Bridge work ends seven weeks early

Zane Jackson | 10th November 2009

TRAINS will resume services between Rosewood and Ipswich tomorrow after maintenance work on the Sadliers Crossing bridge finished seven weeks earlier than scheduled.

Transport Minister and Member for Ipswich Rachel Nolan yesterday said the repainting work on the bridge finished early thanks to extra QR staff.

“Good weather and the re-allocation of maintenance staff to fast track this project has allowed QR to halve the time needed to repaint the bridge,” Ms Nolan said. “I’m pleased that QR has been able to do this and it will be the Ipswich commuters that will benefit.”

The bridge – one of the oldest still in use in Queensland – had been closed for repainting from September 28.

Off-peak services between Rosewood and Ipswich were replaced by buses during the repainting to allow the bridge’s old lead-based paint to be removed safely.

Ms Nolan also said she was pleased that delays on the Ipswich line after the weekend’s track work – predicted by Robert Dow from train lobby group Rail Back on Track – did not eventuate yesterday.

Mr Dow said the speed in which QR did the work should be applauded, but said a peak hour afternoon gap between Ipswich and Rosewood should be addressed.

Mr Dow also called on QR to consider plans to compensate passengers who face regular delays on their train service.

“Most people will think it’s reasonable for a delay ever now and then, but if they become a regular occurrence then passengers should be compensated,” he said.

“Train passengers in Melbourne with long-term tickets receive a free day’s travel if disruptions have caused their service to run below a certain target. A system like that could be replicated here.”

Ms Nolan said there were no plans to introduce a compensation system.

“Our efforts are going into making the system better and that’s working,” she said.

“Further, any such scheme would have to be paid for. While Victoria is used as an example in this case, Victorian public transport is substantially dearer than ours. There, commuters pay 35% of the real cost of transport, in Queensland it’s 25%.”