The times they are a-changin’

The biggest overhaul to rail timetables in more than 15 years officially starts on Monday 6 June on the Ipswich and Caboolture rail lines, Transport Minister Annastacia said today.

The timetable revamp will add more than 150,000 additional seats to the network and provide commuters with more frequent services.

“With patronage on Queensland Rail services growing by about five per cent in the six months to December 30, the time is right to undertake a major re-cast of the timetables on two of our busiest train lines,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“This is an exciting and historic change made possible by the recently completed upgrade between Corinda and Darra, the expansion to the new Richlands stations and the 46 new rollingstock sets we have added to the network over the past three years.”

The bus timetable will also change adding more than 50,000 seats per week and providing better connections between buses and trains across the network.

Several bus services being upgraded including:

·Two additional high frequency routes, providing turn-up-and-go services for those living along route 196 (New Farms to Fairfield via the CBD) and route 120 (Upper Mt Gravatt to CBD).

·An upgrade on the corridor between Indooroopilly and UQ with 9000 weekly seats on routes 427, 428 and 432. This recognises that Indooroopilly train station will become an even more important hub in the network as it forms part of the new simplified express train stopping pattern.

·Additional bus services connecting to meet increasing customer demand for train services at Bray Park station, Richlands station, plus additional services through Inala and Tennyson.

Ms Palaszczuk said more than 150 Translink and Queensland Rail staff have been out this week at major train stations, bus interchanges, numerous shopping centres and university campuses to distribute information about the changes.

“This will continue next week,” she said.

“All the new train and bus timetables are also available on the TransLink website and I urge customers to become acquainted with the changes.”