Doomben (Pinkenba) Line Regular Passenger Trains Return
Leigh Kirwan (edaleighk.eda.gugc@gcstaff.ins.gu.edu.au)
Wed, 04 Feb 1998 15:07:35 +1000
I was surprised this morning on an inbound train
approaching Eagle Junction to hear the announcement
"Change at Eagle Junction for the Doomben Line" rather
than "...for the Doomben bus". Interesting I thought.
Although there have been moves to restore the passenger
service for some time, the sticking point seemed to be
that the Brisbane City Council bus service which
replaced the trains had a 5 year contract which doesn't
expire until Sep 98.
I headed back to EJ, arriving at 08:16 just in time to
see a 2400cl DEL and stainless steel cars heading off
the branch with a Roma St train.
On enquiry, I found that services had resumed (almost
secretly, it seems from Tuesday 27 January 1998 - the
day state schools resumed classes.
The service consists of a combination of hourly rail
services M-F with a bus from Doomben to EJ between
giving a roughly 30 min service. Some trains have a bus
connection at Doomben for Pinkenba.
The train I saw at EJ is the DEL and cars which starts
at Redbank and has been extended from Brunswick St to
Doomben arr 07:53, runs around and leaves again at 8:08.
(The DEL was long end leading this morning.) Although
there are a few other new peak hour services
commencing/terminating at Roma Street, most services
during the day are continuations of the Cleveland -
Bowen Hills services. As these run every 30mins, and
sit at Mayne long enough to run to Doomben and back,
it's hard to see why the buses are required to fill in
at all. Maybe it's to do with the unexpired contract.
Altogether there are 15 trains each way M-F, 4 on a Sat,
and none on a Sunday (although hourly buses run on the
weekend)
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Leigh Kirwan
Lecturer in Japanese
School of Languages and Linguistics,
Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus
PMB 50 Gold Coast Mail Centre 9726
Phone +61 7 5594 8612 Fax +61 7 5594 8634