• Almost 1.9 million trips were taken by Queensland Rail’s customers to concerts, sporting events and festivals last financial year.
• Queensland Rail ran more than 850 special services for 271 separate events in South East Queensland (SEQ).
• Special events planning happens in Queensland Rail’s Rail Management Centre (RMC) led by a dedicated ‘train buff’ who kicked off his career washing trains.
Almost 1.9 million Queenslanders caught the train to sporting events, concerts and festivals over the last 12 months, with thousands more jumping aboard charters and special services.
More than 850 extra train services were added to the tracks to support FY25 special events as well as dozens of extra private charter services, continuing a healthy trend out of the COVID-19 travel slumps of the past five years.
And the show goes on, with major events like the NRL finals, a thriving concert season, Queensland Rail’s 160-year birthday celebrations, Ekka, Riverfire, as well as the retirement of the beloved Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) connecting thousands of customers into FY26.
Special event train planning for the SEQ network happens in the hub of Queensland Rail’s Operations at the RMC and involves many months of meticulous graphing to plot out special services around regular scheduled trains, working around freight and accounting for any track closures.
Operational teams within the RMC and across stations and stabling yards coordinate boots on ground,delivering safe and reliable services to move customers where they need to go and manage any unplanned service disruptions.
The team is led by one of the rail operator’s many ‘train buffs’, Matt Green, whose boyhood dream of a career in rail led to work experience on the train control room floor and, eventually, a paid job cleaning trains.
“Work experience in year twelve at Queensland Rail got me hooked on watching the Network Control Officers at work,” Mr Green said.
“I took any job in Queensland Rail I could get, the first of which was in the presentation shed, making sure trains were clean and tidy, before I progressed as a Network Control Officer.
“I now lead the teams who plan out how those trains move around the network ensuring we have the right number of services for each event.
“In our planning we work out our network capacity, rollingstock and crew availability, then time everything out including how long customers will need to safely board a train, and how long is required between trains to reoccupy the platform – this is especially important when it is busy and we are moving
thousands of people around, to ensure the plan is safe and trains run on time.
“Working with our crewing teams from time to time we can match train drivers and guards to a particular special service, like the recent EMUs’ retirement run and an onboard art exhibition. The crew can then throw a bit of banter around and chat with the customers and overall, that makes for a fun atmosphere.
“Another consideration is working around planned maintenance and track closures for major projects, which is crucial. Track closures mean our network is safe and reliable and allow crews to do their works within the rail corridor safely.
“With track closures on most weekends and school holidays, it’s a very busy role, but when the work crews are kept safe and we are able to get the jobs done and then trains back running again you do feel like you’ve completed a huge puzzle. It is incredibly rewarding.”
Essential works during track closures are part of a once-in-a-generation transformation of South East Queensland’s rail network and include major projects such as Cross River Rail, Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail, Loganlea Station Relocation, the Ormeau rail facility as part of the Queensland Train Manufacturing Program, European Train Control System digital signalling, and general track maintenance.
ENDS