Monday, August 6, 2018

Cleveland Line - Brisbane's Misery Line

Cleveland Line - Off The Rails! 
Whilst Brisbane's public transport system continues into a death spiral, there is one Queensland Rail (QR) train line BrizCommuter hears more complaints about that any other - the Cleveland Line. What are the issues with the Cleveland Line?
  • Lacking infrastructure - single track sections between Manly and Cleveland, and lack of 3rd platform at Manly causes havoc with on-time running and track capacity. 
  • Train services are often "expressed" past stations, with excuses from QR designed to obfuscate, including "Congestion on the network" and "Heavy passenger loading" (in other words, we are bypassing stations so that the train can get to the terminus on-time and meet our KPIs). 
  • Overcrowded 3-car trains on some services, due to the ongoing NGR train delays and old EMU trains being beyond end of service life. 
  • Woeful 30 minute am peak gap between the 6:24am and 6:54am from Cleveland (Mon-Fri) due to the ongoing #RailFail. 
  • "Random" 30 minute gaps during the 15 minute daytime off-peak period, notably on Fridays. 
  • Daytime 15 minute off-peak period only goes as far as Cannon Hill.
  • Peak services are no better than every 15 minutes / 4tph (and in many cases far worse) for most stations. 
  • Notoriously early finish of the pm peak express service at 4:54pm from Central, before most people have left work!
  • 23 minute pm peak gap for passengers heading to stations between Manly and Cleveland in the pm peak (Mon-Thu).
  • Multiple 30 minute gaps between trains in the pm peak on Fridays. 
The Cleveland Line is so bad, that commuters has dubbed it Brisbane's "Misery Line". The train service is so infrequent and unreliable, that many of BrizCommuter's work colleagues who use the line have taken to using buses, or even driving instead. Some are even looking at leaving their jobs in Brisbane's CBD as they can't handle the terrible commute. It would be great if QR or politicians could tell commuters when the Cleveland Line's woes will be over, but don't count on it. The pain will continue for many years to come.