Customers are being urged to plan their travel in advance this weekend (27-28 April) with a major track closure in place as Queensland Rail carries out essential rail maintenance and improvement works on the network.
During the works all Northern lines except the Ferny Grove line will be closed from the first service on Saturday 27 April to the last service on Sunday 28 April to allow crews to safely perform works. Trains will resume as normal from the first service on Monday 29 April.
Queensland Rail Head of South East Queensland Neil Backer said there will be alternative transport in place in the form of rail buses during the closure that was planned more than 8-months ago.
"This closure will impact the Airport, Caboolture, Doomben, Redcliffe Peninsula, Shorncliffe and Sunshine Coast lines," Mr Backer said.
"We will have timetabled railbuses running to help customers get to where they need to be. These railbuses will run from Bowen Hills to Gympie North, Airport, Shorncliffe, Kippa Ring and Doomben stations, but please allow extra travel time.
"Our crews will use the closure for essential line maintenance, graffiti removal, vegetation control, platform and station maintenance and waterways inspections.
"We're also doing overhead line equipment maintenance, ballast undercutting, track resurfacing and progressing important elements for our station upgrade at Banyo, where screw piling and platform works will be underway.
"A number of Northern line stations will also undergo painting, cleaning and roof maintenance."
Mr Backer thanked the community for their patience and understanding during these important works.
"For our crews to be able to safely access the rail corridor to carry out this critical maintenance we need to ensure there are no trains running and many of these tasks need longer timeframes than our usual evening windows between last train and first train," Mr Backer said.
"Our rail network is transforming, and Queensland Rail is working hard to facilitate access to the tracks for important projects such as Cross River Rail. In addition, the regular maintenance and improvement works will ensure these lines will continue to connect communities safely and efficiently and we thank the community for their understanding.
"We understand there are a number of sporting and entertainment events on this weekend and we apologise for the inconvenience caused.
"Translink have been engaging with event organisers at Suncorp Stadium, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and People First Stadium Gold Coast to ensure they are aware of the impacts and that there are suitable transport options, including extra buses waiting at the venues once the event wraps up.
"We work hard to schedule these closures around periods of the least inconvenience to ensure we are running trains during major events like Riverfire and New Year's Eve."
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