Overview
Thousands of Queensland commuters are feeling a worsening strain from the fallout of a dispute between Queensland Rail and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RBTU) over pay. Starting Tuesday, May 5, schedules for rail lines across the state will be temporarily adjusted to a similar frequency to Saturday services — and, adding fuel to the fire, some south-east Queensland stations will receive major staffing changes, no doubt exacerbating the dispute even further.
From tomorrow, the state rail network will operate with approximately a 20 percent reduction in services, with over 270 services removed until further notice. This is the latest blow in a dispute that dates back to the beginning of April, when planned industrial action affected over 180 services and 20,000 passengers across the state. That action created a maintenance backlog, which has created the new reduced timetable.
Transport Minister Brent Mickenberg detailed that affected lines will see trains run every 15 minutes during peak hour, and every 30 minutes outside of peak travel periods, saying, "These temporary changes are going to have a considerable impact on Queenslanders. Queenslanders are rightly frustrated and angry … we're also frustrated."
Dan Peled/Getty Images
Trains will run every 15 minutes on the Cleveland, Ferny Grove, Gold Coast, Redcliffe, Ipswich and Springfield lines, and every 30 minutes on the Beenleigh, Shorncliffe and the Caboolture–Nambour stretch of the Sunshine Coast line.
Now another spanner has been thrown into the works, with ABC reporting that Queensland Rail is reducing staffing across the station network, a decision unrelated to the ongoing pay dispute. According to updated rosters, a third of stations in Queensland will no longer be staffed on weekends, and 19 stations will no longer be staffed after 1pm on weekdays.
The idea of staff absence raises obvious concerns about passenger safety, a lack of assistance for elderly and differently abled passengers and a lack of facilities on the platform (in the absence of staff, toilets are locked). To compensate, Queensland Rail is increasing its roster of patrolling security officers on the network and creating a new ten-person remote customer support team.
Reports provided to ABC reveal that some of the stations that will be unstaffed on weekends include Milton, Booval, Buranda, Deagon and Springfield, but a full list of affected stations will be published on the Queensland Rail website on Tuesday morning.
Lead image: Wikimedia Commons
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