Commuters will deal with more rail pain this month, as buses replace trains on two lines for three weeks of track closures.
The routine maintenance work, scheduled for the winter school holidays, comes after months of disruptions.
These disruptions escalated during wage negotiations for six agreements, covering seven unions representing workers at Queensland Rail.
There will be track closures on the Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines from June 27 to July 19, and impacts to other lines.
The closures will allow crews to work on stabling yard and station upgrades to support Cross River Rail, and install a new digital signalling system as part of European Train Control System works between Beenleigh and Varsity Lakes.
There will also be early work to duplicate tracks, upgrade stations and remove level crossings as part of the Logan and Gold Coast faster rail project, and platform construction, signalling and track works for the Loganlea station relocation project.
Translink acting head Dean Helm said the work needed to be done in the rail corridor, and could only be carried out safely and efficiently while trains were not running.
“If you are travelling during this period, whether that’s to work, an appointment or a major event, I encourage you to plan ahead, consider your transport options, and allow plenty of travel time,” he said.
“We understand extended track closures can be an inconvenience to customers. This is why we have coordinated work across multiple projects to be undertaken at the same time to help minimise the period of the disruption.”
Helm said plenty of rail replacement bus services would be available.
During the last school holiday track closures over Easter, passengers complained of long waits, arguing there were not enough rail replacement buses, although Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg laid the blame on industrial action.
Authorities warned efforts will be made to do the work as planned later this month, but due to ongoing union protected industrial action by staff, there may be changes.
These are the impacts:
June 20-21
Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines: Buses replace trains between Varsity Lakes and Boggo Road.
June 27-28
Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines: Buses replace trains between Varsity Lakes and Boggo Road.
Ferny Grove line: Services terminate at Boggo Road.
Airport line: Services terminate at Boggo Road.
June 29 – July 3
Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines: Buses replace trains between Varsity Lakes and Boggo Road.
Airport line: Airport line trains run between Domestic Airport and Boggo Road stations or link to the Cleveland line during peak times.
Doomben line: Services terminate at Roma Street.
Ferny Grove line: Services terminate at Boggo Road.
Cleveland line: Services link with the Airport line during peak times, then will link with the Shorncliffe line as per normal.
Shorncliffe line: Services will run between Sandgate and Roma Street during peak times, and then link to the Cleveland line outside peak times.
July 4-5
Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines: Buses replace trains between Varsity Lakes and Boggo Road.
Airport line: Airport line trains run between Domestic Airport and Boggo Road stations or link to the Cleveland line during peak times.
Ferny Grove line: Services terminate at Boggo Road.
July 6-10, and July 13-17
Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines: Buses replace trains between Boggo Road and Banoon.
Beenleigh and Gold Coast line trains will run as a combined all stops service between Varsity Lakes and Banoon. There will be minor timetable changes and no express trains.
Airport line: Airport line trains run between Domestic Airport and Boggo Road stations or link to the Cleveland line during peak times.
Cleveland line: Services link with the Airport line during peak times, then will link with the Shorncliffe line as per normal.
Doomben: Services terminate at Roma Street and will be three-car trains only.
Ferny Grove line: Services terminate at Boggo Road.
Shorncliffe line: Services will run between Sandgate and Roma Street during peak times and then link to the Cleveland line outside of peak times.
July 11-12, and July 18-19
Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines: Buses replace trains between Boggo Road and Banoon.
Beenleigh and Gold Coast line trains will run as a combined all stops service between Varsity Lakes and Banoon. There will be minor timetable changes and no express trains.
Airport line: Services terminate at Boggo Road.
Ferny Grove line: Services terminate at Boggo Road.
The track closures come as unions and Queensland Rail continue regular meetings in the Fair Work Commission to hash out new pay deals, which is set to continue until the end of June.
Due to protected industrial action, Queensland Rail has been running a timetable which reduced services to 80 per cent, similar to a Saturday timetable but with extra services in the morning and afternoon peak, to deal with a maintenance backlog.
That is the equivalent of 300 fewer services operating each weekday.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
