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March 14th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Queensland’s transport minister says she’s angry about a second major disruption to train services in less than three weeks.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has apologised to commuters who faced delays during peak hour services on Wednesday.
“I’ve asked Queensland Rail for a full investigation and I’ll be meeting with the CEO of Queensland Rail today,” Ms Palaszczuk told ABC Radio.
“I share commuters’ frustration. I’m angry about it.”
A major power outage between Roma Street and Milton took out signalling, halting some services from 5.53am (AEST).
Commuters on the Ipswich, Gold Coast, Beenleigh and Cleveland lines experienced delays of up to half an hour. The problem was fixed by 7am, but the knock-on effects lasted longer than that.
Less than three weeks ago another electrical fault stopped trains passing through Brisbane’s major city stations.
Thousands of passengers were stranded and herded on to taxis and buses, spreading the problem to the roads.
The government announced a free day of public transport travel to ease commuter anger, but there was no similar promise after Wednesday’s drama.
Ms Palaszczuk said she understood commuters would be feeling frustrated, and she wanted to get to the bottom of what happened.
But she rejected suggestions an historic under-investment in maintenance was to blame.
“No, I don’t think so,” she said.
She said Queensland Rail’s maintenance budget had risen from $53 million in 2008/09 to $84 million this financial year, and noted the state had one of the largest rail networks in the world.
Major maintenance programs that shut down parts of the network were carried out four times a year, she said.
Opposition transport spokesman Scott Emerson said disruptions were becoming common, and the service was sub-standard even though fares had risen sharply in recent years.
“The reality is the service is not good enough on Queensland public transport … and passengers are walking away from public transport because of that,” Mr Emerson told ABC Radio.
Premier Anna Bligh was also angry about the latest problem, but said there would be no fare-free day to compensate inconvenienced commuters this time.
“This is not good enough,” she told reporters at Barcaldine.
“I am very, very angry again about how this has happened.
“I’m very pleased that it didn’t interfere or stop peak hour traffic on the rail and bus network.
“But I know there were some commuters who were inconvenienced.
“We are working with Translink so we can make sure those people … weren’t penalised on their Go Cards.”
Greens candidate Adam Stone, who is contesting Deputy Premier Andrew Fraser’s seat of Mt Coot-tha, said the latest “stuff-up” showed how badly the public transport system had been managed.
He said the Greens were fighting for a faster, more affordable and more extensive public transport network, while Labor and the LNP were promoting an unsustainable car culture.
“Both old parties (are) looking to further subsidise car use by freezing rego, while simultaneously putting up public transport fares year on year,” he said in a statement.
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