By Cameron Atfield
Heads have rolled at Queensland Rail following the timetable and cancellation of the past week, with both the chairman and chief executive resigning on Thursday afternoon.
But that was not enough for the state opposition, which on Thursday night called for one more head to roll– that of Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe.
The resignations came as QR warned of more service disruptions going into Friday.
A QR spokeswoman confirmed both chief executive Helen Gluer and chairman Michael Klug had resigned.
Queensland Rail chief executive Helen Gluer resigned on Thursday, along with her chairman Michael Klug.Credit: Glenn Hunt
Mr Hinchliffe announced Department of Transport and Main Roads director-general Neil Scales would replace Ms Gluer on an interim basis as an "international recruitment search" for her replacement was conducted.
It was unclear whether any statement would be forthcoming from the pair.
Thursday's resignations came just days after Mr Hinchliffe repeatedly refused to offer his support for Ms Gluer's tenure at a media conference on Monday.
They also came a day after QR's head of train service delivery was stood down on Thursday.
The resignations came a day after QR's head of train service delivery was stood down on Thursday.Credit: Glenn Hunt
Opposition leader Tim Nicholls said while three QR personnel had "taken the fall" for the shambles, it was time Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk took action against her transport minister.
"This minister is so out of touch with the thousands of Queenslanders left stranded on platforms that he's still blaming everyone else for the stuff-up of stuff-ups," he said.
"It's unbelievable that we have a Premier who has failed the courage test and so far let this bungling minister off the hook and Queenslanders are paying the price.
"...When will Annastacia Palaszczuk finally have the guts to sack Stirling Hinchliffe and replace him with someone who's prepared to fix his mess?"
Ms Gluer last week took full responsibility for the debacle, which was the result of the Redcliffe Peninsula line opening without adequate staff to drive the services.
"This is my fault, this is Queensland Rail's fault and we had unrealistic expectations of what crewing we needed to actually deliver this timetable," she said last week.
Comment has been sought from both Mr Hinchliffe and the state opposition.
There were more than 100 cancellations last Friday due to the staffing shortage and an interim timetable came into effect on Tuesday, which saw 30 daily services cancelled.
QR acting chief operations officer Martin Ryan said commuters could expect further service alterations on Friday.
"On Tuesday, Queensland Rail moved to an interim timetable to deliver greater certainty for our customers and alleviate the strain until our driver training on the new Redcliffe Peninsula line is completed and we have new train crew commence work as part of our recruitment program," he said.
"This has gone well with improved on time running the last two days, but I want to prepare customers that we may face further service alterations tomorrow.
"In the event of a higher than usual level of unplanned leave on Friday, there may be extensive impacts on service delivery."
Mr Ryan said QR had planned alternative bus services across parts of the network if that scenario played out.
"We will be advising our customers as soon as possible of any extra changes, but there may be delays or last minute changes and we would urge people to check the Translink website to plan their journey," he said.