterwards and returned to Australia after commuters had already experienced weeks of cancellations.

He received a $77,000 performance bonus in October.

QR acting chief executive Jim Benstead sent a letter to staff, obtained by The Courier-Mail, informing them of Mr Wright's decision to retire from the role.

"As many of you know, Kevin has a longstanding career at Queensland Rail with more than 16 years of service culminating as head of our Operations function," Mr Benstead said in the letter.

"I know many of you have met Kevin and have personally worked with him in some role or form."

Mr Wright will be replaced from January 3, by Marty Ryan while QR starts the search for a permanent replacement.

It's understood there has been disagreement within QR over what was responsible for the timetable crisis, with both the set up of the rostering system – which relies on being able to pull people off rostered days off to cover unplanned leave – and high levels of sick leave being blamed by different parties. ...

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland Rail chief operating officer Kevin Wright resigns

Another head has rolled following the state's beleaguered train operator, Queensland Rail.

Queensland Rail's chief operating officer Kevin Wright has resigned over timetable issues and the Christmas Day rostering stuff-up.

On December 25, 235 services were cancelled - a third of the network.

It comes after repeated issues at the operator over a driver shortage, which came to a head after the opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula Line, when 100 services were cancelled in October.

More to come ...