Improving services Sunshine Coast line

[Fares_Fair]

Spot on SW.
I was going to say it's On the money, but sadly, we aren't when it comes to proper funding.

Typo corrected *it

[Stillwater]

More bumph from the State Government ... this time from the Draft State Infrastructure Strategy.

"Continue to enhance and optimise the South-East Queensland rail network to deliver faster, more efficient and reliable journey times across the network, as well as support faster rail outcomes along strategic corridors between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. This will build on the benefits offered by Cross River Rail and help prepare the network for increased demand."

"Continue to upgrade the North Coast Line to improve regional rail performance and enhance passenger and rail freight movements."

... All motherhood statements, no commitment to funding or timelines.

It is about as meaningless as saying: "My major objective is to continue to wake up every morning and support healthy living by brushing my teeth and engaging in healthy living and exercise."

[ozbob]

[Gazza]

updated:

[Fares_Fair]

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1453243661844680714

[Fares_Fair]

Richard Phillip's Letter to the editor:
https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1496008138679808000

My response:
https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1496009983456346112

An answer is being sought on this situation.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1516281923509026818

[ozbob]

Facebook ...

Improving rail services between Gympie and Nambour priority 7th May 2021 The Cooroora Connect is a monthly newspaper...

Posted by RAIL - Back On Track on Thursday, 6 May 2021

[ozbob]

Cooroora Connect May 2021 pages 12-13

[ozbob]

Sandy Bolton MP: NORTH COAST RAIL SERVICES (INCLUDING COOROY-GYMPIE NORTH) UPDATE NOVEMBER 2023

https://www.sandybolton.com/north-coast-rail-services-including-cooroy-gympie-north-update-november-2023/

Funding has now been secured for the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) to open consultation on a Northern Sunshine Coast Transport Strategy following advocacy from several key groups and our office.

Sandy's ongoing efforts for better connectivity for residents have included seeking a trial train shuttle from Gympie North to Nambour in order to connect with the timetable there, and bus services that address gaps to access work and medical services.

In a recent media release regarding, Sandy said:

"This consultation covers all public transport within our communities, and it is vitally important that Noosa State Electorate residents' complete submissions to ensure all needs are identified."

"Please do not limit your feedback to the area covered in the interactive map on the consultation website as the Northern Strategy is complementary to the Southern Sunshine Coast Strategy, which focuses on areas to the south of us that are instrumental to our commutes to Brisbane and beyond."

Long time Noosa hinterland resident and advocate for better public transport servicing Noosa, Brian O'Connor also provided the following statement:

"More convenient bus and rail services is a constant response high on the list in any survey of Noosa residents. Nambour-Gympie North shuttle trains running six or seven times a day through our Noosa railway towns connected to a bus/rail interchange at Cooroy and serving Noosa Civic direct is a no-brainer really and should form part of any Northern Sunshine Coast Public Transport Strategy."

In addition, there is a consultation on the planned Direct Sunshine Coast Rail Line, which TMR have stated could connect to the existing North Coast Line, north of Beerwah Station. This would result in trains continuing to the Brisbane CBD and beyond, without passengers needing to transfer.

Sandy reiterates that it is vital to have your say on each of these strategies to remedy current deficits and make provision for the projected population increases throughout South- East Queensland.

Interlinking in all this is the upcoming Brisbane 2032 Olympics which has brought opportunities for improvements, however as Sandy has raised, we must make provision in multiple realms to ensure that the experience and legacies are a positive for all, including transport infrastructure and housing.

To have your say, please head to www.yoursay-projects.tmr.qld.gov.au/sunshine-coast-rail-public-transport, where all three consultations are available.

Further information

After having your say via the link above, further direct advocacy regarding this can be directed to the Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads via transportandmainroads@ministerial.qld.gov.au. Please cc' our office in via noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au and forward any response you receive to us.

[ozbob]

Noosa Today 24th November 2023 pages 24 & 25

https://noosatoday.com.au/digital-editions/

[Fares_Fair]

Interesting mention about the Gympie North shuttles when I met with the Transport Minister Mark Bailey and D-G Neil Scales on 11 March 2019.
Excerpt below from correspondence received 31 May 2019.

In relation to introducing shuttle trains between Nambour and Gympie North to connect with
Nambour trains, the Sunshine Coast line north of Nambour offers a number of challenges to
operate increased levels of Citytrain service.
The operation of multiple service types through this section of the network (intermodal freight and
long-distance Queensland Rail Travel services) puts additional constraint on operations.
Even a limited frequency shuttle service such as you suggested, requires sufficient platform time
(approximately 30 minutes under the nominated service times) at Nambour and Gympie North
stations to change vehicle ends and meet other train crew relief requirements. Both stations only
have one platform that is suitable for this purpose, which is also required by travel services
operating in both directions on timetables that vary by day, and heavily relied upon to support peak
operations in morning and afternoon periods.

Adding in crossing and overtaking requirements for freight services, which can often be time critical
due to carrying refrigerated or dangerous goods, means that provision of any additional service on
this line would require significant timetable overhaul and negotiation with several businesses.

As a result, and given the low expected demand for such a service, there are no plans to introduce
a Gympie North rail shuttle at this time.

[ozbob]

^

The single line between Beerburrum and Nambour doesn't?

What feeble excuses!   

[Gazza]

Isn't it somewhat due to to the stupid platform layout at Nambour?

There is 1 through platform and 1 dock, and the dock is only really geared to turnback trains from the south.
And then of course Gympie North has only 1 platform overall.

Nambour to Gympie North takes an hour, so I imagine a shuttle would be something like
0:00 Gympie Dep
1:00 Nambour Arr
1:30 Nambour Dep
2:30 Gympie Arr
3:00 Gympie Dep

So there's your 3 hour Frequency shuttle with 1 unit. Could make that 2.5 hour frequency if you cut the turnback time to 15 mins.

The question is, can you have a train blocking Gympie or Nambour for 30 mins at a time?
Potentially you could construct a dock at Gympie North.
And you might also make the additional Gympie Services through extensions rather than shuttles and avoid the need to block Nambour for turnbacks.

So in Summary I think if you wanted a Gympie Shuttle, its probably $10-20m or so in infrastructure works to support a platform layout to permit it.

[SurfRail]

Christ what nonsense.

What stops non passenger trains going around platform 1 at Nambour or Gympie North if occupied?  Both stations have runaround roads.

What other passenger trains (ie the only trains needing to use the platform) would cause an issue at Gympie North?

Even if there is an issue at platform 1 at Nambour, what stops them from passing Nambour and then propelling back into platform 2?  There is a full 6 car train length between the turnouts for platform 2 and the Arundell Avenue bridge.  At most some minor works to permit this movement to be made if it can't be made due to where the signal blocks are.

This sort of crap, default "too hard" response represents everything wrong with QR and is why every excuse they come up with should and must be questioned.

[Gazza]

I feel as if the response is conflating two different things

-Freight traffic on the line itself (This is less of an issue, heaps of bypass tracks at both stations)

-Turnback requirements, requires more money to implement and QR/TMR are allergic to that.

Having a look at the timetable, a lot of the Traveltrains are passing through Nambour in the evening anyway, so does it really matter if shuttles are blocking up things in the daytime?

[ozbob]

https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?msg=230815

..We suggest trains depart Gympie North all stations to Nambour at 5.30am, 8.30am, 11.30am, 2.30pm, 5.30pm.

Depart Nambour for all stations to Gympie North at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm.

These services should operate 7 days a week.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

29th November 2019

Improving rail services between Gympie North and Nambour

Greetings,

The Sunshine Coast community and public transport advocates are very concerned with the ongoing issues with reliability of the two daily Citytrains between Gympie North and Brisbane.  The aged InterCity Express (ICE) trains which normally are rostered for these services are due for replacement, but delays with the new trains have kept them in service longer than they should have been, and the ICE trains regularly fail leading to service delays and cancellations.  Some people have been forced to give up the rail commute north of Nambour because of the problems.

It was recently revealed in an answer to a Question On Notice in the Queensland Parliament that on-time running for the Gympie North line was 79.04% (target > 95%) force majeure adjusted for 2018-19 ( https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/tableOffice/questionsAnswers/2019/1781-2019.pdf ).  Customer impact would be less than that. This is by far the worse on-time running of all the Citytrain lines, which overall average around 95%.

Station upgrades at Cooran and Pomona are now completed, and Eumundi is nearing completion. Strong, durable, full length and full height platforms with proper accessibility.  Jobs well done, thank you.

The time is right now to set up the Sunshine Coast for better services. Two Citytrain services each way daily is grossly inadequate for the communities along the line.

We propose that Queensland Rail introduce rail shuttle services between Gympie North and Nambour, to connect to the more frequent Nambour to Brisbane services. Shuttle services, similar in operation as the Ipswich <> Rosewood services, could operate at 3 hour intervals, using locally stabled trains.

We suggest trains depart Gympie North all stations to Nambour at 5.30am, 8.30am, 11.30am, 2.30pm, 5.30pm.
Depart Nambour for all stations to Gympie North at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm.
These services should operate 7 days a week.

The surging population, the tourist industry needs connectivity north <> south. Access to Nambour for the towns north along the railway is important for medical, and community reasons. Imagine the positive impact of the lives of the residents and the economic benefit of a daily influx of visitors to towns such as Cooran, Pomona, Cooroy, Eumundi by regular rail shuttles.  Day trips from Brisbane would become a real proposition and could and would be promoted. There would be JOBS! Day excursions on the Mary Valley Rattler heritage railway would be possible for day trippers from Brisbane .

The Gold Coast has had very significant investment and improvements in public transport with excellent results.  But it is way past the time that the Sunshine Coast's public transport was improved. The railway line is in place, upgraded stations are ready, all we need is more train services.

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


Photographs R Dow:

1. Cooran 1st March 2019





2. Pomona 25th November 2019





3. Eumundi 25th November 2019

Sent to all outlets:

28th November 2019

Gympie North  rail services - late again!

Good Morning,

A recent Queensland Parliament Question On Notice No. 1781 revealed that for financial year 2018-19 Gympie North rail services on-time running (force majeure adjusted) was 79.04% (target is > 95%) ( https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/tableOffice/questionsAnswers/2019/1781-2019.pdf ).

Unfortunately the customer impact metric was not detailed. Customer impact is what passengers actually experience, it would be less than 79.04%.

This a poor result.  Presently the on-time running metrics for Gympie North rail services are included in the Sunshine Coast Line data.  We have requested before that Gympie North should be reported separately.  This is the case for example for the Rosewood line.  It is separate from the Ipswich line for on-time running purposes. Passengers who travel on Gympie North services clearly have an expectation that the data should be freely available as for the other lines.

Having to resort to Questions On Notice or Right To Information requests to find out basic on-time running data is not really transparent or satisfactory.  We again call for the on-time running data to be reported separately for the Gympie North line as for the other Citytrain lines ( see https://www.queenslandrail.com.au/aboutus/ourperformance/service-punctuality-and-reliability select ' Monthly on-time running ' ).

Best wishes,

Robert

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