Queensland Rail has announced it will add 200,000 seats and 430 additional weekly services to South East Queensland routes from July 29.
The operator will also upgrade a further 59 existing services from three- to six-carriage trains through the rollout of the New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) fleet being developed with manufacturer Bombardier.
The plans follow on from previous incremental improvements dating back to December 2018.
Queensland Rail chief executive officer Nick Easy said that from this date the company would restore the 8,290 services a week that had been promised for the opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula line that opened in October 2016. Since that time, the program has benefitted from 172 new drivers, with a further 79 trainee drivers currently in training.
“An incredible amount of work has taken place behind the scenes to ensure Queensland Rail can deliver these improvements for customers reliably and sustainably, underpinned by the largest driver recruitment and training program in Queensland Rail’s history,” Easy said.
The CEO added that the Queensland Government’s Citytrain Response Unit had already executed extensive “operational readiness and planning activities” in preparation for the changes.
“Delivering a new timetable is a complex task which requires the consideration of a range of interconnected logistics beyond the availability of traincrew, including the planning, stabling and maintenance of trains, rostering and daily train movements,” Easy added.