Statement on interim train timetable

Minister for Transport Stirling Hinchliffe today provided an update on the performance of the interim train timetable.

Minister Hinchliffe said that prior to this month and for the past four years, Queensland Rail has had the best on time running on the east coast, consistently meeting their on-time running target of 95%.

“This morning, Queensland Rail delivered a 98.63% on-time running rate against the interim timetable and this demonstrates that Queensland Rail is getting back on track and delivering what customers rightfully expect,” Mr Hinchliffe said.

“South East Queensland commuters must be able to rely on their rail network and I welcome the Premier’s announcement of an independent review, so that we get to the bottom of how this situation occurred.

"Today, the Chief Executive Officer Helen Gluer advised me that she had formally stood aside the head of Train Service Delivery as she was not satisfied that the appropriate due diligence had been completed prior to the implementation of the new timetable,” Mr Hinchliffe said.

Queensland Rail Chief Executive Officer Helen Gluer said she was disappointed Queensland Rail had not delivered for its customers over the past three weeks.

“I need to know why this issue was not alerted to me and offer my full support to the independent investigation,” Ms Gluer said.

“I was advised that we could meet the new timetable and told that the recruitment processes that we were going through were adequate.

“It is the responsibility of Train Service Delivery to ensure that we have adequate resources to staff our rosters and service the timetable and I am not confident that the senior manager adequately carried out his responsibilities in this regard.

“We are incredibly proud of our service delivery, right from the leadership team, down to the train controllers and the dedicated customer service staff.

“We are now working incredibly hard to turn this around as quickly as possible and we have seen the early results of our efforts this morning.

“It is my absolute expectation that we uncover and explain how this situation occurred and are able to restore confidence in our services.”

ENDS

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