Queensland Rail jobs cut as maintenance work scrapped

Rail maintenance work the Labor opposition says would save hundreds of jobs in Maryborough did not represent value for money, Queensland Rail has revealed.

A war of words has erupted between the Opposition and the state government.

Rail maintenance work the Labor opposition says would save hundreds of jobs in Maryborough did not represent value for money, Queensland Rail has revealed.

Last week it was revealed of about 525 jobs at Downer’s Maryborough site, 35 would be lost by June and 86 others would go before the end of the year as projects reach completion and Queensland Rail rejects future work.

A war of words has since erupted between the government and opposition, with Labor leader Steven Miles on Thursday claiming a proposal rejected by Queensland Rail for a major overhaul of the diesel tilt train fleet would have sustained the 122 jobs.

“The tilt trains are really important for our outback communities and particularly for outback tourism, they are dated and need to be refurbished, so that, in and of itself, would be good value,” Mr Miles said. “The fact that you could save 120 jobs here in Maryborough as well … that makes it make sense, as far as we are concerned.”

A Queensland Rail spokesman said the proposal from Downer was not approved because “it did not represent value for money” and was verified by an independent estimator.

“Queensland Rail is now rescoping the Diesel Tilt Train overhaul project.

“Downer will then have the opportunity to undertake this work via a fair tender process,” the spokesman said.

It is understood internal investigations showed only five white-collared jobs would be affected by rejecting the proposal.

Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg on Thursday said Labor was running a “scare campaign” and that the state government did not make operational decisions for Queensland Rail.

“Major investment decisions are the decision of the government, and I have made no decision,” Mr Mickelberg said.

“In fact, I’ve had no role in this decision by Queensland Rail.”

“For Steven Miles to spread fear and seek to politicise this sort of incident, is simply unacceptable, and I’m not going to stand for it.”

Originally published as Queensland Rail jobs cut as maintenance work scrapped