Flawed QR contract signalled Redcliffe rail fail

IT WAS the right decision to delay the planned opening of the new Redcliffe rail line. But not because of the reason QR gave us, according to a long-awaited review.

QUEENSLAND Rail chose a signalling system for its new Redcliffe rail line without properly checking it could do the job.

A litany of failures are detailed in the long-awaited review that found QR signed a flawed contract with suppliers and bungled the rollout after failing to check bogus claims the system was already working well around the world.

Malcolm Turnbull at the opening of the ill-fated Redcliffe rail line on October 3, 2016. Picture: AAP

The report – written in August but released on Friday – found it was the right decision to delay the planned opening of the new rail line last year because of the unstable system, but rejected QR’s claims that safety was the reason for the delay.

It said “minimal due diligence” was performed in the short week QR gave itself to select the MAcroLok system, meaning QR did not realise claims about the system’s performance were untrue.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad suggested that a change in QR management since the Redcliffe rail fail would help avoid similar problems with the New Generation Rollingstock project. Picture: Jamie Hanson

In fact, the rollout of the system for what QR wanted to use it for was a “world first”. And once it did find out, it did not properly plan to avoid problems, include any deadlines in its contract, or properly explain to the contractor and supplier how the system needed to work.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has described Queensland Rail as a “basket case”. Picture: Jono Searle

“The signalling performance issues have been caused primarily by the gap between what QR expected the system to deliver and what the contract specified,” the report says.

The report found even though a fallback scenario had been planned, there was no actual detail around when that Plan B should be enacted.

The governance structure also failed when QR and the Department of Transport and Main Roads disagreed on commissioning dates that resulted in the Government receiving separate, conflicting advice.

The report comes as the troubled New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) project continues to be delayed.

Asked if she was confident the same mistakes were not being repeated on the NGR project, Transport Minister Jackie Trad said the issues raised “weren’t comparable”, and she pointed to a change in QR’s management since then.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said QR was a “basket case”. He also criticised the Government for ­trying to sneak the report out late on a Friday to avoid scrutiny.