Sector 2 (Stage 2) Timetable reviews

[Set in train]

I'm sure the many Gold Coast Commuters arriving in Brisbane on the 8 express trains in the morning & afternoon would be unaware of the ramification of the timetable review and what it might mean for their commute.

This lack of awareness could cost them many minutes each day if the timetable is changed and not in their favour.

[Cam]

Hopefully, the sector two timetable review will remove the 22 minute gap between services for Banoon, Salisbury, Rocklea & Moorooka in the middle of the AM peak & the 23 minute gap to these stations as well as Dutton Park, Fairfield & Yeronga in the middle of the PM peak.

These stations should have no worse than a 12 minute frequency in peak times.

[Derwan]

Those kinds of gaps are normal on the entire Shorncliffe Line during both peaks.

[Jonas Jade]

Another frustrating gap is the 40 something minute counter peak gap coming back from the Gold Coast in the afternoon. It's approximately 5:00 - 5:45 or something like that (at Helensvale). I got caught out by this one yesterday 

[Gazza]

Used to get me all the time when I worked down there and was coming back to Brisbane.
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[BrizCommuter]

Hopefully, the sector two timetable review will remove the 22 minute gap between services for Banoon, Salisbury, Rocklea & Moorooka in the middle of the AM peak & the 23 minute gap to these stations as well as Dutton Park, Fairfield & Yeronga in the middle of the PM peak.

These stations should have no worse than a 12 minute frequency in peak times.

There is also a 23 min gap for Alderley to Windsor in the am peak, and Windsor to Gaythorne in the pm peak. Quite disgraceful timetabling, and even more disgraceful that nothing has been done about it for nearly 4 years!

[Golliwog]

Hopefully, the sector two timetable review will remove the 22 minute gap between services for Banoon, Salisbury, Rocklea & Moorooka in the middle of the AM peak & the 23 minute gap to these stations as well as Dutton Park, Fairfield & Yeronga in the middle of the PM peak.

These stations should have no worse than a 12 minute frequency in peak times.

There is also a 23 min gap for Alderley to Windsor in the am peak, and Windsor to Gaythorne in the pm peak. Quite disgraceful timetabling, and even more disgraceful that nothing has been done about it for nearly 4 years!

And the 21min gap in the am peak for Ferny Grove to Enoggera.

[aldonius]

And the 21min gap in the am peak for Ferny Grove to Enoggera.

Oh gods yes that gap how I hate that gap.

[O_128]

And the 21min gap in the am peak for Ferny Grove to Enoggera.

Oh gods yes that gap how I hate that gap.

Nowhere near as painful as the gap between the 4:04 and 4:28 cleveland trains ex central 

[Gazza]

Nowhere near as painful as the gap between the 4:04 and 4:28 cleveland trains ex central  Shocked Shocked

Think of all the train paths that would be freed up for the GC by removing those paths and putting them on the Cleveland solution 

[Fares_Fair]

Where are these timetable consultation sessions at?
Have any been carried out yet?

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Cam]

The draft 2012 Ferny Grove timetables will need to be rewritten because the timetable writers omitted every second service between the daytime peak periods.  

[Fares_Fair]

Touche. 

[Golliwog]

Where are these timetable consultation sessions at?
Have any been carried out yet?

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

Not sure as they never gave a meeting topic, but there was to be a FG line CRG tonight. Alas, due to poor numbers able to attend (duh, it is Valentines day) tonight's meeting was cancelled and rescheduled for March 6.

[Derwan]

The initial round of consultation occurred last year.  There was a combined CRG for lines affected.

I don't know if they've started drafting the new timetable yet.  Haven't heard anything for a while.  Perhaps they're working on the new timetables and the next round of consultation will be on the draft timetables.

[Stillwater]

As a community service, Translink should sponsor an origami class in schools and donate all disused timetables for reuse and refolding into decorative mobiles; maybe convert them into insulation or pulp them for egg cartons  -- the timetables, that is, not the school children.

[BrizCommuter]

The initial round of consultation occurred last year.  There was a combined CRG for lines affected.

I don't know if they've started drafting the new timetable yet.  Haven't heard anything for a while.  Perhaps they're working on the new timetables and the next round of consultation will be on the draft timetables.

BrizCommuter will be surprised if we see a draft timetable this side of the 24th March.

[SurfRail]

The government is effectively in caretaker mode as of today and Anna will be off to the Governor over the weekend to prorogue Parliament and to have writs issued.  No chance of the draft timetable rearing up at all now until after 24 March.

[BrizCommuter]

The government is effectively in caretaker mode as of today and Anna will be off to the Governor over the weekend to prorogue Parliament and to have writs issued.  No chance of the draft timetable rearing up at all now until after 24 March.

There will be too much bad news in the timetable (i.e lack of Gold Coast/Beenleigh/Cleveland Line improvements) to release it prior to an election.

[somebody]

No way would we be seeing a draft timetable this side of the election.  I don't think we can take seeing it in 2012 for granted.

[Fares_Fair]

If the Sunshine Coast "improvements" are anything to go by, it perhaps is a wise choice to hold off on their release until post-election.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[BrizCommuter]

No way would we be seeing a draft timetable this side of the election.  I don't think we can take seeing it in 2012 for granted.

Bliar was recently quoted as saying June (?2012). However that was at the same time as stating that the ALP has planned a 15 minute off-peak timetable for the Ferny Grove Line (which her own ministers, TransLink, and QR appeared to be unaware of).

[#Metro]

Bliar was recently quoted as saying June (?2012). However that was at the same time as stating that the ALP has planned a 15 minute off-peak timetable for the Ferny Grove Line (which her own ministers, TransLink, and QR appeared to be unaware of).

   

We all know they were caught with their pants down on that one. They always intended to run 2 trains/hour on it - useless.

[Derwan]

So the Ferny Grove duplication and station upgrade are complete.  Still no word on the sector 2 timetable review.

I'm guessing it will coincide with the introduction of all-day 15-minute services on the Ferny Grove line?

[Mr X]

Better not involve adding more stops to the Gold Coast line. It's our only "world class" line in terms of speed and stop spacing; can't have that in QLD can we?
I am betting all stops Bowen Hills - Yeerongpilly then express to Beenleigh, stopping at Coopers Plains, Kuraby and Loganlea 

[Gazza]

To be fair, it should stop at Coopers & Loganlea full time anyway.

Stopping all stations north of Yeerongpilly might suck a bit.

[somebody]

To be fair, it should stop at Coopers & Loganlea full time anyway.

Stopping all stations north of Yeerongpilly might suck a bit.

Coopers & LL are probably missed to avoid violating train loading stats.  I can live with it.

Stopping all stations north of Yeerongpilly is better than South Brisbane termination of these or other services.

[Gazza]

Coopers & LL are probably missed to avoid violating train loading stats.  I can live with it.

The one time I've had to take a peak direction GC train (Going to Metricon Stadium), I had to go all the way to the CBD because it didn't stop at Coopers.

I'm sure people would deal with standing from Coopers inbound, if it meant a faster trip.

Plus the trains aren't overloaded anyway, and the reasoning should be better than cooking loading statistics.

[somebody]

Cooper-Central is 21 minutes.

Standard is no standees within 20 minutes.

Were you going to park at Coopers Plains??

[Gazza]

Were you going to park at Coopers Plains??

Yeah, there were 3 of us....GCL doesn't go to Coopers 

[Derwan]

Had another CRG meeting with Dan the timetable man last night.  It was pretty pointless as he wasn't able to provide any information on timelines or even what they were/weren't considering for the sector 2 timetable review.

One thing he DID mention though, was that they're not doing any modelling without the Sandgate Station upgrade.  This means that the timetables won't be implemented until after the upgrade is completed, which is scheduled for March 2013 (weather permitting).

Given that the asbestos removal has started late (it apparently started Monday instead of April) it might be even later.

[Cam]

This means that the timetables won't be implemented until after the upgrade is completed, which is scheduled for March 2013 (weather permitting).

Given that the asbestos removal has started late (it apparently started Monday instead of April) it might be even later.

Commuters to the CBD that use Dutton Park, Fairfield, Yeronga, Moorooka, Rocklea, Salisbury & Banoon railway stations have another year of waiting up to 23 minutes for services leaving the city in the busiest hour of the PM peak. Why bother with the two express services in the current timetable that skip these 7 stations to save just 3 minutes for those commuters travelling further along the Beenleigh Line? It just doesn't make any sense.

Commuters to the CBD using Moorooka, Rocklea, Salisbury & Banoon railway stations also have 18 and 22 minute gaps between services right in the middle of the AM peak. 

[BrizCommuter]

Had another CRG meeting with Dan the timetable man last night.  It was pretty pointless as he wasn't able to provide any information on timelines or even what they were/weren't considering for the sector 2 timetable review.

One thing he DID mention though, was that they're not doing any modelling without the Sandgate Station upgrade.  This means that the timetables won't be implemented until after the upgrade is completed, which is scheduled for March 2013 (weather permitting).

Given that the asbestos removal has started late (it apparently started Monday instead of April) it might be even later.

On other word, expect phase 2 timetables in late June 2013.   

[SurfRail]

I spoke to Dan at the Beenleigh/Gold Coast CRG meeting this evening.  My observations echo Derwans.  I think there is not much he and his team can actually do without better support from the government - he made the point that he prefers to work with what is in front of him rather than going overboard with possibilities, which is fair enough.

Observations were made that 15 minute peak frequency is basically the mathematical limit of what can be achieved on the Gold Coast line while we still have to deal with the missing track Coomera-Helensvale.

Also no indication on what the future of the XPT might be - all completely off the radar for now, although his personal view was that it has no future in its current timeslot (which I agree with wholeheartedly).

The other observation is that the Sector 2 review will involve different processes and procedures to Sector 1, but the main outcome will be the same - implement something that you can slot a lot more trains into easily when they arrive or get funded.  Confirmed they are looking at the issues daily, but he really has no idea when it will proceed as it will likely need ministerial attention given the scale.

Somebody raised the issue of what will happen with the FG trains when they go to 15 minute frequency - he confirmed that (obviously) they cannot extend them to Beenleigh, but did not elaborate.

[#Metro]

Somebody raised the issue of what will happen with the FG trains when they go to 15 minute frequency - he confirmed that (obviously) they cannot extend them to Beenleigh, but did not elaborate.

Why not terminate short of somewhere?

[colinw]

I think that is true for Kuraby as well.  Coopers Plains or Rocklea should be doable.

Or run the extras as 3 car sets & send them to Corinda via Tennyson?

Alternatively, what about Manly?

I really hope they don't end up being Roma St terminators, and I don't like South Bank as a turnback location either. The absolute minimum should be Yeerongpilly.

[Golliwog]

I think that is true for Kuraby as well.  Coopers Plains or Rocklea should be doable.

Or run the extras as 3 car sets & send them to Corinda via Tennyson?

Alternatively, what about Manly?

I really hope they don't end up being Roma St terminators, and I don't like South Bank as a turnback location either. The absolute minimum should be Yeerongpilly.

Actually, Tennyson was also something that came up in passing during the Ferny Grove CRG. Dan mentioned that he can't see Tennyson coming back anytime soon as the conflicts between opposing trains reduces the capacity of the line.

[Derwan]

I really hope they don't end up being Roma St terminators, and I don't like South Bank as a turnback location either. The absolute minimum should be Yeerongpilly.

Colin - check the thread in the members area. 

[ozbob]

Be a while between drinks for this stage 2 review. 

[Golliwog]

Be a while between drinks for this stage 2 review.

Might be interesting to see if anything major comes of the Translink/QR meeting mentioned at the CRG. Doubt anything big being mentioned publicly, but might be able to query it at the next CRG.