Tranz Metro Communications
Customer Communications review for the
Johnsonville Line
1. Purpose
The purpose of this document is
2. Background
“-Services on the JVL are experiencing delays of approximately 10 minutes due to slippery track
conditions. Updates to follow.”
This is an all too familiar text to Johnsonville Line passengers over the past year and a half.
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Slippery track conditions are the most common reason for disruptions on the Johnsonville Line,
particularly during the winter months. The grade of 1 in 36 on the steepest part of the line makes
the Johnsonville Line one of the steepest commuter lines in Australasia. When dew or overnight
frost settles on the tracks, this causes adhesion issues for the trains, which means that services
often struggle to keep up to the current timetable.
The fact that the Johnsonville Line is predominantly single line track compounds delays to
services, meaning that any small delay has a knock on effect, especially during the peak travel
periods. These small delays haven’t been factored into the current timetable
There are other factors that contribute to disruptions on the Johnsonville Line, such as operational
reasons, points and signal faults, land slips and mechanical faults just to name a few.
The key numbers:
• Between April and July, there were 58 days of service disruptions on the Johnsonville
Line.
• Of those 58 days, slippery track conditions accounted for 34 days.
• The YTD on time performance of the Johnsonville Line is currently sitting at 84 per cent.
Whilst overall customer satisfaction for our communications is still reasonably high, 72.4 per cent
as of May 2015, there has been a decrease in satisfaction when it comes to informed reasons of
delay. Just 53.5 per cent of customers surveyed believe that informed reasons of delay is at a
level of good, very good or excellent. Previously, customer satisfaction in this area was at 77.6 per
cent.
In all likelihood, many passengers are tired of hearing the same reason for delays for so long, and
some may think that slippery track conditions are no longer a valid reason. Also, some people are
being told by on board staff that the delays are caused by one thing (for example, slippery tracks)
and yet our text, emails and VIX messages are saying that it’s due to operational reasons. This is
obviously confusing for passengers and is frustrating many of them.
It is hoped that the new timetable that is scheduled to be implemented in late October will alleviate
delays caused by slippery track conditions, and other reasons for delays. However, we believe
that with some of the feedback and suggestions that we have received from passengers, we can
better communicate delays and disruptions on the Johnsonville Line
3. Customer feedback and suggestions
Below is some of the feedback that we have received from Johnsonville Line passengers over the
last year.
• Text for cancelled services sent too late or not being sent out at all when delays reach the
threshold.
• Bus replacements often late with no communications, so passengers think it’s not coming.
• Operational reasons in text and on-board are saying slippery track.
• Shipley’s making wrong announcements (e.g. announces the 5.24pm at 5.05pm)
• RTI boards showing trains 11 minutes away then arrives in a lot earlier or later.
• RTI boards showing wrong information, such as the scheduled train changing when the
previous had not been through yet.
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• During a slip disruption, RTI boards said shuttle between Ngaio and Johnsonville and
buses between Ngaio and Wellington. The word shuttle is confusing. Also, RTI boards not
clear on whether or not buses or trains are running.
Below are some of the suggestions we have received from passengers about how we can
communicate to them better and more efficiently.
• It could be grateful if you could run an audit to ensure that all delays are going into the
system.
• Many of the delays were put on the Tranz Metro text system as "operational reasons", but
when he asked train staff why they were late, the answer was slippery tracks. In our view,
the information given to passengers needs to be as accurate and consistent as possible.
• Surely if the system temporarily cannot show the correct information it would be better
switched off.
• It would be better if you said "train" instead of "shuttle", because it is not clear whether a
"shuttle" means a bus or a train, In fact, everybody went to wait at the bus stop and we
only made it because the driver saw us and happened to pick us up.
4. Proposal
To try and minimise the effect that delays have on the on time performance of the Johnsonville
Line, KiwiRail and Greater Wellington Regional Council trialled a new morning and afternoon peak
timetable last October that proved successful. The hope now is to have this timetable
implemented as soon as practicable, taking into account the roster changes and associated notice
periods, plus the availability of additional rolling stock.
Attached is a copy of the proposed new timetable for the Johnsonville Line. The main features
are:
• Morning Peak - An increase in journey time from 21 minutes to 23 minutes for services
travelling from Johnsonville to Wellington. Services from Wellington to Johnsonville will
now be scheduled to take 28 minutes. (the additional time is designed to allow recovery in
the timetable on services with lower patronage)
• Evening Peak - The timetable will reverse in the afternoon. Services from Wellington to
Johnsonville taking 23 minutes and services from Johnsonville to Wellington taking 28
minutes.
• Providing more regularity for passengers travelling during peak travel periods, with
services departing every 15 minutes from Johnsonville during morning peak, and every 15
minutes from Wellington during afternoon peak.
• An extra Friday night service (9.32pm), which would bring the Johnsonville Line into line
with both the Kapiti Line and Hutt Valley Line in terms of Friday night service coverage.
• To run this timetable we require a minimum of eight two car Matangi trains, which would
run as four, 4-car Matangi services. It is preferable that Matangi Mark 2 trains that have
wheel dampeners are used.
The graphic below displays the service pattern based on a 15 minute departure timetable
for the Morning Peak from 7.00am until 8.00am.
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5. Timeframe
Rolling stock and staffing
We have a proposed implantation date of Sunday 25 October. Below is a schedule of key dates
for tasks to be completed or implemented by our Operations and Service Support Team.
Operations tasks
Start date
Lead in
Completion date
time
Have the time table
Monday, 3 August
1 weeks
Friday, 7 August
agreed with GWRC
Start writing new roster
Monday, 10 August
3 weeks
Friday, 28 August
Consultation with roster
Monday, 31 August
2 weeks
Sunday, 13 September
representatives
Consultation with staff
Sunday, 13 September
6 weeks
Saturday, 24 October
Implementation of new
Sunday, 25 October
N/A
N/A
timetable
Tasks to be done in parallel with time table introduction
Operations tasks
Start date
Lead in
Completion date
time
New berthing/rolling stock
Thursday, 1 October
2 weeks
Wednesday, 14 October
arrangements
Communications
If we were to implement the new timetable on Sunday, October 25, KiwiRail would require a
minimum of four weeks to ensure that passengers are informed of the timetable change (Monday,
28 September). A further three weeks would be required from the implementation date to make
changes to both OMS and VIX Horizon, so that the Real Time Information system is able to track
services operating to the new timetable.
5. Costs
Whilst this proposal offers additional services, adding to customer satisfaction and potential
patronage growth, the costs of implementation are expected to be small. From the initial
assessment of the proposed timetable there are minimal impacts on staff numbers and the
additional vehicle km should not translate to extra maintenance costs due to the time based
maintenance limits prescribed by the Unit Maintenance Plan.
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6. Conclusion
It is expected that with a more realistic timetable, delays to services on the Johnsonville Line will
be minimised and our passengers will see improvement in the reliability of services. The new
timetable should alleviate the pressure that small delays cause to services and eliminate the
knock on effect that they have.
The different journey times, depending on the time and direction of the service, prioritises the
majority of passengers travelling during the peak travel periods, which makes this timetable
commuter friendly.
Providing Johnsonville Line passengers with services that depart on a clock face timetable will
create better certainty for passengers and falls into line with other commuter rail systems
throughout the world.
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Document Outline
