Planned closures - discussion

[bretto82]

Not talking actual doing the job itself more the shutdown itself as they need 3 pos per day in charge just for 1 so that's 6 per day plus the other pos required per site and the labor hire crews struggle to supply them I have some info but from one of the vendor crews

[brissypete]

I did see it on the trackwork calendar, it says Albion to Park Rd and Darra so if it happens it will be big. Maybe they could publish bus replacement timetables as was done for GC2018

Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

[SurfRail]

Last night was fun - one of the rare times I need to catch the last Gold Coast train, and despite all Beenleigh and Cleveland trains still running from Roma Street not a single Gold Coast train to be found.  Somebody at TransLink then tried to convince me the last Beenleigh train left Roma Street at around 10:30 (being 30 minutes before the service I boarded and was still on while debating with them).

Were Gold Coast trains only running from Park Road or something?  There was an NGR stationary on P3 or P4 with the running lights marked as if it had just pulled in, and northbound trains were still running showing Bowen Hills.

[bretto82]

Gold Coast and BEENLEIGH trains terminated at south bris from memory just woke up so still a bit cloudy having my first coffee

[SurfRail]

PIDS at Roma Street were showing what appeared to be the normal last few Beenleigh and Cleveland trains, just no Gold Coast.  No explanation whatsoever.  The gate staff at Roma St didn't seem overly concerned when I said I was headed south of Beenleigh, just "not running from here".

[bretto82]

Gold Coast trains terminated at south bris and went right to the yard the last one I think leaves MAYNE around 11 or so left from MAYNE and started at south bris as per the timetable

[PoliticalFootball]

I did see it on the trackwork calendar, it says Albion to Park Rd and Darra so if it happens it will be big. Maybe they could publish bus replacement timetables as was done for GC2018

Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

Yeah mate. Going to be a huge closure by the sounds.

[PoliticalFootball]

PIDS at Roma Street were showing what appeared to be the normal last few Beenleigh and Cleveland trains, just no Gold Coast.  No explanation whatsoever.  The gate staff at Roma St didn't seem overly concerned when I said I was headed south of Beenleigh, just "not running from here".

Announcement sheet says closure from Albion/Bowen Hills to Park Road and Milton on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

[achiruel]

Here's a big one for you.

Have been told over Christmas week 22nd-29th Dec they are planning to replace the Breaky Creek bridge. Assume this is for CRR? This will mean no trains north of Bowen Hills (except Ferny Grove).

Couldn't they run shuttle buses between Roma St and Albion (I'm assuming the OHLE will be turned off between these two stations) and have them connect with northbound trains there?

[Cazza]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't it be hard to turn trains around at Albion quickly with only 4 tracks? Even with the off-peak/weekend timetable, there are still 5 services down and 5 services up every 30 mins (only 4 each if you take out the Doomben Line).

Isn't this why when there is a major closure through the CBD, some lines terminate at Albion and some at Bowen Hills (to spread the platform space available)?

[HappyTrainGuy]

Turn backs at Albion are quite quick. There's a set of crossovers right there. Mostly to do with rostering and overhead powerisolation.

[PoliticalFootball]

Here's a big one for you.

Have been told over Christmas week 22nd-29th Dec they are planning to replace the Breaky Creek bridge. Assume this is for CRR? This will mean no trains north of Bowen Hills (except Ferny Grove).

Couldn't they run shuttle buses between Roma St and Albion (I'm assuming the OHLE will be turned off between these two stations) and have them connect with northbound trains there?

Probably. Would think Wooloowin or EJ more likely though. Albion only has one bi-directional platform.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1040338956192083968

[ozbob]

I had an interview earlier this afternoon (before the NGR Inquiry storm hit) on rail replacement bus issues, plus a little on the NGR ' power issue ' on the 7 July 2018.

I think I made a good case for rail replacement bus timetables and general improvements.

Interview with Steve Austin ABC Brisbane Drive --> https://backontrack.org/docs/abcbris/abcbrisbane23jul18.mp3 18.2MB

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1021333719162937345

Stand by...

Expect some good news soon..

[ozbob]

http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2018/9/21/improved-customer-information-during-trackwork

Media Release
Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Mark Bailey

Improved customer information during trackwork

TransLink and Queensland Rail will trial timetabled rail replacement bus services and better customer information during two Ferny Grove train line closures next month.

The trial, which will take place during Ferny Grove line maintenance in early October, will include a new trial bus route R395 with set timetables published at rail replacement stops and online via the TransLink Journey Planner for the first time.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey said TransLink and Queensland Rail had listened to feedback from customers wanting replacement bus timetables to be published to enable customers to better plan their journey during track closures.

"Maintenance closures are a routine and important part of running a safe and reliable rail network," Mr Bailey said.

"Buses run when rail lines are closed and this trial is about doing that better and smarter with enhanced customer information."

"This trial is designed to test and improve journey times and customer information during track closures."

Customers currently have to allow up to 60 minutes extra travel time depending on the nature of the closure.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said that through this trial, customers will have access to more accurate travel times on rail replacement bus services, with anticipated additional travel time no greater than 20 minutes for most customers in comparison to rail.

"We hope this trial will prove beneficial for customers offering a more efficient experience," Mr Bailey said.

The upcoming Ferny Grove closure will be the first trial of a range of potential improvements to test what could be rolled out to other train lines in the future, when Queensland Rail closes lines for trackwork and maintenance.

The trial will take place the nights of Tuesday, 2 October and Wednesday, 3 October and also across the weekend of October 5-7.

The Ferny Grove track closure trial will offer these improvements for customers:

    replacement buses running on a trial route: R395
    scheduled services with a published timetable including stopping patterns
    full timetable in Journey Planner via the TransLink website and MyTransLink app
    services every 20 minutes for most of the day, every 30mins in early mornings and late evenings
    improved signage at stations and stops
    informed staff at key stations to help customers

The R395 bus will run along the Ferny Grove line and link to Fortitude Valley and Central stations, stopping at bus stops close to the train station.

To ensure a fast and efficient trip for customers travelling to the city, the R395 will not stop at Bowen Hills train station but will service RBWH bus station. Customers travelling to Bowen Hills can travel to Fortitude Valley and catch a northbound train to Bowen Hills.

For more details on the Ferny Grove trial, visit here.

-ENDS-


Background

Works will include ballast replacement at Newmarket station and between Keperra and Ferny Grove stations; embankment and retaining wall repairs at Newmarket and Gaythorne stations; as well as maintenance of stations, rails and overhead lines from Bowen Hills station to Ferny Grove station.

The planned works are part of Queensland Rail's $211 million asset maintenance program for 2018-19 for the South East Queensland network.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1043021299776286720

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

21st September 2018

Improved customer information during trackwork

Greetings,

Some wonderful news.  Improvements to rail replacement bus during track closures!

Background  on why this is very welcome see https://www.facebook.com/RAILBackOnTrack/posts/2098361713511338

Thanks to Minister Bailey, TransLink and Queensland rail for this improved approach to rail replacement bus services during track closures.  Particularly welcome is that now there will be rail replacement bus timetables including stopping patterns published.

See Government Statement below.

Best wishes,

Robert

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

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

http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2018/9/21/improved-customer-information-during-trackwork

Media Statements
Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Mark Bailey
Friday, September 21, 2018
Improved customer information during trackwork

TransLink and Queensland Rail will trial timetabled rail replacement bus services and better customer information during two Ferny Grove train line closures next month.

The trial, which will take place during Ferny Grove line maintenance in early October, will include a new trial bus route R395 with set timetables published at rail replacement stops and online via the TransLink Journey Planner for the first time.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey said TransLink and Queensland Rail had listened to feedback from customers wanting replacement bus timetables to be published to enable customers to better plan their journey during track closures.

"Maintenance closures are a routine and important part of running a safe and reliable rail network," Mr Bailey said.

"Buses run when rail lines are closed and this trial is about doing that better and smarter with enhanced customer information."

"This trial is designed to test and improve journey times and customer information during track closures."

Customers currently have to allow up to 60 minutes extra travel time depending on the nature of the closure.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said that through this trial, customers will have access to more accurate travel times on rail replacement bus services, with anticipated additional travel time no greater than 20 minutes for most customers in comparison to rail.

"We hope this trial will prove beneficial for customers offering a more efficient experience," Mr Bailey said.

The upcoming Ferny Grove closure will be the first trial of a range of potential improvements to test what could be rolled out to other train lines in the future, when Queensland Rail closes lines for trackwork and maintenance.

The trial will take place the nights of Tuesday, 2 October and Wednesday, 3 October and also across the weekend of October 5-7.

The Ferny Grove track closure trial will offer these improvements for customers:

    *replacement buses running on a trial route: R395
    *scheduled services with a published timetable including stopping patterns
    *full timetable in Journey Planner via the TransLink website and MyTransLink app
    *services every 20 minutes for most of the day, every 30mins in early mornings and late evenings
    *improved signage at stations and stops
    *informed staff at key stations to help customers

The R395 bus will run along the Ferny Grove line and link to Fortitude Valley and Central stations, stopping at bus stops close to the train station.

To ensure a fast and efficient trip for customers travelling to the city, the R395 will not stop at Bowen Hills train station but will service RBWH bus station. Customers travelling to Bowen Hills can travel to Fortitude Valley and catch a northbound train to Bowen Hills.

For more details on the Ferny Grove trial, visit here (external site).

-ENDS-

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1043027113056456704

[Cazza]

Well done Rob! Great outcome for all transport users, making using PT during track closures less of a guessing game and hassle.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1043028132666650625

[ozbob]

Well done Rob! Great outcome for all transport users, making using PT during track closures less of a guessing game and hassle.

[ozbob]

Improved customer information during trackwork
> https://t.co/UkhBJ058Zq#qldpol pic.twitter.com/zHTGDqxCzA

— Robert Dow (@Robert_Dow) September 21, 2018

[red dragin]

 

[brissypete]

Excellent news, let's hope it all works well and any issues are identified to make future trackwork as smooth and trouble free as possible.

Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

[#Metro]

An excellent outcome.

Replacement buses should have:

- A designated stop
- A designated route number (preferably one outside the normal range, e.g. 900 series)
- Be FREE OF CHARGE
- When one leaves, the other arrives
- Actually use decent buses, if possible BCC's buses.

[tazzer9]

Buses must also be more frequent than the trains they are replacing.  Which means on most lines for a weekend closure, there must be a bus running at least every 15 minutes.  Ideally having a 2 tiered service.  Eg express to city and all stops for closures like corinda- city.  Eg major stops only and all stops, like the ferny grove line. 

[James]

At last!

Even if the frequency isn't exactly what we want, that there is a timetable for rail replacement buses is simply amazing. If they could have the real-time system activated as well, I might start using railbuses. I have generally seen them as a last resort due to the lack of timetables and slowness compared to rail in the past.

[ozbob]

Yes good that something finally happening. Been the standard in other states for some time now, nevertheless grateful for this first step.

I was briefed by a TransLink staff member on this.  This first trial is to get out the kinks and the intention is to do for all track closures, they acknowledge that the lack of detail re track closures has not been the best.

I raised our concerns with the grey area with the go card, and pointed out that if you are moving some of the rail replacement stops to route bus stops it becomes even more difficult and confusing.  The present policy is touch on at  station if you can, but don't worry if you cannot in effect.  I suggested that it needs to be made explicitly free until such time people can use readers on the buses.

Also discussed was some of the PWD issues. The longer term aim is for readers on buses and buses to be low floor.  That is not going to be achieved for a while so I stressed information (contact numbers, procedures) for PWD needs to be clearly indicated.

Otherwise this is a very welcome step on the path of progress hey?

[ozbob]

TransLink also asked they would be very happy to receive feedback from anyone who uses the buses during this revamped approach for rail replacement.

[verbatim9]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1043027113056456704

Yeah I saw this on the TransLink website over the weekend. Great initiative and outcome when it comes to trackwork. I hope it becomes a permanent feature  during all proposed trackwork in SEQ.

[SurfRail]

The headways definitely are a bit thin, but its a start.

What I would like to see:

1. Minimum headways at least double the rail headway (so every 15 minutes for metropolitan and Gold Coast, every 30 minutes or so for Sunshine Coast).

2. Getting vehicles more fit for purpose onto this work.  BCC has an enormous number of DDA compliant multiple-door vehicles sitting around doing nothing on weekends (and so do other operators to a lesser extent), none of which ever get used for rail work.  I suspect the staffing and cost do not make it economic, but it means most of the railbuses are single (narrow) door schoolbuses which have to come from enormous distances away in many cases to do inner city work.  An operator with such a large and 100% government funded fleet shouldn't be allowed to just sit on it when we need to get rail replacement services underway - it should be built into their service contract given the buses are notionally government controlled.

3. I'm also extremely doubtful using the inner city busways is a good idea.  There simply isn't enough room to make this work well - you get even one railbus loading at the Cultural Centre and it goes to pot, especially if it isn't parked right at the front.  It's much worse with schoolbuses, but the Cultural Centre is busy 7 days a week.  We should be putting rail replacement services back on Grey St, using the William Jolly Bridge and using city streets for Roma St and Central.

[Cazza]

On point number 2, State Transit down in Sydney do quite a significant portion of railbus operations (and Nightride routes too), some well outside their contracted region. It's common them doing routes up to Hornsby and out to Revesby.

You do pose a very good question as to why small, private bus companies are having to travel miles all over the place when the government funded Brisbane Transport sits idle for these closures?

[SurfRail]

And another thing - if rail bus services are going via a proper bus interchange with multiple stands like on the Gold Coast, then they should be purposely allocated to:

- stands which are vacant (for instance the rear 6 bays at Nerang, or the second row of stops at Robina); or
- stands which are not serviced by the busiest bus routes passing through the interchange (eg the stands that might have a bus once an hour, not which have a local route bus in them more often than not).

Helensvale has a specific loading bay for tram replacement services, it might be time to implement the same at other Gold Coast line stations for railbuses.  Most interchanges have at least one spare or only lightly used bay which could be permanently sign-written with a route number shown prominently, so rail bus operations don't foul normal operations around the station.  Permanent sign-writing should also form part of the signage suite for on-road stops where that is the designated railbus stop - not just A-frame signed chained to the post ad-hoc.

One other way Perth has us completely beat - full access maps of each station showing all the facilities, including departure points for buses and their route numbers (including rail buses):

https://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/Using-Transperth/Station-Facilities/Stations-Maps

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1047035457987600387

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/QueenslandRail/status/1048088790856650753

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1048110562171707392

[achiruel]

I'm glad they finally got timetables for a closure sorted, but the 20-minute frequency seems weird when the rest of the network is on 30 minutes. Should've been made 15-minute frequency.

[ozbob]

If anyone goes on R395 over the weekend please take the time to give feedback to TransLink on how it is working.

I suggested to TransLink that rail replacement bus frequency should be at a minimum twice the rail frequency essentially. 

Guess the budget is tight ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1052314504439181312

[achiruel]

No replacement bus timetables?

Looks like TransLink/QR are going backward again.