10 Aug 2012: SEQ: Audit shows some of the weaknesses ...

[ozbob]

Media release 10 August 2012

SEQ: Audit shows some of the weaknesses in the 6 June 2011 Ipswich, Caboolture and Sunshine Coast line timetables

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers calls for a review of the Ipswich, Caboolture and Sunshine Coast timetables.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"The recent audit (1) shows that dead running has increased by 40% since the 6 June 2011 timetable was implemented.  The reason for this is pretty obvious.  There is an unsatisfactory service frequency in the  counter-peak, i.e. Ipswich and Caboolture/Nambour bound in the AM peak, and city bound in the PM peak.  Trains are running out of service past scrums of intending passengers, particularly at Milton.  A number of these trains should be placed into service, so that there is at least a 15 minute express service counter peak to Ipswich as well as a 15 minute service to Richlands.  All of these counter peak services should stop at Milton, Toowong and Indooroopilly at least.  It is similar on the Caboolture line.  There is no reason to insist that all of the trains to Caboolture must stop all stations in the AM peak.  This makes it harder to position trains particularly to Petrie."

"Tabulating (2) Queensland Rail's passenger load surveys (3) show that there is a demand for travel to destinations other than the CBD.  If the services were improved, no doubt more people would use them."

"There remain a few other issues, particularly with the Sunshine Coast line.  The 7 minute dwell of the weekday AM train from Gympie North at Central unfortunately breaks the 15 minute frequency ex-Central to Darra.  This could be fixed by running the train leaving Caboolture at 7:43am express between Petrie and Northgate, and knocking back the train from Gympie North a couple of minutes.  This would be a more appropriate timetable in any event.  This may impact on the 5:21am Roma St-Nambour train but manipulating stopping patterns and crossing locations could help it reach Nambour on time."

"The current Sunshine Coast Line timetable fails the benchmark of not asking anyone to stand for more than 20 minute miserably.  One option to improve this is to extend some of the Petrie trains to Narangba and make the Nambour trains non stop Petrie, Dakabin and Narangba which would at least make them faster and reduce crowding but would not be enough to fully solve the crowding problem."

"Finally service graphing (4,5,6) shows the service slow downs in the past few years shows that have been fairly dramatic and not noticeably helped on time running.  This deters service usage and its effect on rollingstock utilisation cannot be positive either."

"There remain several issues with the Ipswich and Caboolture timetables, the most significant of which remains the counter-peak frequency, particularly on the Ipswich Line."

References:

1. http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Travel-and-transport/Rail/Audit-of-SEQ-Rail-Network.aspx

2. http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8919.msg106698#msg106698

3. http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2012-q1-passenger-load-survey.pdf

4. Ipswich Line off peak: http://ubuntuone.com/5PPfJvSINSQgbJJzYcjlQT

5. Ipswich Line peak: http://ubuntuone.com/3jh4SHfPImBfzi0wtKUZOh

6. Caboolture Line off peak: http://ubuntuone.com/0jYFjV9ME3UWOjQnQ0dnzW

Contact:

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