Queensland Rail releases new report into mass cancellation of Christmas Day trains

QUEENSLAND Rail has blamed the timing of Christmas and a late rush of drivers calling in sick for a timetable debacle that saw 235 services cancelled on December 25.

• QR fed Minister storyline over rail fail
• Trad ‘knew about’ train timetable disaster
• State Government angered by Queensland Rail’s two-page ‘report’

QUEENSLAND Rail has blamed the timing of Christmas and a late rush of drivers calling in sick for a timetable debacle that saw 235 services cancelled on December 25.

The report, which was made public today, details the reasons behind the cancellation of 235 services by Queensland Rail on Christmas Day, ruining festivities for hundreds of Queenslanders.

The report into the Christmas Day rail fail, released today, has found restrictive roster practices and ageing software which requires heavy “manual intervention” were key factors in the service cancellations.

“The prescribed rostering arrangements and rules applicable to train crew are complex and the electronic systems utilised by Queensland Rail to timetable services and roster train crew are complex and heavily dependent on manual intervention where changes are required,” the report states.

“There are limited qualified personnel available to undertake the manual interventions and the resources have been stretched since late October 2016 with the development of new timetables, ongoing train crew rostering challenges and responding to the Commission of Inquiry.”

The report also found workplace practices such as a maximum nine-hour shift and the 20-minute comfort break - provided after 2.5 hours - was still in effect on Christmas Day contributed to the bungle.

British nationals Sadie Simpson and Mark Holland were among those affected by the multiple cancellations on Christmas Day. Pic: Adam Armstrong.

The full “warts and all” report was issued after Minister for Transport Stirling Hinchliffe was angered by the first report, which totalled just two pages.

Minister Hinchliffe said the new report rightly indentified that the “diabolical rostering issues” should have been forseeable.

“Clearly these fundamental matters weren’t properly handled by those responsible at Queensland Rail,” the Minister said.

“Those failings were compounded by the underlying shortage of traincrew, a misguided assumption that 115 drivers would work on their Christmas Day RDO, and an antiquated, inflexible and manualised rostering system that has not kept pace with technology.

“For too long Queensland Rail has relied on the goodwill of drivers to work additional shifts to keep services running - it’s just not good enough.”

Acting Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the Labor Government and QR were hostage to the rail unions.

“It appears from this report, and the little we have read today, that the unions have this Labor Government over a barrel,” she said.

“It is obvious that this Minister is unable to stand up to the unions and update the work practices.

“When is this Labor Government going to stand up to its Labor mates?”

Ms Frecklington said there was no end in sight to the train debacle because the State Government was unwilling to take on the rail unions.

“It appears that commuters are being shafted just to keep their union mates happy,” she said.