Minister refuses to apologise for rail delays ahead of limited reprieve

Queensland’s transport minister has blamed the extended closure of a major Brisbane train line and issues with replacement buses on industrial action by electrical workers amid pay negotiations.

Train services are expected to resume on the city’s northside between Bowen Hills and Northgate on Thursday, bringing a reprieve to commuters caught up in long maintenance delays this week.

Minister Brent Mickelberg had been publicly absent during the delays, but held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon at which he blamed protected industrial action by the Electrical Trades Union over Easter for the delays, repeating previous claims by the government and Queensland Rail.

However, this was disputed by passengers, who accused the transport department of failing to supply enough buses to accommodate the usual number of commuters – particularly on Monday.

A total of 75 buses operated on the northside on Tuesday, compared with 260 on the southside. Almost 30 buses were then reallocated from within the rail replacement bus fleet to the northside to reduce waiting times.

Mickelberg refused to apologise to commuters for the delays, but acknowledged it had been a difficult period.

“We’ve sought to minimise the impacts on commuters wherever possible,” he said, explaining the closures were meant to occur at Easter, when the least number of people were using the network.

“It has been exacerbated, however, by the actions of certain unions, which have extended this closure.”

The minister said there were delays in powering down the overhead power cables in order for work to be done safely.

The government and union attended Fair Work Commission hearings over the Easter weekend, with the union told to undergo the work, Mickelberg said, adding the union had also committed to re-energise the lines to enable trains to run on Thursday.

Mickelberg said the track openings also meant freight trains would be able to travel north from Brisbane.

Meanwhile, the transport department has assured passengers that efforts have been made to meet demand amid coming track work on the southside, with buses to run between Varsity Lakes and Boggo Road stations from Thursday to Sunday.

From Monday to Friday next week, Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines will run as a combined service between Varsity Lakes and Banoon stations, and no trains will run between Banoon and Boggo Road stations.

The same is expected from April 27-30.

A department spokesperson said it would work closely with delivery partners during the works, and were sourcing hundreds of bus drivers from interstate.

“Service levels are continuously monitored, and TMR investigates options to deliver more services where demand is high,” the spokesperson said.

Replacement bus timetables used to manage the loss of train services this week were consistent with those used for previous, comparable track closures, according to the TMR.

An ETU spokesperson said it would not be commenting while the enterprise bargaining agreement was before the commission.

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