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Category: Rail Transport / Public Sector / State Parliament

QR chief operating officer Kevin Wright quits

Thursday, 29 Dec 2016 10:27:58

Kevin Wright was chief operating officer and responsible for train driver rostering. (LinkedIn: Kevin Wright)

Queensland Rail's (QR) chief operating officer Kevin Wright has resigned in the face of continuing network problems as a result of a driver shortage across the state's south-east.

Mr Wright headed the department responsible for driver rostering.

A train driver shortage has led to hundreds of service cancellations since October, including 235 on Christmas Day.

The ABC understands Mr Wright was asked to resign earlier this week, and that he will not be receiving a severance payout.

However, Robert Dow from the lobby group Rail Back on Track said Mr Wright was already past retirement age and would have been expected to retire within the next one to two years.

Last month, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk increased the powers of QR investigator Philip Strachan after she expressed "outrage" that QR was stonewalling Mr Strachan's search for information about the network's failings.

The probe was ordered after hundreds of train services were cut and timetables were thrown into chaos when the Redcliffe Peninsula Line, north of Brisbane, opened in October.

The Strachan Commission of Inquiry report is due by the end of January, while a report on the Christmas Day rail cancellations is due to be handed to Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe by the end of this week.

It is understood further changes to QR management are likely in response to the Strachan report.

A spokesperson for Mr Hinchliffe would make no comment on Mr Wright's resignation, saying staffing arrangements at QR "were a matter for Queensland Rail".

Late yesterday, Mr Hinchliffe expressed with "great confidence" there would be enough train crews to run rail services during New Year's Eve celebrations in the south-east.

"I've been absolutely reassured by the briefing I've had today and the work that's been going on for some months in relation to what is always seen as a peak event for passengers on the Queensland Rail network," he said.

A letter from Qld Rail CEO announcing the resignation Infographic: A letter from acting QR CEO Jim Benstead announcing the resignation. (Supplied)

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