Queensland Rail report to shift blame off Transport Minister

TRANSPORT Minister Stirling Hinchliffe is set to escape the blame for Queensland Rail’s timetable ­crisis in a report to be handed down today.

• Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe resigns
• Queensland Rail report warns of years of train cancellations

TRANSPORT Minister Stirling Hinchliffe is expected to escape the blame for Queensland Rail’s timetable crisis when the Strachan Commission of Inquiry hands down its report today.

Despite repeated calls from the Opposition for Mr Hinchliffe’s scalp, The Courier-Mail understands the inquiry’s findings – which will be released after today’s Cabinet meeting – are unlikely to end his ministerial career.

QR’s other shareholding minister, Treasurer Curtis Pitt, is also expected to not be found at fault.

The rail operator’s executive staff will receive criticism for their role in the debacle and the response to the driver shortage.

Further resignations from QR are expected in the wake of the report’s release.

It is understood the relationship between QR, TransLink and Transport and Main Roads is examined in the report and ­includes recommendations on how to merge some functions of the three organisations.

A restructure of executive positions and communication lines will likely be included in the inquiry’s recommendations.

The number of train drivers who took redundancies during the Newman Government cuts and the length of the training program were expected to be mentioned in the report.

The progress of the driver hiring program announced by Mr Hinchliffe last year will be examined.

Conditions such as the 20-minute comfort break given to all staff who had worked more than 2½ hours have been examined and it is likely recommendations will be made about securing more flexible workplace agreements with unions.

A new chief executive for the rail operator could be announced shortly, after the board has conducted interviews with short-listed candidates.

Former Queensland Rail CEO Helen Gluer with Queensland Minister for Transport Stirling Hinchliffe. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls yesterday reiterated calls for the Transport Minister to be sacked. “The reality is passengers just want the train service to run on time and they won’t have confidence in the system until Stirling Hinchliffe is gone,” he said.

But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, in an exclusive interview with The Courier-Mail last week, insisted she trusted her senior minister and factional colleague Mr Hinchliffe’s insistence he was not told of the looming driver crisis.

“He told me very clearly that he was not informed,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “I am believing in the honesty of my ministers.”

Ms Palaszczuk, a former transport minister in the Bligh government, said she believed there had always been “cultural issues” in QR. “I am absolutely appalled that Queensland Rail would increase services with not having the driver capacity. I think it is unforgivable,” she said.

The repeated rail fails forced the resignations of several former QR executives, including chief executive Helen Gluer, board chairman Michael Klug and chief operations officer Kevin Wright.

After hundreds of services had been cancelled in October and an interim timetable scrapped in favour of a reduced schedule, the peak of the crisis hit on Christmas Day when a third of services were cancelled because of ­another roster stuff-up.

Rail advocate Paul Pluta, who predicted the October and Christmas Day rail fails, said major reforms were needed to improve public transport in southeast Queensland.

“I am sick and tired of QR having such a poor culture. It’s time someone had the courage to fix it and put the travelling public first,” he said.

The report has been kept tightly under wraps after it was provided to the Premier’s office last Tuesday.

Ms Palaszczuk only received a briefing on it on ­Friday after returning from central Queensland. A select few ministers were provided information on Saturday.