Exclusive photos: How the Bombay Express from the Coast to Brisbane became a ghost train

The Bombay Express has become the Gold Coast’s ghost train. Photographs show the rail service to Brisbane is still to recover despite the easing of the COVID threat.

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THE Bombay Express has become the Gold Coast’s ghost train with patronage well down on last year - but the Queensland Transport Minister is hopeful of a rebound.

Photographs show the rail service to Brisbane is still to recover despite the easing of the COVID threat - and the images are backed by data showing patronage drops of more than 30 per cent.

Passengers have reached out to the Bulletin saying carriages are only about a third full in the peak morning runs.

Empty seats on the Gold Coast rail service to Brisbane in the morning peak hour.

Branded from the beginning “the Bombay Express” because it was so popular and crowded, smart commuters before COVID-19 chose to drive to the southernmost stations to secure a seat for the one-hour trip to the CBD.

A weekday commuter told the Bulletin: “The trains are about 30 per cent full, and that’s the 6.15am, the 6.30am and 6.45am which I catch.

“If you walk around Brisbane, the CBD itself, it’s underdone. There are fewer people. It has a knock-on effect. There’s a fallout for the cafes.”

Commuters believe the reason for low patronage is people continue to have health concerns about taking public transport despite the cleansing on carriages by Queensland Transport.

A quiet Helensvale train station at lunchtime. Picture Glenn Hampson

The other factor, they say, is many companies are still operating with just 20 per cent of staffers working in head offices — the policy for working from home unlikely to change.

In August last year on the Coast line, carriages were 60 per cent empty during peak services and 83 per cent during the non-peak.

TransLink data obtained by the Bulletin, which compares current patronage to the same time 12 months ago, reveals Coast train stations in the peak periods are recording 64.7 per cent of the 2020 number.

In the non-peak, the figure is 74.3 per cent. For south-east Queensland, peak hour is 70.7 per cent of the February 2020 patronage, and 77.8 per cent in the non-peak.

A quiet Helensvale train station at lunchtime. Picture Glenn Hampson

But Transport Minister Mark Bailey, aware of how patronage plummeted as much as 80 per cent in 2020 due to COVID, is buoyed by the numbers of people returning to public transport.

In early February, the south east recorded the most trips on public transport in a single day since the first COVID measures were introduced in March, he said.

“While other countries remain a standstill, in Queensland our economy is recovering and people are returning to the workplace and to school,” Mr Bailey told the Bulletin.

“I expect we’ll see that patronage continue to increase with university students returning to the classroom this week.”

The Government had ramped up cleaning of vehicles and stations, frozen fares for 2021 and added more services during the pandemic to accommodate social distancing, Mr Bailey said.

A quiet Helensvale train station at lunchtime. Picture Glenn Hampson

“And the continued rebound in patronage shows confidence in the measures we’re taking. We didn’t, and have no plans to, cut services to public transport because they’ve been vital to getting essential employees to and from the workplace,” he said.

“In fact, an additional 105 train services were also introduced and made permanent, while hundreds of additional bus services were added to the network.

“We’ve since added a service capacity tracker on the TransLink website which gives commuters an idea on whether there are seats available on their bus, tram, train or ferry – or whether they might want to take the next service just a few minutes later.”

TransLink has also launched a campaign to encourage commuters back onto public transport, and to play their part.

“That involves encouraging commuters to remember to keep up social distancing where possible, to bring a mask to wear if social distancing isn’t possible, and regularly washing their hands or using hand sanitiser,” Mr Bailey said.

“Public transport staff and operators have done an excellent job in keeping services running throughout the pandemic and making sure that it’s as COVID-safe as possible, but we need everyone to play their role.”

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