Queensland Rail

[STB]

Rather sad to see Stirling go, I don't think he was at fault for really anything that happened, given that it seems his Chief of Staff didn't even tell him what was going on.  Given the circumstances, I think he did a rather decent job.

I pity the next Transport Minister, it's going to be one hell of a thankless job to fix QR up, although nice to see that Strachen has taken over QR, should shake things up.  I also agree with the report that there are certainly more cultural issues going on within QR that the report didn't pick up on, I spotted it way back in 2009 when I was working at QR, it was rather a toxic insular working environment with ineffective management.

[#Metro]

Sectorisation of the trainee drivers may be a good start - at least if they're only trained on Ips - Cab (for example) there can be some relief in the short time, before fully training them on other routes.

It makes sense - yes it is less flexible during disruptions, but in other ways it is more flexible as we ** are in a disruption ** and need relief ASAP not in 2019. So let's see that in place.

I don't think all the recommendations in the report go far enough. In particular, there's no addressing the silo mentality, no PTQ. The proposal to fix crewing is good - but that it is taking 18+ months to train drivers is simply not OK. They're train drivers, not studying a BA at Uni, it shouldn't take the better part of 2 years.

Bring in Deutsche Bahn as consultants - impressed that they only take 9 months.

Not getting back a full rail timetable until the end of 2018 is simply unacceptable. I would much rather see the MBRL line run as buses in the off-peak and weekends and the network revert to the old timetable. #railfail has been punishing as it has affected every line at every time of day. The cancellations resulting from the crew shortage can occur anywhere, anytime, and this is what is driving people off PT. Restricting the effects to one line may be terrible for that one line, but will allow the rest of the network to continue operating as normal.

Yep. First in, first out. They are going to be very irritated, but the whole of SEQ is suffering at the moment.

Long term the network should be moved to driver only operation and even semi-automation should be looked at as the technology in that area is coming along well.

[ozbob]

To ensure @queenslandrail can reliably deliver services for the public: today I announced Jacqui Walters as Head of CityTrain Response nit. pic.twitter.com/81sTsdiDM9

— AnnastaciaPalaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) February 7, 2017

[ozbob]

Premier @AnnastaciaMP has hit the tracks, riding the rails on the first day of @QueenslandRail's recovery. @ShaneDoherty9 #9News pic.twitter.com/BYxdIKBU5n

— Nine News Brisbane (@9NewsBrisbane) February 7, 2017

[ozbob]

I was surprised that I was not interviewed Mr Strachan et al.

Particularly that Queensland Rail asked me to push the notion of shuttles on the MBRL (RPL) ala Richlands.  They clearly knew they had issues.

The effect of the 20 minute comfort break?  Pushed the system in to failure.

Shallow inquiry ...

I still reckon that if they do a ' Richlands ' for Kippa-Ring problems largely over ..   

How dumb they are hey?

[#Metro]

Are we experiencing not just a rail fail, but a state government fail?  I would be surprised if there are not similar problems (cultural, work practices etc) in other government departments.  Maybe it is time for the people of SEQ to crowd-fund a series of transport forums at various locations, with the feedback about how to improve the transport network, using the current available resources, compiled into a report to government.

Great point Stillwater. It is interesting to compare with the Queensland Health Payroll debacle - there are some similarities - errors found, that snowballing, people holding on to 'bad news' so that they didn't look bad and in the hope that they could fix it before word got out to the minister.

Both Queensland Health payroll and Queensland Rail had to deal with large and complex operations involving lots of people. There is also the trivial similarity that both organisations started with the word ' Queensland '. 

[ozbob]

Update:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-government/queensland-rail-fail-union-controls-on-recruiting-train-drivers-set-to-be-scrapped/news-story/d43ede452905ac957798bcc4c8fde538

DEPUTY Premier Jackie Trad says she believes trade unions will be willing to give a little in order to address closed shop conditions identified by the Strachan Inquiry as contributing to the southeast Queensland rail fail.

Ms Trad, Commissioner Phillip Strachan and Premier Annastacia Palasczcuk met with union officials yesterday to discuss the report which raised concerns about impediments to external recruitment of drivers, among other issues, as contributing to the critical driver shortage.

"There are provisions within the EBA currently around recruiting externally so what we need is we need management, unions, government all focused on how we can recruit not only new drivers but how we can expand the pool of trainers so that we are training the drivers we are recruiting as fast as possible," Ms Trad said.

"Some of the current arrangements that have been reached, while there is an EBA in place, have been reached in good faith, through negotiations with the trade unions to date.

"There is capacity and there is a willingness for us to reach agreement around elements of implementing these recommendations, of accelerating training and recruiting new drivers."

Queensland Rail's board will officially meet for the first time on Friday with new chair Phillip Strachan seeking an assurance from acting QR CEO Neil Scales that the current timetable is sustainable.

Mr Strachan, who took over as chair yesterday after handing down his report into the southeast Queensland train driver crisis, said he wanted to ensure it was sustainable.

"One of the recommendations is to look at the January 23 timetable and to really make sure that is a robust timetable," Mr Strachan said.

"That is a job for Neil (Scales) and his team to come back to the board and demonstrate with good data that this current timetable is robust and actually providing services to the public as they should expect.

"I'm not at all flagging more delays or cancellations."

He said he wanted to be able to give an assurance the timetable was sustainable.

Mr Strachan said it was too early to make any calls on the composition of the QR board going forward.

[#Metro]

Mr Strachan said it was too early to make any calls on the composition of the QR board going forward.

I think having a board is useful - however others may disagree with me, and that is fine. Strachan has an example of Sydney Trains which

apparently does not have a board. So for those who don't like boards (not me) here is your chance to suggest removing the board and not

replacing it.

[ozbob]

As QR is an SA I think it has to have a board at present.

Should we ever move to PTQ, then QR becomes an operator.  Then can axe all the excessive layers of top heavy staff etc. including Board.

[ozbob]

QR - senior management paid a lot of money not only for salary but cash performance bonuses, year on year!

And yet they need another mob to monitor their performance?


Utter shambles this.  GET RID OF THE LOT.  Time for a new operator.  This is just bullsh%t on bullsh%t now ...  2 years to fix?  Come on. 

If they can't fix it by Jan 2018 time they all moved on.  Shut the network  ... bring on an operator that will run it right.

[ozbob]

 

.@TimNichollsMP says @AnnastaciaMP should be Transport Minister @abcnews #qldpol pic.twitter.com/Z98JtzcBby

— Chris O'Brien (@COBrienBris) February 7, 2017

[ozbob]

#FleeQLD

[#Metro]

Annastacia was actually once transport minister under Anna Bligh. Signed off on Connecting SEQ 2031.

This is the end of the Red Team experiment into being Campbell Newman's antithesis. You cannot run things in passive mode.

QR - senior management paid a lot of money not only for salary but cash performance bonuses, year on year!

And yet they need another mob to monitor their performance?


Utter shambles this.  GET RID OF THE LOT.  Time for a new operator.  This is just bullsh%t on bullsh%t now ...  2 years to fix?  Come on. 

If they can't fix it by Jan 2018 time they all moved on.  Shut the network  ... bring on an operator that will run it right.

You are not advocating for... P***********N are you? 

We can still have competent public operator if we merge Queensland with NSW, abolish Queensland Parliament and QR, and replace it with Sydney Trains (Brisbane) and keep it public.

[mufreight]

Mr Strachan said it was too early to make any calls on the composition of the QR board going forward.

I think having a board is useful - however others may disagree with me, and that is fine. Strachan has an example of Sydney Trains which

apparently does not have a board. So for those who don't like boards (not me) here is your chance to suggest removing the board and not replacing it.

A board serves no useful purpose as their efforts over the last three years clearly shows, they have failed dismally in their oversight of Queensland Rail, under their watch drivers overtime blew out from below 8% to 11% while Ms Trad was transport Minister then they did nothing further while drivers overtime blew out to 18% with Mr Hinchliffe as Minister.  Over the three year period of their gross incompetence and derelict oversight they dished out performance bonus payments totalling millions to those responsible for the administrative failures that brought Queensland Rail to it's knees and you are suggesting that these incompetents should retain their positions so they can continue to play pass the parcel blaming others.
I for one would not employ any so incompetent as to allow the drivers overtime to reach 11% much less 18% and I would doubt that many others who vote in Queensland would either and come the election they like me will show their displeasure at the ballot box.

[Stillwater]

So that is the Opposition's contribution to the debate ... the Premier should be transport minister.  They are not serious.  Just more political games.  Those ballot paper options are getting fewer by the day.

[ozbob]

So that is the Opposition's contribution to the debate ... the Premier should be transport minister.  They are not serious.  Just more political games.  Those ballot paper options are getting fewer by the day.

Yes, sad to see such dribble from an outfit that reckons they should be the government.

Not much hope hey?   

[#Metro]

The QATAR approach:

[James]

The QATAR approach:

I wouldn't be using the Akbar Al Baker approach to running anything. He can afford to throw his mouth around like this because his airline (Qatar Airways, amusingly with the airline code 'QR') is owned by the Government of Qatar, which is wealthy beyond belief thanks to the amount of oil the country produces, and has incredibly favourable labour laws.

For starters, unions are illegal in Qatar. Organise a union, you get sacked. Go on strike? Sacked. An airline? Run to a profit, not as a public service. If you ran QR at a profit, it'd shut down in the off-peak and on weekends. Finally, a 'Plan B' is to simply train more crews in advance. It isn't like this is a situation where 'having a Plan B' would have really fixed much that couldn't have been fixed with common sense.

Al Baker is the Trump of Airline CEOs. He goes around insulting other airlines, and don't get me started on the exploitation of labour. I wouldn't be copying any part of QR the airline to apply to QR the rail operator.

[ozbob]

Queensland commuters are angry it's going to take two years to fix the "rail fail". @KatrinaBlowers #7News https://t.co/I0LBlguvij

— 7 News Queensland (@7NewsQueensland) February 7, 2017

Interviewed for 10 minutes, 2 seconds of fame ..   

The point I was making is that Queensland Rail must deliver a full service timetable by January 2018.  Otherwise we face a certain transport meltdown during the Commonwealth Games as services a stripped from all lines.  Buses will not be available, they will all be on the GC.

11 months is long enough for this rabble to fix it.  If they don't I will be pushing for them to go.  Simply is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

[#Metro]

It is exactly what QR the railway needs.

Too many softies around too scared to tell it like it is (' operational reasons '), upset the boat, or enforce penalties, fines or contract rejections.

Hats off to Paul Pluta as well, actually got the job done and cut through all the bullsh%t.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

8th February 2017

RAIL Back on Track 8 Point Recovery Plan

Greetings,

RAIL Back on Track wishes to comment on the Strachan Inquiry Report and proposes the following recovery plan.  It is essential that Queensland Rail return to a full timetable not later than January 2018.  If Queensland Rail is not able to achieve that deadline consideration should be given to replacing Queensland Rail with an operator that will.

1. New ministers - a single minister and one assistant minister to be given the sole responsibility of the transport portfolio. This will guarantee single focus, and an experienced successor for the minister.

2. Public Transport Authority of Queensland (PTQ) set up - a statutory authority based on the Western Australian model. Get someone like Western Australia's ex-Transport Minister Alannah MacTiernan to head it. Remove Public Transport from Main Roads, merge TransLink and the Cross River Rail Authority into PTQ.

3. Rail services on the Redcliffe Peninsula Line (RPL) should be shuttle services during the off peak with some through peak services. This was the approach that was used by Queensland Rail when the then Richlands branch line opened in January 2011.  A full timetable was only implemented in June 2011, as part of the wider sector one changes. The Queensland Rail rail network ran to timetable before the RPL opened, in fact was touted as the best ontime running in the nation!

Waiting two years to get back to timetable is completely unacceptable and we reject it in the strongest terms. The suggestion that 'there are no quick fixes' is unsubstantiated and we question why RPL line shuttles have not been considered whilst more crew are trained.

4. Abolish "internal favouritism" hiring provisions as soon as possible. Such practices create extra recruitment costs for Queensland Rail and appear to favour men over women (due to guard demographics) in train crew roles.

5. Get driver training down to 9 months, like other operators.

6. Empower the new PTQ Authority to enforce its contracts through fines and contract termination. The current setup is a monopoly - both public and private - and that is overriding all other aspects of service quality and delivery as operators cannot be fired no matter what. Without choice of operator, there can be no meaningful enforcement.

7. The Queensland Rail board and Queensland Rail executive leadership team should be fired. Do not replace the board - Mr Strachan can be a single commissioner for railways under PTQ like Sydney Trains.

8. Tackle Brisbane City Council - there is a parallel mess happening with the Brisbane Bus Network which has been left to fester since 2013. Get buses running to trains and fix the bus network so that it connects with rail. We have shown how to do it here --> http://tiny.cc/newnetwork

Best wishes
Robert

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

[ Attached: https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12341.msg187649#msg187649 ]

[ozbob]

Media: RBoT 8 Point Recovery Plan for #railfail
> https://t.co/HsfP43ClJi#qldpol@AnnastaciaMP @jackietrad @Curtis_Pitt_MP @N_Scales_TMR pic.twitter.com/DKKzHsIMLR

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) February 7, 2017

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland Rail culture problems highlight opportunity for innovation

Piddle!  Just focus on running frequent reliable train services.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Comment: The union was allowed to run riot in QR and look what happened

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Queensland Rail fail: Unions refuse to accept responsibility

UNION bosses have refused to accept responsibility for cosy workplace deals and plummeting productivity which contributed to southeast Queensland's "rail fail".

The Strachan Commission of Inquiry report found a 7 per cent reduction in train crew productivity between 2014 and 2016 was "due in part to more restrictive crewing rules agreed between unions and ... management".

The decline meant drivers were only operating a train for 29 per cent of their shift.

The report also heavily criticised the practice of relying on drivers to do large amounts of overtime to cover a shortage of drivers and restrictive train crew practices agreed to between unions and management.

The generous conditions awarded to drivers who work on a rostered day off include a 75 per cent penalty payment – which can boost drivers' salaries by tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Owen Doogan denied the practice was a rort to bump up salaries for union members.

"Queensland Rail is phoning our drivers up begging them to work overtime," he said.

Mr Doogan instead blamed QR management for the drop in productivity.

He said one of the negative changes made between 2014 to 2016 was "decentralising" routes so that train crews could work further away from their home depots, which increased travel times and reduced time spent driving.

"That, in our view, has created inefficiencies that we will be able to work with QR to try and resolve," Mr Doogan said.

Labor frontbencher Mark Bailey – an RTBU member – has been tipped as a possible replacement for Stirling Hinchliffe to take over the Transport portfolio.

He refused to criticise the union for its role in the rail fail through entrenching restrictive workplace practices or the over-reliance on ­overtime.

"It's not the workforce's fault in terms of this issue," Mr Bailey said.

"The Strachan report was very clear. It identified systemic cultural issues in the management of Queensland Rail."

The Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Employees also has coverage of some staff at QR but the RTBU has more members and a greater influence on negotiations with management.

The report found measures already taken to unwind restrictive workplace practices between Queensland Rail management and unions were insufficient to guarantee reliability in future.

"Queensland Rail has undertaken negotiations to increase flexibility around important crewing rules, such as suspending inflexible meal break rules, in order to improve productivity," the report said.

"While these changes will have a substantial impact on (driver) demand, they will not be enough to ensure reliable services."

Acting Transport Minister Jackie Trad – along with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and newly appointed QR board chair Phillip Strachan – met with union representatives on Monday "to articulate what needs to be done to move forward".

"And that means, primarily, that we all – management, unions, government – need to be working collaboratively in order to implement all of the recommendations of the Strachan Report and to make sure that we build a strong, reliable, confident system," she said.

Ms Trad said QR would "absolutely" start going outside the organisation to source new drivers.

"There are provisions within the enterprise bargaining agreement currently around recruiting externally," she said.

"So what we need is we need management, unions, government, all focused on how we can recruit not only new drivers, but how we can expand the pool of trainers so that we are training the drivers we are recruiting as fast as possible."

[ozbob]

Just completed a pre-recorded interview with Steve Austin ABC Radio Brisbane Mornings re some of the points raised in this mornings commentary.

I particularly stressed the need to get a full service rail timetable operating by January 2018 and outlined the factors which would allow that to be achieved:

Accelerated crew training.

External recruitment (particularly former qualified rail crew).

Network operating changes viz.  shuttles on RPL for a while.

The fact that job rules have been modified from the situation in October 2016.

[ > https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12649.msg187725#msg187725 ]

[ozbob]

ABC News --> QR's 'overly restrictive' work rules to change in overhaul, Jackie Trad promises

Workplace rules and overtime for staff will be amended as part of the overhaul of Queensland Rail to improve train services for passengers, Acting Transport Minister Jackie Trad says.
Key points:

    Strachan report found QR work rules reduced driver productivity
    Overtime should only be used in exceptional circumstances, Ms Trad says
    Management and unions keen to work together to improve situation

Phillip Strachan's commission of inquiry into QR's crewing and timetables, released yesterday, found overtime arrangements and some workplace practices, as well as recruitment and training, contributed to the shortage of drivers and service cancellations.

It found QR had come to be overly reliant on overtime and that it could be late next year before there were enough drivers available to restore timetables to normal.

The report also found driver productivity was reduced between 2014 and 2016 due to issues such as additional meal breaks, rostering practices and "overly restrictive crewing rules".

Ms Trad is temporarily back in charge of the transport portfolio after Stirling Hinchliffe's resigned as minister yesterday.

She told ABC Radio Brisbane overtime should be used only in exceptional circumstances, but that could not happen until enough new drivers had been trained.

    "What we need to do — and it's flagged in the report, that changes to the enterprise bargaining agreement will be negotiated with the trade unions, that we will continue this dialogue," she said.

"What they have made clear, both management and the unions, is we want to work collaboratively to fix the current situation."
'Problem has been five years in the making'

Ms Trad said she wanted a revamped Queensland Rail to be courageous and frank with government, after Mr Strachan found the organisation had a culture of not passing on bad news, even though it anticipated a driver shortage.

"There is a blueprint and, in terms of rebuilding Queensland Rail, there are some key principles that Mr Strachan makes in his report that I think are going to go a long way to restoring reliable, safe services to Queenslanders using Queensland Rail.

"But also creating an organisation that is customer focused, that is courageous and brave and isn't afraid to tell the Government of the day when there are problems."

Ms Trad said QR's problems occurred under both the LNP and the ALP.

"Labor governments also get a lot of good things right, like the introduction of Prep. We also managed to get unemployment down ... [and] build amazing infrastructure like Gold Coast light rail," she said.

    "We do pretty amazing things, and yes, long-term Labor governments have stuffed some things up, of course, and there have been significant apologies made in the past for that.

"But we are determined ... to fix this now, and let's be clear, this problem did not just occur on Labor's watch. This problem has been in the making for the past five years."

[verbatim9]

Brisbanetimes --> Comment: The union was allowed to run riot in QR and look what happened

QR  doesn't seem a productive culture at the moment. No wonder the government can't afford new infrastructure if money is just being thrown at overtime bills etc...

[ozbob]

" ... Management and unions keen to work together to improve situation ... "

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-07/overly-restrictive-work-rules-to-change-in-qr-overhaul/8248064

well isn't that just wonderful.  A deadline, January 2018 for a full timetable delivery might just focus a few minds. 

[tazzer9]

Just completed a pre-recorded interview with Steve Austin ABC Radio Brisbane Mornings re some of the points raised in this mornings commentary.

I particularly stressed the need to get a full service rail timetable operating by January 2018 and outlined the factors which would allow that to be achieved:

Accelerated crew training.

External recruitment (particularly former qualified rail crew).

Network operating changes viz.  shuttles on RPL for a while.

The fact that job rules have been modified from the situation in October 2016.

[ > https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12649.msg187725#msg187725 ]

The former rail qualified crew bit should be made clear.   If they have done it elsewhere, they can do it here.   Can skip alot of the nonsense and it they would certainly get a hang of the trains better.    Its amazing how you could have done the exact same job elsewhere, but here you couldn't even get the chance to be hired.

[Stillwater]

Ms Trad is a master of the pollie double-speak.  Here is what she said: "changes to the enterprise bargaining agreement will be negotiated" ... "we will continue this dialogue"

While there might be a determination from within government for change at QR, all that's happening is a talkfest with the unions.  Ms Trad is trying to move the position around the enterprise bargaining deal.

The talkfest cannot drag out - with lots of photo opportunities of minister and union reps sitting around a table.  The public is impatient for real action.  The PR glossover when it comes to PT in Queensland must end.  Pollies have got to stop believing their own promotional glossy brochures.  The travelling public gave up on that stuff years ago.  The test will be how frequently the train turns up at the railway station and how well it connects to the bus or the ferry.

Is that too much to ask?  And by January 2018 please.  No-one is trying if that deadline can't be met.

[petey3801]

Ms Trad is a master of the pollie double-speak.  Here is what she said: "changes to the enterprise bargaining agreement will be negotiated" ... "we will continue this dialogue"

While there might be a determination from within government for change at QR, all that's happening is a talkfest with the unions.  Ms Trad is trying to move the position around the enterprise bargaining deal.

The talkfest cannot drag out - with lots of photo opportunities of minister and union reps sitting around a table.  The public is impatient for real action.  The PR glossover when it comes to PT in Queensland must end.  Pollies have got to stop believing their own promotional glossy brochures.  The travelling public gave up on that stuff years ago.  The test will be how frequently the train turns up at the railway station and how well it connects to the bus or the ferry.

Is that too much to ask?  And by January 2018 please.  No-one is trying if that deadline can't be met.

It is a workplace agreement. It cannot simply be changed at the whim of whoever is in power. How f##king hard is this for people to understand??
There is so much bullsh%t being thrown around about all this that it is really getting to a lot of crew, including myself, so once I get a proper post typed out on the computer, that will likely be the last post I make on this board for quite some time.
A few notes:
- Qualified drivers from elsewhere will only shave off a couple weeks (at most) from driver training. Just because someone drives trains in Sydney means jack, road knowledge is by far the longest part of training and there are no sjortcuts with that.
- External hiring (general) - When they've already got 200 people waiting for classes, hiring externally right now will not do anything, unless the plan is to dump those 200 people (who aren't already in a class) and start the whole process again - A massive waste of time and a huge morale drainer;
- Current training taking 18 months - Thats what happens when there aren't enough trainers to train the new drivers!! External hiring won't change that, but things are already happening to speed it up (expend in later post);
- Paul Pluta is a self serving wanker, to be blunt. The fact he's taking credit for Hinchcliffe resigning is just testament to that. If I was Transport Minister and that moron sent me thise letters, I (and most other people) would ignore him too. If he wants to be taken seriously, writing letters the way he wrote to Hinchcliffe is not the way to do it, nor the vulgar videos he makes.
- Low productivity: Much more than what is being told in this. Much, much more.
- Timetable - I believe the plan is to add services when crews become available.
More later when I get to it.

[ozbob]

I have been contacted by persons who have driven freight trains through the SEQ suburban network, who have not been able to get past first base with QR.

These people could be trained relatively quicker than 18 months I would think.

[ozbob]

" - Timetable - I believe the plan is to add services when crews become available. "

Thanks.  I understood that was the case too, but it would be nice if the powers to be said that.  Rather than that's it folks for two years, and even then we might reduce services further.  No wonder people are p%ssed  off. 

Politically this is a minefield ....

[bretto82]

I have been contacted by persons who have driven freight trains through the SEQ suburban network, who have not been able to get past first base with QR.

These people could be trained relatively quicker than 18 months I would think.

I know of a controller who was a guard and wanted to go back as train crew and did not pass first base as he failed the psychometric testing so just because they were a driver in times gone past does not mean they will get back in the drivers seat those rules are part of the anrp not just qnrp so the atsb it's sh%t but that's the way it now is even track workers were made to do it

[ozbob]

The people who contacted me didn't even get a phone call!

If they were rejected after testing fair enough but that was not the case.

[tazzer9]

Not passing some of their testing is fine.   But being a freight driver is pretty much exactly the same. When freight drivers can't get in, even though the already have route knowledge for half the network it is pretty alarming.   

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Train drivers' wages rise as productivity falls

TREASURER Curtis Pitt is under pressure to explain a meeting with the rail unions just weeks before a controversial deal caving in to demands for an "extraordinary" pay rise for train drivers.

Mr Pitt has confirmed the State Government became directly involved in negotiations for a new workplace deal for Queensland Rail train crew, saying it was important the Government had "an early look" at what the bargaining framework would be, as with all agreements.

The Courier-Mail understands the Government intervened to override concerns by QR's board that union demands for a 12 per cent pay rise over four years were excessive – far outstripping the consumer price index.

A drop in driver productivity of 7 per cent was a key criticism of the commission of inquiry this week into the QR timetable failure.

A spokesman for Mr Pitt last night rejected intervening, saying no legally binding direction had been issued to the board.

An in-principle deal was first struck with unions last October, putting an end to threatened strike action.

It came after a meeting between Mr Pitt (one of two responsible ministers for QR), the Rail Tram & Bus Union and Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Employees last September.

Mr Pitt said yesterday the meeting had discussed the $4 billion New Generation Rollingstock project, but his office could not rule out that the enterprise agreement was also discussed.

The meeting was held the same month the RTBU was given the go-ahead to ballot train crew on whether to strike over the enterprise agreement – five months after negotiations began.

Further discussions were held amid the timetable crisis, with the board approving a new in-principle agreement on December 13, which included the 12 per cent pay rise.

The commission of inquiry this week found QR's board had been cut out of the union train crew agreement.

Opposition transport spokesman Andrew Powell said Mr Pitt needed to explain how the board had been cut out.

"There's a rotten smell about the rail unions' stranglehold on this Labor Government," he said.

RTBU state secretary Owen Doogan said he had met with Mr Pitt about the NGR program and had not lobbied about the EBA.

[ozbob]

Queensland Cabinet reshuffle: Mark Furner replaces Stirling Hinchliffe in ministry
> https://t.co/cb8KEYhKGE#qldpol

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) February 8, 2017

[ozbob]

^ I hope that transport gets a dedicated minister when the Premier allocates portfolios.  I have concerns if the DP is made Transport again, I believe there is simply too much on her plate to be really effective.  Transport really needs a close careful hand now.  My choice would be Mr Mark Bailey.