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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-08 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

NOARLUNGA TRAIN BREAKDOWN

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:48): I rise to remind the house of a disgraceful situation that occurred last week on the Noarlunga train when the 4.48 train—fortunately, not packed as usual—left Adelaide Railway Station on time—which is unusual—and broke down just past Marino Rocks Railway Station. We can understand that old trains break down. That situation is forgivable, because we have some old trains. There are plans—which may extend to 2018—to get some new trains. When these old trains do break down, one would expect plans to be in place to get people off or to get the trains moving.

It was an absolute disgrace. It was disorganised, dangerous and a disgrace. The people were left for up to four hours on the train. It was described to me in an email as 'the 4.48 hostage express to Noarlunga' last Tuesday. I have received an email from a fellow which describes some of the events that occurred. The email states:

Yep I was trapped on the 4.38 'Hostage Express' to Noarlunga on Tuesday evening. I escaped at 7.30pm by others forcing the door open. I read The Advertiser today [and] saw the rest of the commuter hostages were not released by TransAdelaide until 8.45pm. Noted also in The Advertiser article last paragraph that 'TransAdelaide advised that customer service and safety were a priority for passengers'.

This is what this man said:

What absolute 'crap'!!!!!!! (Apologies for the use of this word, must still be a bit traumatised). Either the 'penny hasn't dropped' or 'TransAdelaide are in a state of denial'. The driver would not open the doors, I understand people relieved themselves in corners etc., how embarrassing, I wonder how traumatised they still are. The driver even announced at one time he was going home. I think he was trying to be funny!!!!!!!!!

The email continues:

It was quite possible to escape or should I say disembark in an ordered manner, there were no steep embankments, cliffs etc when the train did finally stop. The only problem was that TransAdelaide were grossly incompetent to organise an ordered disemarkment of passengers. If a train was brought from behind at 8.30 and passengers transferred...why was this not done in the first hour rather than four hours later. There is no excuse [for] 'gross incompetence'.

Why are there no developed contingency plans when this happens, again 'gross incompetence'. If the train had crashed derailed etc emergency services would have been there within the hour, when a breakdown occurs it is four hours.

'Heads must roll, formal apologies must be made.' TransAdelaide must strategically learn from this debacle. There must be a formal apology from the minister to the commuters on this train. Commuters or trapped hostages must get compensated with free travel if they are still willing to travel on this 3rd world and grossly incompetent rail system.

Will apologies be made, [will] compensation happen?

Will a report be tabled before this house, because that is what the opposition is calling for? We want a full, open and honest report on this, not just the precis, the edited highlights of the report, as we saw with the Melbourne Cup tram derailment. We did not get that full report. We still do not know all the issues around this. This was a disgraceful episode the other night. People are phoning and emailing my office telling me what went on. I understand that even the train that was driven up behind had problems, which compounded the difficulties.

Mechanics were taken out there from Adelaide. The excuse was that it was rush hour and it took them an hour to get there. What happens when we move the rail car depot, together with the mechanics and brake fitters, from Adelaide to Dry Creek? Will it take two hours for them to respond? I would like to know why it was that, in the end, the driver did allow some passengers to disembark. A lady was there who was extremely claustrophobic. The driver, I understand, assisted her to get off the train. He thought it was safe. There were people who jumped off the train and then wandered off up the track.

I spoke to one brave passenger last Thursday morning who was getting on the train at the Hallett Cove Railway Station, and that person said to me, 'This is not the first time this has happened.' Apparently, last year the train broke down for two hours. Again, they prised open the doors, jumped off and got home under their own steam. It is not good enough for this to be happening. I say that we can forgive old trains breaking down. What we cannot forgive is the incompetence that has been shown by the minister in not having plans in place to cope with this situation.

We saw the derailment at the Adelaide Railway Station. We have seen the breakdowns, we have seen the buckled tracks and we have seen instances in the past where passengers have been inconvenienced in a terrible fashion, and what have we seen from this government? We have seen fake sincerity.

Time expired.

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