200 more trains a day start rolling

South-east Queensland train passengers will benefit from more than 200 additional daily services from today, following an overhaul of the train timetable.

New timetables start on the Airport, Beenleigh, Cleveland, Doomben, Ferny Grove, Gold Coast and Shorncliffe lines, with minor changes for Caboolture and Sunshine Coast lines.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said the new timetables were simpler and easier to use, and provided more frequent and consistent services.

“With better planning we are able to deliver better front-line services with an additional 16 morning peak services and 17 more afternoon peak services,” Mr Emerson said.

“We’ve also introduced 15 minute daily off-peak frequency between the CBD and Coopers Plains, Cannon Hill and Northgate. This follows on from our promise to deliver 15 minute frequency on the Ferny Grove line.

“This is a big win for public transport users with improved connections between modes, better reliability and more frequent services where passengers need them most.”

Some of the key improvements include:

• More peak Gold Coast services – nine to 12 for AM and 10 to 14 for PM
• More peak Shorncliffe line services – eight to 11 for AM and eight to 12 for PM
• 50 per cent more peak services at some of the Cleveland line’s busiest stations
• More peak services for Beenleigh station – 19 to 24 for AM and 18 to 25 for PM
• 70 per cent peak service increase at some of the Ferny Grove line’s busiest stations
• 15 minute day-time off-peak CBD to Cannon Hill on the Cleveland line
• 15 minute day-time off-peak CBD to Coopers Plains on the Beenleigh line
• 15 minute day-time off-peak CBD to Northgate on the Caboolture line
• An additional peak AM and PM Sunshine Coast service.

“This timetable maximises all our existing resources during core peak in terms of traincrew, rollingstock and infrastructure,” Mr Emerson said.

“It has been designed so that additional services can be added to the timetable once we have more trains.”

Queensland Rail and TransLink have teams monitoring the implementation of the new timetable with hundreds of customer service staff on the network for the next two weeks.

For timetable details visit www.translink.com.au or call 13 12 30.

[ENDS] 20 January 2014

Media contact: Stephanie Shield 0418 186 625