Planned closures - discussion

[SurfRail]

In other words one extra service?

Better than nothing...

[ozbob]

24th September 2015

Media Release
Deputy Premier, Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning and Minister for Trade
The Honourable Jackie Trad

Extra buses to ensure Ipswich Jets fans can travel via public transport to Intrust Super Cup

Ipswich Jets fans heading to Sunday's Intrust Super Cup grand final at Suncorp Stadium will be able to travel to the game for free with their game day ticket, with dedicated shuttle buses and trains provided for the event.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad instructed Translink to provide shuttle buses and additional trains after she was contacted by local members Jim Madden and Jennifer Howard concerned the scheduled track works from Rosewood to Redbank stations would leave sports fans stranded.

To ensure football fans can get to the game via public transport, the Palaszczuk Government has asked Translink to provide transport from the Ipswich Jets Rugby League Football Club where high frequency shuttle buses will transport fans from outside the club between 1pm and 2.30pm to Redbank train station.

Ms Trad said trains will operate from 1:50pm to 2:50pm at least every 20 minutes from Redbank station, to ensure people arrive at Suncorp Stadium with plenty of time before kick-off.

"Football fans will be able to catch a bus from the Ipswich Jets Rugby League Club and these high frequency shuttle buses will take them to Redbank station so they can travel by train to the Stadium," Ms Trad said.

"Supporters will need to show their valid game day ticket to travel free on the dedicated trains and shuttle buses.

Member for Ipswich West Jim Madden welcomed the announcement that Translink would ensure there were high frequency buses to get fans to Redbank station.

"I would like to thank the Deputy Premier for listening to our community and ensuring that the track closure won't impact on this fantastic event," Mr Madden said.

"We encourage everyone to make the most of the free public transport offer and get behind Jets as they look to claim their first grand final win against the Townsville Blackhawks."

Member for Ipswich Jennifer Howard said she was pleased special event services had been provided for the grand final.

"After the game extra train services will be operating from Milton Station between 6pm and 7pm to get people back to Redbank station," Ms Howard said.

"Shuttle buses will also be working in conjunction with trains at Redbank station, ferrying supporters back to the Jets Rugby League Football Club to hopefully celebrate a big win for the Jets."

Deputy Premier Trad said rail customers should also be aware that track closures will be in place between Redbank and Rosewood stations from the first service until 5pm on Sunday 27 September.

"Rail replacement buses will operate in both directions between Redbank and Rosewood, but people should plan their journey ahead of time and allow approximately 60 minutes extra travel time," Ms Trad said.

"This work is critical to operations and will allow Queensland Rail to conduct important overhead power and track maintenance works throughout the corridor.

"It will also allow for vital works associated with construction of the New Generation Rollingstock depot at Wulkuraka with the lifting of the new footbridge at Wulkuraka station."

[ozbob]

http://translink.com.au/travel-information/service-notices/61181/details

Wulkuraka station reopening

Last updated: 2.54pm Tuesday 13 October 2015

From the first train on Monday 19 October, Wulkuraka station will reopen as normal.

Wulkuraka is on the Rosewood line, between Thomas and Karrabin stations.

Cross-corridor access

The pedestrian crossing was permanently closed on 3 October.

A cross corridor shuttle bus will run between the Dixon Street and Grace Street platforms until the pedestrian bridge is opened on 6 November.

Please allow an additional 5 minutes travel time.

Lifts will be operational from 18 December following testing.

Need assistance

If you need assistance, call 13 16 17 or send a text message (SMS) 0428 774 636 up to 24 hours ahead of your planned travel.

[ozbob]

http://translink.com.au/travel-information/service-notices/62511/details

Changes to North Boondall station car park

Last updated: 1.02pm Friday 23 October 2015

From Friday 6 November for approximately six weeks (weather permitting), a worksite will be set up in the North Boondall station car park as part of the Gateway Upgrade North project.

This will require the temporary closure of approximately 35 parking bays.

A new permanent car park of 28 parking bays is being built on Peacock Street.

To find out more about the project visit the Gateway Upgrade North project page.

[BrizCommuter]

http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/qr-christmas-party-poopers-again.html
QR Christmas Party Poopers (Again).

[#Metro]

Brizcommuter, your posts are often quite good but I cannot agree with you on this most recent one. It sounds like a cop out.
If you can show how comparable places do their maintenance, that would be enlightening.

[red dragin]

Brizcommuter, your posts are often quite good but I cannot agree with you on this most recent one. It sounds like a cop out.
If you can show how comparable places do their maintenance, that would be enlightening.

I have to agree with LD Transit, the 11th/12th & the 19th are 'party days' but the rest really aren't.

The network gets quieter this time of year, and it is a good time to do the little jobs.

[BrizCommuter]

Brizcommuter, your posts are often quite good but I cannot agree with you on this most recent one. It sounds like a cop out.
If you can show how comparable places do their maintenance, that would be enlightening.

Do I need to prove it? Go and look at Transport for London's website yourself.
As usual, Queensland is ridiculously backwards.

[#Metro]

Do I need to prove it? Go and look at Transport for London's website yourself.
As usual, Queensland is ridiculously backwards.

A poor response. Comparing different practice in different jurisdictions would establish your case much more strongly against QR.
Perhaps there are factors in QLD that favour this practice over international places. What is QR's justification for its current practice?

[HappyTrainGuy]

In the case of the Albion-Caboolture closures they are in preparation/lead up for a larger 8 day closure at the end of the month and where they won't have as many problems when it comes to people working, tradies, students going to/from school/tafe/uni etc, big events at Suncorp or Boondall/South Brisbane, freight train schedules and total passenger numbers. Smash out the inner line stuff first then move along to the outer lines. It might suck but hey its the lul in the year to get all the major works done. This is brisbane where we have a population of 3.4 million spreadout from Gympie to the NSW border and as far out as to Toowoomba where many p%ss off with the kids for holidays or catch up with families. If we had a bigger population where everything is close together such as in London it might make a bit more sense but in this case its simply harden up.

And while a few people might struggle to get home after getting sh%t faced there's no mention of the staff that will be working day and night during the same period. While your digging into your christmas lunch a bunch of guys and gals will be out in the heat, head to toe in protective gear working not being able to catch up with family and friends or go on holidays with the kids so people might have the option of catching a train to get to and from work during the year. The same goes for the station staff, the train drivers, the guys working in control to keep the trains moving, the guys and gals at Mayne (december is the busy season to get things done due to the amount of rollinstock in the yard for a longer time - no peak hour runs), bus drivers having to deal with people's drunken sh%t, radio dispatchers etc etc. How about a word about them rather than complaining about how some shitfaced workers can't catch a train. Without any of them no one would be going anywhere on PT at this time of year. Then you'd be up sh%t creek without a paddle.

[red dragin]

^ 

[petey3801]

In the case of the Albion-Caboolture closures they are in preparation/lead up for a larger 8 day closure at the end of the month and where they won't have as many problems when it comes to people working, tradies, students going to/from school/tafe/uni etc, big events at Suncorp or Boondall/South Brisbane, freight train schedules and total passenger numbers. Smash out the inner line stuff first then move along to the outer lines. It might suck but hey its the lul in the year to get all the major works done. This is brisbane where we have a population of 3.4 million spreadout from Gympie to the NSW border and as far out as to Toowoomba where many p%ss off with the kids for holidays or catch up with families. If we had a bigger population where everything is close together such as in London it might make a bit more sense but in this case its simply harden up.

And while a few people might struggle to get home after getting sh%t faced there's no mention of the staff that will be working day and night during the same period. While your digging into your christmas lunch a bunch of guys and gals will be out in the heat, head to toe in protective gear working not being able to catch up with family and friends or go on holidays with the kids so people might have the option of catching a train to get to and from work during the year. The same goes for the station staff, the train drivers, the guys working in control to keep the trains moving, the guys and gals at Mayne (december is the busy season to get things done due to the amount of rollinstock in the yard for a longer time - no peak hour runs), bus drivers having to deal with people's drunken sh%t, radio dispatchers etc etc. How about a word about them rather than complaining about how some shitfaced workers can't catch a train. Without any of them no one would be going anywhere on PT at this time of year. Then you'd be up sh%t creek without a paddle.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

It's not like QR are si9mply leaving people stranded, there are railbuses running! People will still be able to get home! And at least here, we have a rail service running on Christmas day, unlike London, where the Tube closes down completely on Christmas day!

[Stillwater]

We should draw a distinction between QR staff and the resources/funding they are given to do their job.

[James]

The only track closure I'd identify as being genuinely inconvenient is the Park Road to Varsity Lakes closure from the 11th to the 13th, and mainly due to the volume of people going to/from the coast on the weekend after school finishes. A lot of those closures are just night closures. Given that the shops are closed by 9pm at the suburban hubs and often by 6pm in the CBD, I hardly see it as inconvenient.

The drink driving incidents are more likely being caused by PT black holes in the suburbs. At least during rail closures, rail is still an option (using the railbus). It isn't an option if there are no PT services in your suburb at all!

[STB]

In the case of the Albion-Caboolture closures they are in preparation/lead up for a larger 8 day closure at the end of the month and where they won't have as many problems when it comes to people working, tradies, students going to/from school/tafe/uni etc, big events at Suncorp or Boondall/South Brisbane, freight train schedules and total passenger numbers. Smash out the inner line stuff first then move along to the outer lines. It might suck but hey its the lul in the year to get all the major works done. This is brisbane where we have a population of 3.4 million spreadout from Gympie to the NSW border and as far out as to Toowoomba where many p%ss off with the kids for holidays or catch up with families. If we had a bigger population where everything is close together such as in London it might make a bit more sense but in this case its simply harden up.

And while a few people might struggle to get home after getting sh%t faced there's no mention of the staff that will be working day and night during the same period. While your digging into your christmas lunch a bunch of guys and gals will be out in the heat, head to toe in protective gear working not being able to catch up with family and friends or go on holidays with the kids so people might have the option of catching a train to get to and from work during the year. The same goes for the station staff, the train drivers, the guys working in control to keep the trains moving, the guys and gals at Mayne (december is the busy season to get things done due to the amount of rollinstock in the yard for a longer time - no peak hour runs), bus drivers having to deal with people's drunken sh%t, radio dispatchers etc etc. How about a word about them rather than complaining about how some shitfaced workers can't catch a train. Without any of them no one would be going anywhere on PT at this time of year. Then you'd be up sh%t creek without a paddle.

Extremely well said! 

People are inherently selfish when it comes to these things, not realizing the realities, in some cases not giving a damn about the workers working over the holidays just so the rail network can operate when it really needs to operate.

Boo to BrizCommuter and all those other passengers who think the same way!  It just screamed of selfishness and arrogance.  There will be railbuses running, workers working over their holidays to keep you moving while other workers work over the holidays to keep the network running and most importantly work on getting the Kippa Ring line up and running.

[SurfRail]

TfL releases show that entire parts of the rail network (eg the entirety of the Tube or the Overground) are out of service on different days over the break.  That will be fun for me to deal with.

I would hazard that is rather more significant an issue for London than our trackwork is for us, given that the Central line alone carries around 5 times the entire annual patronage of the SEQ network.

[ozbob]

Constant track closures are a frustration for many, and we have had more than our fair share on the Ippy.  However they are necessary for maintenance of the ROW.  What concerns me however is the constant 'track faults', 'point failures', 'signal failures' ...  they are essentially telemetry failures.  Centralised network control is very dependent on many thousands of circuits detectors and so forth on the present setup.  The system is prone to failures of telemetry and detection. Not much chance of this being resolved  either, until new signaling systems are rolled out that are fit for purpose.

Queensland Rail are more flexible in the maintenance approach these days.  Yesterday during the day the subs were closed Indooroopilly - Milton.  Trackwork was being done between Toowong and Auchenflower I noted when heading into town.  Also track walkers can be observed regularly.

[BrizCommuter]

In the case of the Albion-Caboolture closures they are in preparation/lead up for a larger 8 day closure at the end of the month and where they won't have as many problems when it comes to people working, tradies, students going to/from school/tafe/uni etc, big events at Suncorp or Boondall/South Brisbane, freight train schedules and total passenger numbers. Smash out the inner line stuff first then move along to the outer lines. It might suck but hey its the lul in the year to get all the major works done. This is brisbane where we have a population of 3.4 million spreadout from Gympie to the NSW border and as far out as to Toowoomba where many p%ss off with the kids for holidays or catch up with families. If we had a bigger population where everything is close together such as in London it might make a bit more sense but in this case its simply harden up.

And while a few people might struggle to get home after getting sh%t faced there's no mention of the staff that will be working day and night during the same period. While your digging into your christmas lunch a bunch of guys and gals will be out in the heat, head to toe in protective gear working not being able to catch up with family and friends or go on holidays with the kids so people might have the option of catching a train to get to and from work during the year. The same goes for the station staff, the train drivers, the guys working in control to keep the trains moving, the guys and gals at Mayne (december is the busy season to get things done due to the amount of rollinstock in the yard for a longer time - no peak hour runs), bus drivers having to deal with people's drunken sh%t, radio dispatchers etc etc. How about a word about them rather than complaining about how some shitfaced workers can't catch a train. Without any of them no one would be going anywhere on PT at this time of year. Then you'd be up sh%t creek without a paddle.

Extremely well said! 

People are inherently selfish when it comes to these things, not realizing the realities, in some cases not giving a damn about the workers working over the holidays just so the rail network can operate when it really needs to operate.

Boo to BrizCommuter and all those other passengers who think the same way!  It just screamed of selfishness and arrogance.  There will be railbuses running, workers working over their holidays to keep you moving while other workers work over the holidays to keep the network running and most importantly work on getting the Kippa Ring line up and running.

Err, BrizCommuter is a shift worker, who saves peoples lives, is working Xmas day, and doesn't drink alcohol. So you are all venting at the wrong person.

London purposefully avoids track work during the Xmas party season (though not between Xmas and New Year when London is deserted), as it provides a "public service" to get people home. Yes, a "public service" something that seems to be forgotten about in SEQ. Attitudes in this thread show how backwards Queensland is.

[techblitz]

luckily the majority of people not passing thru roma st/central get free trips with trackwork and railbuses...so theres a little compensation for the hassles...but as stillwater says......the overall costs of all this trackwork must also be taken into account.....

[SurfRail]

In the case of the Albion-Caboolture closures they are in preparation/lead up for a larger 8 day closure at the end of the month and where they won't have as many problems when it comes to people working, tradies, students going to/from school/tafe/uni etc, big events at Suncorp or Boondall/South Brisbane, freight train schedules and total passenger numbers. Smash out the inner line stuff first then move along to the outer lines. It might suck but hey its the lul in the year to get all the major works done. This is brisbane where we have a population of 3.4 million spreadout from Gympie to the NSW border and as far out as to Toowoomba where many p%ss off with the kids for holidays or catch up with families. If we had a bigger population where everything is close together such as in London it might make a bit more sense but in this case its simply harden up.

And while a few people might struggle to get home after getting sh%t faced there's no mention of the staff that will be working day and night during the same period. While your digging into your christmas lunch a bunch of guys and gals will be out in the heat, head to toe in protective gear working not being able to catch up with family and friends or go on holidays with the kids so people might have the option of catching a train to get to and from work during the year. The same goes for the station staff, the train drivers, the guys working in control to keep the trains moving, the guys and gals at Mayne (december is the busy season to get things done due to the amount of rollinstock in the yard for a longer time - no peak hour runs), bus drivers having to deal with people's drunken sh%t, radio dispatchers etc etc. How about a word about them rather than complaining about how some shitfaced workers can't catch a train. Without any of them no one would be going anywhere on PT at this time of year. Then you'd be up sh%t creek without a paddle.

Extremely well said! 

People are inherently selfish when it comes to these things, not realizing the realities, in some cases not giving a damn about the workers working over the holidays just so the rail network can operate when it really needs to operate.

Boo to BrizCommuter and all those other passengers who think the same way!  It just screamed of selfishness and arrogance.  There will be railbuses running, workers working over their holidays to keep you moving while other workers work over the holidays to keep the network running and most importantly work on getting the Kippa Ring line up and running.

Err, BrizCommuter is a shift worker, who saves peoples lives, is working Xmas day, and doesn't drink alcohol. So you are all venting at the wrong person.

London purposefully avoids track work during the Xmas party season (though not between Xmas and New Year when London is deserted), as it provides a "public service" to get people home. Yes, a "public service" something that seems to be forgotten about in SEQ. Attitudes in this thread show how backwards Queensland is.

Solution then?  Not much point participating in a lobby group to have a sook, the press already affords everybody that opportunity.

[BrizCommuter]

In the case of the Albion-Caboolture closures they are in preparation/lead up for a larger 8 day closure at the end of the month and where they won't have as many problems when it comes to people working, tradies, students going to/from school/tafe/uni etc, big events at Suncorp or Boondall/South Brisbane, freight train schedules and total passenger numbers. Smash out the inner line stuff first then move along to the outer lines. It might suck but hey its the lul in the year to get all the major works done. This is brisbane where we have a population of 3.4 million spreadout from Gympie to the NSW border and as far out as to Toowoomba where many p%ss off with the kids for holidays or catch up with families. If we had a bigger population where everything is close together such as in London it might make a bit more sense but in this case its simply harden up.

And while a few people might struggle to get home after getting sh%t faced there's no mention of the staff that will be working day and night during the same period. While your digging into your christmas lunch a bunch of guys and gals will be out in the heat, head to toe in protective gear working not being able to catch up with family and friends or go on holidays with the kids so people might have the option of catching a train to get to and from work during the year. The same goes for the station staff, the train drivers, the guys working in control to keep the trains moving, the guys and gals at Mayne (december is the busy season to get things done due to the amount of rollinstock in the yard for a longer time - no peak hour runs), bus drivers having to deal with people's drunken sh%t, radio dispatchers etc etc. How about a word about them rather than complaining about how some shitfaced workers can't catch a train. Without any of them no one would be going anywhere on PT at this time of year. Then you'd be up sh%t creek without a paddle.

Extremely well said! 

People are inherently selfish when it comes to these things, not realizing the realities, in some cases not giving a damn about the workers working over the holidays just so the rail network can operate when it really needs to operate.

Boo to BrizCommuter and all those other passengers who think the same way!  It just screamed of selfishness and arrogance.  There will be railbuses running, workers working over their holidays to keep you moving while other workers work over the holidays to keep the network running and most importantly work on getting the Kippa Ring line up and running.

Err, BrizCommuter is a shift worker, who saves peoples lives, is working Xmas day, and doesn't drink alcohol. So you are all venting at the wrong person.

London purposefully avoids track work during the Xmas party season (though not between Xmas and New Year when London is deserted), as it provides a "public service" to get people home. Yes, a "public service" something that seems to be forgotten about in SEQ. Attitudes in this thread show how backwards Queensland is.

Solution then?  Not much point participating in a lobby group to have a sook, the press already affords everybody that opportunity.

Solution was in the original post - don't have track closures during the Xmas party season.

[#Metro]

Solution was in the original post - don't have track closures during the Xmas party season.

You can be drunk and catch a bus.

[petey3801]

Solution was in the original post - don't have track closures during the Xmas party season.

You can be drunk and catch a bus.

This pretty much sums it up!

Why should track maintenance stop because some drunks want to get home? Does that mean there should be no track maintenance closures done on weekends because there will be drunks coming home from partying on Friday and Saturday nights?
There will be buses running. If catching a rail bus is the worst thing that happens, then it is a good day!
Briz, you do have some very good blog posts, but this isn't one of them. Delaying trackwork because there will be a few people going home late from work due to a christmas party? Uh, nope. I do agree with your posts blasting QR/TL for trackwork when major events are on (sports, concerts, cultural events etc) on that line, where there will be thousands or tens of thousands of people traveling, but to cancel trackwork because of a couple extra people per night traveling because of a Christmas party? Come off it! As said above, it's not like there is abaolutely no other transport provided! Railbuses are running!
Also, this isn't London. It's just nowhere near as busy here as it is in London. As Surfrail said, the entire Citytrain network daily patronage makes up around one single Tube line daily patronage, hence why they try to keep things open in December. They also have a lot more weekend closures in London than we do too.

[dancingmongoose]

And thank goodness the track closure on the 19th doesn't start til quite late, with both a cricket game at the Gabba and ADTR at Riverstage there's gonna be a lot of people leaving the city at night.

[James]

I think it is worth pointing out that without the Tube, the entirety of London would grind to a halt. Meanwhile, in Brisbane, you could probably shut down the entire QR suburban network (i.e. all but SC/GC lines) after 7pm/on weekends and bustitute them and congestion would only slightly increase.

The tube is an integral part of London. The QR suburban network is an overgrown welfare service.

You can be drunk and catch a bus.

I do it all the time!

[ozbob]

Presently inbound EMU87 ex Goodna. Guard has just gone through in detail the upcoming closure over Christmas Northgate - Caboolture 24 to 31 Dec 2015. good proactive comms.

[achiruel]

Does the closure on the Caboolture line really need to extend from Caboolture to Northgate? I would've thought Carseldine or Bald Hills to Narangba would be sufficient for the works that are being performed. Is there some reason trains can't be terminated at these stations?

[ozbob]

Only guessing, but I expect it is do with de-engergising the sytem, and associated signalling and communication works/changes and the re-establishment of the signalling system.

From memory, when the Darra slew was done, the line was dead from Corinda out to Ipswich.

[petey3801]

They're also installing points between Northgate and Virginia from the Down Main to the Middle Road.

Also, no real point running trains between Narangba and Caboolture, even if it is possible re: overhead, might as well just keep the buses running the extra couple stations. Might also be regular trackwork occuring closer to Caboolture.

[ozbob]

http://translink.com.au/travel-information/service-notices/62176/details

Northgate to Caboolture track closure

Last updated: 4.28pm Wednesday 23 December 2015

From first service on Thursday 24 December until 10am on Thursday 31 December, tracks will be closed between Northgate and Caboolture stations.

Please plan your journey in advance and allow for extra travel time (approximately 60 minutes) due to track works.

Train services will return to normal from 10am, Thursday 31 December.

First unaffected services

Departure station    Departure time    Stops    Arrival station    Arrival time

Caboolture    9.22am    All Stations    Central    10.26am
Central    9.37am    All Stations    Caboolture    10.40am
Nambour    10.43am    As scheduled    Roma Street    12.37pm
Roma Street    10am    As scheduled    Nambour    11.52am
Gympie North    1.20pm    As scheduled    Roma Street    4.21pm
Roma Street    5.47pm    As scheduled    Gympie North    8.48pm

[HappyTrainGuy]

Does the closure on the Caboolture line really need to extend from Caboolture to Northgate? I would've thought Carseldine or Bald Hills to Narangba would be sufficient for the works that are being performed. Is there some reason trains can't be terminated at these stations?

You'd have a hard time of running trains Bald Hills-Strathpine considering all the tracks were cut, ripped up and removed not forgetting that the bridges were also removed. The new bridge at Petrie was getting some crucial work done on the overheads. Virginia had the tracks removed for new points/ballast. IIRC there were small works being done around Dakabin and general mtce up to Morayfield. If you drove anywhere on the northside near a train line it was hard to miss an L&D Earthmoving truck as they had one of the contracts for the works.

[techblitz]

very impressed with the sunny coast railbuses yesterday...albeit rather different running patterns. Feeder buses 615/605 waited patiently for the RB's between cab/lb. Very good communication between QR,sunbus/kangaroo......kangaroo even went out of their way to pickup a last minute passenger at caboolture BP 

northbound 8am Bus ran express northgate direct to landsborough...arriving only about 3 minutes later than the train would...

southbound 3pmish express landsborough - caboolture - fortitude valley. Travel time 1hr 20mins..once again outdoing the train by 5 mins. 

some confusion from passengers about the express running to FV and having to backtrack north...
Overall though if you were a city - SC commuter........a very comfortable,quiet & quick trip 

[STB]

Quick question...

Has there been any movement in getting proper timetables for the rail replacement buses and ticketing equipment placed on board the buses?

Still getting the run around with the TransLink Call Centre (and related Social Media pages) not being able to give any information on timetables for the buses (other than a vague 'they will depart as close to the timetable as possible' - yeah, I'd love to see a bus go from Wellington Point to Birkdale in 3mins!) and getting the express buses back that QR used to organise before TL took over several years ago and replaced the expresses with all stoppers (going all stations from Roma Street to Birkdale by bus - fun fun fun! ).

[SurfRail]

As far as I'm concerned, railbuses should be guaranteed to be free given the interference with normal journeys.

They should at very least not ever have the hide to charge for journeys provided by step-entry buses.  There are so many low-entry buses sitting around in depots on weekends it isn't funny, yet we have to put up with 70-seat school buses (2 + 3 seating) with a single front door so narrow some people can't even get through without walking sideways.

[achiruel]

I guess QR/TL just go for whatever is the cheapest option?

[STB]

As far as I'm concerned, railbuses should be guaranteed to be free given the interference with normal journeys.

They should at very least not ever have the hide to charge for journeys provided by step-entry buses.  There are so many low-entry buses sitting around in depots on weekends it isn't funny, yet we have to put up with 70-seat school buses (2 + 3 seating) with a single front door so narrow some people can't even get through without walking sideways.

Reminds me, you should've seen the amount of ticket inspectors and SNOs at Park Road last night after I got off the rail replacement bus checking tickets and fining away! (which was a coach - stuff anyone who is in a wheelchair).

[ozbob]

Park Road to Varsity Lakes track closure this weekend https://t.co/XR4thhb73p#qldpol
Yes, it is the weekend before Christmas .. pic.twitter.com/Iz24NgWWOa

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) December 15, 2016

[ozbob]

Merry Christmas Sunny Coast ..

===================

https://translink.com.au/service-updates/105911

Petrie to Gympie North track closure

From 2am on Saturday 24 December until the last service on Tuesday 27 December, tracks will be closed between Petrie and Gympie North stations.

Please plan your journey in advance and allow for extra travel time (approximately 60 minutes) due to track works.

Train services will be affected from approximately 1.30am on Saturday 24 December and will return to normal from the first service Wednesday 28 December.

[techblitz]

Please plan your free travel in advance and allow for extra money in your bank account (approximately 6 -12 dollars) due to track works.

sorry couldn't resist 

[Stillwater]

Twas the night before Christmas when all along the line,
Not a train was rumbling, not now and for some time
Station seats were empty, no-one was there
On the buses they travelled, cursing QR's lack of care.

Maintenance crews on the track did swarm
"We'll all be ruined" the rail advocates warned
While the queues did shuffle, their voices muffled,
their anger ruffled; distant thoughts of 'clickety-clack' snuffled.

Overhead they did look, glimpses of Santa they took
As he went on his way, delivering toys and joy.
Downward he gazed, with thoughts of good cheer.
An idea he did have, saying "Come with me here."
On his sleigh they did pile, their faces a-smile.

Now Dasher! now Dancer, now Prancer and Vixen!
On Comet, on Cupid, On Donner and Blitzen!
The throng took to the air, with a devil may care;
Snuggled amid presents, no more discontent.
"Onwards to Gympie" they did cry as Santa's carriage took to the sky.

Homeward bound without a care, they rode
thankful in prayer
for the night that Santa became train driver and his reindeer strove higher.

Into the night sky.