Belair Train Service

Mr DULUK (Davenport) (15:12): My question is again to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. What caused the boom gates along the Belair line to fail and remain stuck down on 22 January this year?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:12): As I have reported to the house previously, there has been a need to upgrade some of the signalling infrastructure across the Adelaide metro train network. Once again, I am happy to report to the house that the Treasurer did provide some extra funding—$12 million over two years—to accelerate the replacement of signalling infrastructure across the metropolitan train network.

One of the lines we have invested that effort heavily into was the Belair line. That has meant that certainly in the last six months of last year we saw a marked increase in the reliability of train services on the Belair line. I think that's an improvement from the order of, on average, 92 or 93 per cent of on-time running to a period of consistent on-time running in the order of 97 to 98 per cent. It is a very significant percentage improvement.

Mr Duluk: How much did you spend on the Belair line?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The member for Davenport now wants to change his question from asking what happened with the boom gates to asking how much. Perhaps he is only interested in the short-term gratification that question time may bring him. I am just here to respond to the question I was asked, and the question I was asked was: what caused that?

The advice I received (indeed, I seem to recall signing a letter to the member for Davenport; perhaps he hasn't caught up with his paperwork) was that there was an interruption internally within the signalling system that caused those boom gates to do what is called 'failing to safe'. When there is an interruption with the operation of any part of the signalling network, the affected part of the signalling network will ensure that those boom gates come down so there is a reduced risk of interaction between road vehicle traffic or other people in the area—for example pedestrians and cyclists—and train movements. That is what happened on that particular date in January.

The SPEAKER: Is there any taker for the 50^th opposition question of question time?