Queensland Rail

[ozbob]

What went wrong with Qld Rail - it's a pretty thick report #9News #qldpol pic.twitter.com/yxyiewfJbj

— Shane Doherty (@ShaneDoherty9) February 3, 2017

^ I hope they have good a web server ..    

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

3rd February 2017

Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry

Good Morning,

We eagerly await the public release of the Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry report
( https://www.strachaninquiry.qld.gov.au/ )

Perhaps more importantly we are keen to see what the Queensland State Government will do following the release of the findings.

Will it be band-aids and more of the same public transport failure or will the opportunity be grasped to properly reform the organisational structure, administration, delivery and operation of public transport in SEQ? ( See Public Transport Queensland > https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12341.msg187153#msg187153  for how reform can be achieved).

TransLink,  Transport & Main Roads, Queensland Rail are failures. Simple fact. 
I doubt collectively if they could organise a birthday party at the golden arches ..

The situation is beyond farce.  Friday today, a different rail timetable for SEQ.  Does any other state rail system inflict such lunacy on the public?  Adelaide? No.  Perth? No. Melbourne? No. Sydney? No.  This bizarre Friday timetable (which is a further service reduction from the Monday to Thursday timetable) is another grave measure of the failure that is the subject of the Inquiry. To think the Queensland Rail Executive Leadership Team received cash bonuses to deliver this rubbish is beyond acceptable.  It makes us FURIOUS !!

The priority must be to get a consistent Monday to Friday timetable for a start.  Additional services for peak PM Cleveland Line are also needed.  The 5.09pm limited express to Cleveland from Central needs to be put back immediately.  The Cleveland line passengers are being treated abysmally.

Will the State Government please release proper detailed patronage data for bus, rail and ferry please?  Route, stop, station, line specific data. Stop hiding behind cryptic nonsense.  Match the open and transparent rhetoric with real honest actions for a change.

Thank you.

Best wishes
Robert

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

Reference:

Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry

https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12649.0

[#Metro]

Look of consternation on APs face! 

[Stillwater]

Within the public service, there is a term known as the 'thump test' to determine whether a government report is worthwhile.  The 'thump test' happens this way -- hold the report about 50cm above a table and drop it.  If it makes a large 'thump' noise, it is a weighty tome, worthy of scrutiny.  This document would appear to pass the thump test. 

[#Metro]

I'm actually quite excited to read it, Stillwater. 

Like a whodunit novel.

[ozbob]

[Stillwater]

The Opposition has pinned its colours to the mast on the Strachan Inquiry:

Tim Nicholls is on record as saying the inquiry was called as a diversion to scrutiny of the government over care of children subject to violence.  You couldn't think of any crazy two items to link with each other, but the Opposition Leader did.

Nicholls has set the tone for this to be played as a political game, not to be taken seriously.

From his website (statement of 25 November 2016):

"Annastacia Palaszczuk has today been caught out using desperate diversionary tactics, announcing a Commission of Inquiry into her Government's Queensland Rail (QR) debacle to divert attention from the grave failings of the Department of Child Safety.

"The Opposition will fully cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry but it needs to be made clear that Annastacia Palaszczuk is pulling a political stunt," he said.

So, the LNP is itself pulling a political stunt while blaming the other side for pulling a political stunt.  The problem is there for all the people to see, except the pollies who continue to play their silly games, rather than govern and offer alternative government.

[red dragin]

A fresh style of spin is on the way.

Media Adviser Position
http://careers.pageuppeople.com/mob/544/caw/en/job/669029/media-adviser

[#Metro]

http://careers.pageuppeople.com/mob/544/caw/en/job/669029/media-adviser

A HA HA HA

MAYBE I SHOULD APPLY!  

My services start at $70K and I want 12% super as well

You will be responsible for:

Monitoring and assessing media issues that involve Queensland Rail and providing appropriate advice
Assisting in developing and implementing key communication and media strategies and campaigns
Coordinating media and community events
Researching, writing and distributing media releases and responding to media enquiries
Writing copy for corporate communications across a wide range of mediums.

[ozbob]

^ do you want a cash bonus with that? 

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland Rail: Phillip Strachan hands over results of investigation

The results of an inquiry into what went wrong at Queensland Rail have been handed over to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

The Premier met with Phillip Strachan on Friday afternoon to discuss the fruits of his three-month investigation into train crewing failures at QR.

The inquiry was sparked following the cancellation of 100 services in October after the opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula Line due to a shortage of train drivers.

About two-thirds of services were also cancelled on Christmas Day and the debacle has resulted in some QR executives leaving the organisation.

Before the hefty report was handed over, Ms Palaszczuk said it was important for her to sit down with Mr Strachan and go through his recommendations.

"I want a clear path forward, I want to make sure that we never see what has happened in the past happen again," she said.

"I want to get to the bottom of it, frankly, and I think the public want to hear the answers as well."

Ms Palaszczuk said she was yet to see the report but she hoped she could implement its recommendations.

"Cabinet will be considering it on Monday, so we've got the weekend to work on it," she said.

Mr Strachan was appointed in October to investigate QR train crewing practices and the failed implementation of the new timetable.

He was tasked to look at QR scheduling, rostering, training, recruitment, arrangements in place to support the new timetable for the Redcliffe Peninsula Line and when deficits in train crew were known and what action was taken.

It was upgraded to a Commission of Inquiry in November after Mr Strachan told Ms Palaszczuk he had not received documents he had requested from the QR board.

Cabinet is due to discuss the Queensland Rail train crewing practices commission of inquiry report on Monday, with Ms Palaszczuk pledging to release it publicly.

The government is expected to develop its response to the report at the weekend.

Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has said Mr Strachan had asked questions around "governance" at QR.

"Which relates directly back to the role of ministers and ministerial engagement and the board's role in these matters," Mr Hinchliffe said earlier this week.

"On the basis of some of the conversations I've had with Mr Strachan I wouldn't be surprised if there are some recommendations that relate to governance issues," he said.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

4th February 2017

Re: Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry

Good Morning,

The Premier is quoted this morning on Brisbanetimes [ Queensland Rail: Phillip Strachan hands over results of investigation ]
as stating " I want to get to the bottom of it, frankly, and I think the public want to hear the answers as well."

Too right Premier.  The public wants answers and to know why Queensland Rail Executive Leadership Team pocketed cash bonuses (for years) whilst this rail mess was festering, and why the Queensland Rail Board failed to respond to the obvious signs of failure.

We want to know why Queensland Rail is unable to deliver the necessary service levels that are essential for proper public transport network operation and integration.

We want to know why Queensland Rail has sabotaged years of hard advocacy work by us and others to finally get an equitable and much more affordable fare structure for SEQ ( thank you for that by the way  ) which normally would drive significant patronage gains and hence proper network reform.

In fact we want to know why Queensland Rail has put back years any real hope of proper bus network reform with their mediocre performance.

We look forward to Monday and the public release of the Inquiry.

We thank Mr Philip Strachan and his team for their efforts [ https://www.strachaninquiry.qld.gov.au/ ].

Best wishes
Robert

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

Sent to all outlets:

3rd February 2017

Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry

Good Morning,

We eagerly await the public release of the Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry report
( https://www.strachaninquiry.qld.gov.au/ )

Perhaps more importantly we are keen to see what the Queensland State Government will do following the release of the findings.

Will it be band-aids and more of the same public transport failure or will the opportunity be grasped to properly reform the organisational structure, administration, delivery and operation of public transport in SEQ? ( See Public Transport Queensland > https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12341.msg187153#msg187153  for how reform can be achieved).

TransLink,  Transport & Main Roads, Queensland Rail are failures. Simple fact. 
I doubt collectively if they could organise a birthday party at the golden arches ..

The situation is beyond farce.  Friday today, a different rail timetable for SEQ.  Does any other state rail system inflict such lunacy on the public?  Adelaide? No.  Perth? No. Melbourne? No. Sydney? No.  This bizarre Friday timetable (which is a further service reduction from the Monday to Thursday timetable) is another grave measure of the failure that is the subject of the Inquiry. To think the Queensland Rail Executive Leadership Team received cash bonuses to deliver this rubbish is beyond acceptable.  It makes us FURIOUS !!

The priority must be to get a consistent Monday to Friday timetable for a start.  Additional services for peak PM Cleveland Line are also needed.  The 5.09pm limited express to Cleveland from Central needs to be put back immediately.  The Cleveland line passengers are being treated abysmally.

Will the State Government please release proper detailed patronage data for bus, rail and ferry please?  Route, stop, station, line specific data. Stop hiding behind cryptic nonsense.  Match the open and transparent rhetoric with real honest actions for a change.

Thank you.

Best wishes
Robert

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

Reference:

Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry

https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12649.0

[ozbob]

Latest: 'Re: @QueenslandRail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry'
> https://t.co/3rynoffPpL#qldpol@AnnastaciaMP @jackietrad @StirlHinchliffe pic.twitter.com/pjwDTpTplg

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) February 3, 2017

[ozbob]

.@AnnastaciaMP briefed on the much-anticipated @QueenslandRail. @PatrickCondren https://t.co/1IU3m5Qd7C #qldpol https://t.co/c1xTzPXxgd

— 7 News Queensland (@7NewsQueensland) February 3, 2017

[Stillwater]

To the journos who seek comment from Tim Nicholls re the Commission of Inquiry findings, please ask these questions: 

Do you really believe, as you have stated publicly, that this inquiry was a political stunt, and not a genuine attempt to get to the cause of the QR rail fail and suggest solutions?

You have said this report, and the government's actions are a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from the failings of a system that protects the safety of vulnerable children.  Just how are these two things (trains and child safety) linked in your mind?

Is it your contention that the rail inquiry was not necessary and just a 'stunt'?

Does your perception of the issue go beyond seeing the Commission of Inquiry, and its findings, as a witch hunt against the Newman Government and the LNP, or do you believe there are genuine actions that need to be taken in respect of QR and the efficient operation of the railways?

If you do not accept the government response to the Strahan Inquiry, or the findings, what actions would an LNP Government in power take to provide efficient PT services for the public of SEQ?

Does you failure to provide an answer to the question above show that you don't have the necessary plans to take over government at the next state election?

Will you now take action against Scott Emerson who, as the inquiry has shown, oversaw the seeds of this current dilemma – or do you still hold that all of this is a 'diversionary tactic' for political purposes?

What Mr Nicholls said: http://www.timnicholls.com.au/palaszczuks-shiny-bauble-rail-inquiry/

[#Metro]

Anyone want to run for Queensland Parliament? Now would be a good time.

One banana state up for grabs.

[Stillwater]

From the pictures, it would seem that Mr Strachan's report, while thick, would appear to have had only a cursory pass by a graphic artist (ie, not glossy).  On outward appearance, a sheaf of papers held together with a practical, metal binding.  That says something.  QR, on the other hand, is going down the path of the media expert engagement and glossover -- perhaps more media statements about how Queensland has a 'world clarse' transport service. 

[achiruel]

So, the ALP is taking the weekend to work out how to spin the report so it minimises damage to them and maximises damage to the LNP. Truth is, they're both woeful. Neither could, as my former boss was fond of saying, organise an evening of adult entertainment in a house of ill repute with a fistful of fifties.

Maybe we should invite Mike Baird to come run the place, he's certainly done a better job in NSW than our last two Premiers here.

[techblitz]

Maybe we should invite Mike Baird to come run the place, he's certainly done a better job in NSW than our last two Premiers here.

no thanks.......baird sat on the sidelines watching Sydney become the second most unaffordable city in the world to buy a home....its been left to Gladys and scott morrison to try and fix...

[tazzer9]

Yawn. Just privatise the whole thing, sell off the shares too and let a new competent operator deal with the govt. 

They'll listen because they're being paid to supply decent service.

Because privatising the victorian rail network worked so incredibly well didn't it.

[#Metro]

Yep, and Labor kept it private.

More cities - Stockholm, Auckland and Wellington have followed since then.

The only reason why Campbell Newman was able to cut staff in Queensland Rail was because the staff were public servants. He didn't cut any staff in Woolworths, Coles or McDonald's.

We don't need public servants to drive trains, just like we don't need them to fly planes or drive taxis.

[Stillwater]

  Logic?

[Stillwater]

GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE DECISIVE IN ITS REVIEW OF THE QR RAIL FAIL

The Queensland Government should not be timid in accepting and implementing the recommendations of the Strachan Commission of Inquiry concerning governance and a lack of oversight that led to the QR rail fail and should go further to restructure QR and TransLink into a Public Transport Authority coordinating rail, bus and ferry services throughout SEQ.

Anything short of this outcome will be a band-aid solution that will have consequences further down the track as SEQ grows and its public transport demand outstrips governments' capacity to respond adequately. The outcome will be further traffic congestion and a blow to Brisbane's liveability index.

In particular, the BCC buses should be brought under the control of the new authority.  BCC buses should not exist in isolation, and be administered separately, from the rest of the Brisbane urban conurbation.

We want to know why Queensland Rail is unable to deliver the necessary service levels that are essential for proper public transport network operation and integration. The interim timetable that QR implemented after to opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula Line to cover driver shortages, in effect, sabotaged years of advocacy by RailBOT and others for an equitable and more affordable fare structure based on eight zones, not 23.  This would have driven patronage up, increasing the fare take.  The trains no longer meet the buses, as intended, and we have the farce of a different timetable on Fridays, separate from the Monday-Thursday timetable.
 
Passengers are deserting the network in droves and taking to their cars.

Priority must be given to a consistent weekday rail timetable, Monday to Friday, while a weekend timetable (same Saturday and Sunday) should be a goal also.  The ETRS signalling should be rolled out faster to allow more trains to operate through the core city station earlier than planned, thereby addressing peak service shortfalls, particularly on the Cleveland Line, and to compensate for the stalling of Cross River Rail, yet again.

The 2017-18 state budget must also include funding for extension of the Springfield Line to Redbank Plains and for a start to be made on the Sunshine Coast Line duplication from Beerburrum to Landsborough North, and a substantial upgrade further north to Nambour.  This is consistent with the government's objectives of creating jobs for Queenslanders while making coastal rail freight operations more efficient.

A clear timetable for introduction of NCR trains should be announced, together with details of the additional new crew that will staff those trains.

There is no place in the current circumstances for political brinkmanship, with one side of politics seeking to lay blame on the other side concerning the problems with QR and the interactions between it a TransLink and the Department of Transport and Main Roads.  That would get us no-where, frankly.  The travelling public will attack at the ballot box politicians and political parties who engage in those tactics.

No, the government response to the Strachan Report should not be retrospective, full of 'blame game' tactics.  There is a real danger that is where things will descend.

What's needed is a clear way forward – realistic and costed.  For the time being, it should not be predicated on assumptions about sums of money coming from other levels of government, other than local government, perhaps (in respect of the Redbank Plains extension, for example).  A cargo cult mentality had clouded Queensland's thinking about public transport network enhancement and augmentation for far too long.

The federal government has pulled its involvements in CRR on the basis that what's planned does not integrate fully with the rest of the SEQ transport network.  That is the problem.  That is why an overarching Public Transport Authority for SEQ is needed, and should be demanded of the state government.

Loyalty to transport unions and sentimentality about QR as an historic entity should not come into this.  If Brisbane is to be a 21st Century city, it must have a new century, new thinking solution to its transport woes.

The government response tomorrow will be a test of leadership for the Premier, Anna Palaszczuk and her transport minister, Stirling Hinchliffe.  Mr Hinchliffe has acknowledged that the QR debacle has escalated to an election issue, and could cost votes.

A visionary way forward is what is required when the government responds to Phillip Strachan's Inquiry.  The report does contain recommendations about governance at QR.  The existing QR structure must be overhauled, and a new Public Transport Authority emerge from the present chaos.

[ozbob]

Well said!

[verbatim9]

^^

[SurfRail]

Yep, and Labor kept it private.

More cities - Stockholm, Auckland and Wellington have followed since then.

The only reason why Campbell Newman was able to cut staff in Queensland Rail was because the staff were public servants. He didn't cut any staff in Woolworths, Coles or McDonald's.

We don't need public servants to drive trains, just like we don't need them to fly planes or drive taxis.

While the government controls most of the funding, it is largely irrelevant who is running the shop.  They can always find a way to screw things up by reducing the subsidy available or reducing maintenance expenditure or failing to supply new trains when needed.  Privatisation is not a panacea for these things, regardless of its other merits.

[#Metro]

Monopolies, private and public, in SEQ transport are unjustified and must go.

Contracts must be earned.

If PTQ does not have powers to fire bad operators and choose alternatives, it will largely be a neutered organisation incapable of enforcing its contracts.

Bring in PTQ, but make sure to go ALL the way.

[HappyTrainGuy]

blahblahblahblahblahblah. We get it already. You have a hard on for Metro and privitising everything regardless for your lack of knowing the downsides of actual privitisation such as the case of your beloved Metro.

[#Metro]

I look forward to Queensland Rail fighting off five companies for the job.

And facing a hard budget bottom line.

And not being exempt from fines and penalties.

Bad job? Goodbye!!

Good luck!!

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Queensland Rail report to shift blame off Transport Minister

TRANSPORT Minister Stirling Hinchliffe is expected to escape the blame for Queensland Rail's timetable crisis when the Strachan Commission of Inquiry hands down its report today.

Despite repeated calls from the Opposition for Mr Hinchliffe's scalp, The Courier-Mail understands the inquiry's findings – which will be released after today's Cabinet meeting – are unlikely to end his ministerial career.

QR's other shareholding minister, Treasurer Curtis Pitt, is also expected to not be found at fault.

The rail operator's executive staff will receive criticism for their role in the debacle and the response to the driver shortage.

Further resignations from QR are expected in the wake of the report's release.

It is understood the relationship between QR, TransLink and Transport and Main Roads is examined in the report and ­includes recommendations on how to merge some functions of the three organisations.

A restructure of executive positions and communication lines will likely be included in the inquiry's recommendations.

The number of train drivers who took redundancies during the Newman Government cuts and the length of the training program were expected to be mentioned in the report.

The progress of the driver hiring program announced by Mr Hinchliffe last year will be examined.

Conditions such as the 20-minute comfort break given to all staff who had worked more than 2½ hours have been examined and it is likely recommendations will be made about securing more flexible workplace agreements with unions.

A new chief executive for the rail operator could be announced shortly, after the board has conducted interviews with short-listed candidates.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls yesterday reiterated calls for the Transport Minister to be sacked. "The reality is passengers just want the train service to run on time and they won't have confidence in the system until Stirling Hinchliffe is gone," he said.

But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, in an exclusive interview with The Courier-Mail last week, insisted she trusted her senior minister and factional colleague Mr Hinchliffe's insistence he was not told of the looming driver crisis.

"He told me very clearly that he was not informed," Ms Palaszczuk said. "I am believing in the honesty of my ministers."

Ms Palaszczuk, a former transport minister in the Bligh government, said she believed there had always been "cultural issues" in QR. "I am absolutely appalled that Queensland Rail would increase services with not having the driver capacity. I think it is unforgivable," she said.

The repeated rail fails forced the resignations of several former QR executives, including chief executive Helen Gluer, board chairman Michael Klug and chief operations officer Kevin Wright.

After hundreds of services had been cancelled in October and an interim timetable scrapped in favour of a reduced schedule, the peak of the crisis hit on Christmas Day when a third of services were cancelled because of ­another roster stuff-up.

Rail advocate Paul Pluta, who predicted the October and Christmas Day rail fails, said major reforms were needed to improve public transport in southeast Queensland.

"I am sick and tired of QR having such a poor culture. It's time someone had the courage to fix it and put the travelling public first," he said.

The report has been kept tightly under wraps after it was provided to the Premier's office last Tuesday.

Ms Palaszczuk only received a briefing on it on ­Friday after returning from central Queensland. A select few ministers were provided information on Saturday.

[ozbob]

" ... It is understood the relationship between QR, TransLink and Transport and Main Roads is examined in the report and ­includes recommendations on how to merge some functions of the three organisations. ... "

This is heartening.  Beginning of proper organisational reform?  We must keep pushing for PTQ ...

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

6th February 2017

Comment: Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry

Good Morning,

Monday and the public release later today of the Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry.

Let's hope real progress is made from here with the delivery of public transport in SEQ.

A Rail Back On Track member has made this comment.  It is an excellent commentary on the present mess and what we hope will now follow.

https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12649.msg187546#msg187546

GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE DECISIVE IN ITS REVIEW OF THE QR RAIL FAIL

The Queensland Government should not be timid in accepting and implementing the recommendations of the Strachan Commission of Inquiry concerning governance and a lack of oversight that led to the QR rail fail and should go further to restructure QR and TransLink into a Public Transport Authority coordinating rail, bus and ferry services throughout SEQ.

Anything short of this outcome will be a band-aid solution that will have consequences further down the track as SEQ grows and its public transport demand outstrips governments' capacity to respond adequately. The outcome will be further traffic congestion and a blow to Brisbane's liveability index.

In particular, the BCC buses should be brought under the control of the new authority.  BCC buses should not exist in isolation, and be administered separately, from the rest of the Brisbane urban conurbation.

We want to know why Queensland Rail is unable to deliver the necessary service levels that are essential for proper public transport network operation and integration. The interim timetable that QR implemented after to opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula Line to cover driver shortages, in effect, sabotaged years of advocacy by RailBOT and others for an equitable and more affordable fare structure based on eight zones, not 23.  This would have driven patronage up, increasing the fare take.  The trains no longer meet the buses, as intended, and we have the farce of a different timetable on Fridays, separate from the Monday-Thursday timetable.
 
Passengers are deserting the network in droves and taking to their cars.

Priority must be given to a consistent weekday rail timetable, Monday to Friday, while a weekend timetable (same Saturday and Sunday) should be a goal also.  The ETRS signalling should be rolled out faster to allow more trains to operate through the core city station earlier than planned, thereby addressing peak service shortfalls, particularly on the Cleveland Line, and to compensate for the stalling of Cross River Rail, yet again.

The 2017-18 state budget must also include funding for extension of the Springfield Line to Redbank Plains and for a start to be made on the Sunshine Coast Line duplication from Beerburrum to Landsborough North, and a substantial upgrade further north to Nambour.  This is consistent with the government's objectives of creating jobs for Queenslanders while making coastal rail freight operations more efficient.

A clear timetable for introduction of NGR trains should be announced, together with details of the additional new crew that will staff those trains.

There is no place in the current circumstances for political brinkmanship, with one side of politics seeking to lay blame on the other side concerning the problems with QR and the interactions between it a TransLink and the Department of Transport and Main Roads.  That would get us no-where, frankly.  The travelling public will attack at the ballot box politicians and political parties who engage in those tactics.

No, the government response to the Strachan Report should not be retrospective, full of 'blame game' tactics.  There is a real danger that is where things will descend.

What's needed is a clear way forward – realistic and costed.  For the time being, it should not be predicated on assumptions about sums of money coming from other levels of government, other than local government, perhaps (in respect of the Redbank Plains extension, for example).  A cargo cult mentality had clouded Queensland's thinking about public transport network enhancement and augmentation for far too long.

The federal government has pulled its involvements in CRR on the basis that what's planned does not integrate fully with the rest of the SEQ transport network.  That is the problem.  That is why an overarching Public Transport Authority for SEQ is needed, and should be demanded of the state government.

Loyalty to transport unions and sentimentality about QR as an historic entity should not come into this.  If Brisbane is to be a 21st Century city, it must have a new century, new thinking solution to its transport woes.

The government response tomorrow will be a test of leadership for the Premier, Anna Palaszczuk and her transport minister, Stirling Hinchliffe.  Mr Hinchliffe has acknowledged that the QR debacle has escalated to an election issue, and could cost votes.

A visionary way forward is what is required when the government responds to Phillip Strachan's Inquiry.  The report does contain recommendations about governance at QR.  The existing QR structure must be overhauled, and a new Public Transport Authority emerge from the present chaos.

Best wishes,
Robert

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

[ Attached: https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12649.msg187524#msg187524 ]

[ozbob]

Media:
Comment: @QueenslandRail Train Crewing Practices Inquiry
> https://t.co/MtWq9BvdBd#qldpol@AnnastaciaMP @StirlHinchliffe pic.twitter.com/1LqJCTj5J7

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) February 5, 2017

[ozbob]

Just completed a lengthy interview with Steve Austin ABC Radio Brisbane Mornings for later on this morning.

Thanks for the interest Steve and ABC.

[ozbob]

Just completed another interview with Nicole Dyer ABC Gold Coast Radio.

Thanks for the interest Nicole and ABC!

[Stillwater]

Do we know what time the Premier has scheduled her media conference to announce the government's response to the Strachan Inquiry?

[HappyTrainGuy]

I look forward to Queensland Rail fighting off five companies for the job.

And facing a hard budget bottom line.

And not being exempt from fines and penalties.

Bad job? Goodbye!!

Good luck!!

If we get Metro or something similar I will not be looking forward to excessive blowout payments in running PT (suggest you look into that as the cost to run Metro has just skyrocketed. It costs more just to run Metro than it does to run QR and that includes mtce on the NCL up to Cairns), the shotty run arounds (you should know them already), workers being treated like sh%t (constantly trying to take away rights in their award contracts), mtce going down hill, extending the prolonging of safety inspections/practices and many of the other things that they do all in the way of giving bonuses to overseas shareholders.

[ozbob]

Do we know what time the Premier has scheduled her media conference to announce the government's response to the Strachan Inquiry?

Will be after Cabinet probably early afternoon hopefully.

[#Metro]

If we get Metro or something similar I will not be looking forward to excessive blowout payments in running PT (suggest you look into that as the cost to run Metro has just skyrocketed. It costs more just to run Metro than it does to run QR and that includes mtce on the NCL up to Cairns), the shotty run arounds (you should know them already), workers being treated like sh%t (constantly trying to take away rights in their award contracts), mtce going down hill, extending the prolonging of safety inspections/practices and many of the other things that they do all in the way of giving bonuses to overseas shareholders.

Just pay TransPerth to come over. For a fee of course.

After everything Queensland Rail put the people of Queensland through, there should absolutely be NO special treatment or protection from competition whatsoever. NONE!

Want to run the rail network? Great - fight off five companies for the privilege.

Think you will be cheaper and better - great - put it down in writing in the bid documents.

The gravy train of bonuses, non-delivery, secrecy, etc is over. Use The Stick!!

[HappyTrainGuy]

Yep. Metro saw a chance to fight for profits. Having been caught out so many times in late running penalties it now makes it in bonus payments all because of "late running" definition changes and station skipping. The public pays for it. Costs have gone up. Minimal change in services. The public is being taken for a ride and all because the Government said it was privitising the railways to make it cheaper to run. Bahhahahahaha. Just put the blinkers on and don't let that get in the way of your Metro hard on.