Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 7 hours ago
Commuters in south-east Queensland are facing another month of frustrating rail disruptions, as a pay stoush between the network operator and the unions drags on. A third of trains are off the track awaiting maintenance and the outages are expected to continue for several more months.

Category

📺
TV
Transcript
00:02For months, crammed cars and longer waits have been the norm.
00:06It's disappointing. I don't like having to get up too early in the morning.
00:09It's annoying. I just wonder when it's going to end.
00:12On the reduced timetable, trains run every 15 or 30 minutes in peak periods
00:17instead of every 6 to 10 minutes.
00:19It's basically standing room only from the moment I get on.
00:22Sometimes I'm not able to get on at all.
00:25Some commuters have moved their lives around to manage.
00:29The earlier train has been so full that it's been very unpleasant to be in there
00:34and I'd just rather shift my work hours a little bit.
00:37Others have given up entirely.
00:39Queensland Rail says patronage has dropped 6% since the reduced timetable
00:44despite 50 cent fares and the increase in the cost of fuel.
00:48We can't run our full timetable because we don't have the trains available
00:53and that's because of union protected industrial action.
00:57Without essential maintenance being done, QR says more than 30% of its fleet is unavailable.
01:03And even when the action ends...
01:06It will take between 12 and 16 weeks for that maintenance backlog to be worked through
01:12so that we can get back to running a full timetable.
01:15A complex set of negotiations involving seven unions continues this week at the Fair Work Commission.
01:21There has been some progress but it's impossible to say when it'll wrap up.
01:26I'd love it to be tomorrow but it's very hard to tell.
01:28It's a complicated process.
01:30There's a lot of agreements and a lot of people involved.
01:32But time may be just what they don't have.
01:35If you continue to have poor levels of dependability,
01:39you will find a loss of faith in the public transport system
01:43and people will stop using it.
01:45And I can't go to the way.
01:45Just let me know to see what happens.
01:46If you want to go to the en route,
01:47I'll bekay.
Comments

Recommended