Taxpayers meet $4.2m cost of transporting passengers on replacement services

TAXPAYERS forked out millions of dollars ferrying passengers around on replacement buses and in taxis in the first four months of the rail fail.

New figures show how much the State Government has paid for buses and taxis to cover cancelled Queensland Rail services. File picture

TAXPAYERS forked out more than $4.2 million ferrying passengers around on replacement buses and in taxis in the first four months of the rail fail, the government has admitted.

The staggering amount is $206,000 more than was spent the year before on replacement rail buses and taxi vouchers for stranded passengers as scores of services were cancelled due to a timetabling bungle and a shortage of drivers and guards.

Rail buses cost $4.165 million from October to January and $6308 was spent on taxis, figures released today by Transport Minister Jackie Trad showed.

That compares to about $4 million for buses and just $566 on taxis for the same time period the year before.

The largest spends were in December, when issues culminated in the cancellation of about one third of services on Christmas Day and led to the resignation of Queensland Rail’s chief operating officer Kevin Wright.

In the week of Christmas Day, $534,000 was spent on replacement buses and $1600 was shelled out for passengers to take taxis instead of trains.

Ms Trad said unplanned track closures could arise from a host of “unforeseen events” from signal and power faults, extreme weather, bridge and boom strikes and mechanical issues.

“In the event of train cancellations, the Department of Transport and Main Roads is responsible for the organisation of replacement transport services,” she said.

“Largely, replacement services are provided by rail buses, though, in some circumstances, affected customers are provided with a taxi service.”