Tuesday, March 21, 2017

QR's Rail Fail - Hourly Train Shame?

There are currently rumours floating about on Rail Back on Track that Queensland Rail are considering hourly train services over Easter, and hourly services on Weekends. An hourly frequency would take Brisbane back 35 years to the early 1980s, would most likely cause political annihilation for the ALP Palaszczuk government, and probably the end for QR as a public company when the LNP "Nasty party" inevitably get back into power. BrizCommuter has the following questions for QR, the Palaszczuk Government, and the Citytrain Response Unit:
  • Are there going to be any more cutbacks to the "2017 timetable" that we were told would be in place for the whole of 2017?
  • If so, when are you going to bother to tell the public about any changes? The day before, like the weekend axing of the Rosewood Line?
  • If so, how are you going to tell the public? Or are you just going to pretend it isn't happening like the original Rail Fail cutbacks?
  • Do you realise that many people (retail, entertainment, and healthcare) actually have to get to work on the Weekends and Easter?
  • Do you realise the damage this will cause to CBD businesses and events?
  • As Brisbane would have the least frequent weekend train service in Oceana, do you understand the reputational damage this will cause to Brisbane and SE Queensland?
  • Do you understand how this will affect businesses and development?
  • Do you understand this may also prevent federal funding for Cross River Rail?
  • What is the point of the Citytrain Response Unit, if it does not prevent further pain to commuters?
BrizCommuter hopes these rumours are false, but given reports that QR's acting CEO Neil Scales (who is usually D-G of stuff up merchants Department of Transport and Main Roads) barely seems to think there is a problem with #RailFail (cough, cough), then BrizCommuter fears the worst.

Citytrain Response Unit - Fixing The Trains

7 comments:

  1. I don't know why they would even bother with hourly services. May as well just cancel them all and uses buses at better frequencies. It would be cheaper, and it would take strain away from rail crew, maintenance and controllers.

    Just have open lines for freight and long distant services (who's punctuality will probably improve)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're not a train user are you Taren?

      Delete
    2. I actually am. But hourly services IMO are a waste of time. Very few people would use hourly services on the weekend, just save the money where you can. If they are going to put on a terrible service, they should at least put on a terrible service that costs everyone less money.

      Delete
    3. Because rail lines don't match rail lines and even on weekends you would need more busses than are available with drivers that know all the station locations.

      That's the very reason things melt down whenever a single rail line has to be replaced by busses.

      Delete
  2. yes lets defend and make excuses for everything QLD sucks at, my favourite one being "if you dont like it, leave"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Could this be because of the $10M overtime bill? That's something like $1M per fortnight. Ouch!

    Or maybe because of some... upcoming bills.... QR is very likely to have legal or staffing costs due to QR breaking union agreements.

    The minister, Ms Trad, is stopping the "closed shop" approach. Apparently Ms Trad only just found out that QR was rejecting highly qualified drivers because any QR employee (such as ticket sales or cleaner) gets first preference for train driving position. I suggest Ms Trad read this site or listen to ABC as she would have been well aware of this shortly after Rail Fail started.

    The problem with attempting to ignore agreements made with unions in good faith is that unions will legitimately be able to enforce the agreement. This will result in either legal costs, compensation or industrial action.

    Whatever the case, I think the answer to your first question is "yes", there will be further timetable changes. Probably at short notice and probably impacting passengers severely.

    ReplyDelete
  4. If QR aren't even going to provide a daily 30 minute frequency then they're failing at providing a basic public service.

    Running one train every hour would just be a token service for people in the outer suburbs beyond BT's bus network who can't drive.

    I see that they have confirmed on their Facebook page that there will be an "easter timetable". I somehow doubt that it'll be because of increased services.

    ReplyDelete

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