Probe into tram shutdown
Koalas get a grip on mateship
THESE cute and cuddly koalas just can’t bear to let each other go as they relax in their safe haven on the Gold Coast.
The bright-eyed bunch join more than 50 other koalas who permanently reside at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.
A l t h o u g h they’re known for spending most of their time sleeping and eating eucalyptus leaves, the tree-dwellers are occasionally coaxed down to the ground for a cuddle with sanctuary visitors.
Each year the Currumbin sanctuary’s hospital treats more than 250 injured or sick koalas, usually rescued by members of the public.
Queensland’s koala population has experienced a dramatic decline in recent years and the sanctuary was awarded a government grant to continue its efforts to save local koalas. AN engineer is conducting a thorough review of the Gold Coast tram system after data issues brought the network to a halt for more than four hours yesterday.
Light rail operator GoldlinQ believes the shutdown was caused by the same fault that stopped trams two hours last Wednesday, although the cause is yet to be determined.
An expert has been called in to review the communications system.
The trams were stopped about 10am yesterday when GoldlinQ became unable to monitor where the trams were, creating a safety issue.
In December, the trams were stopped for more than 48 hours because the same communication system was out but this is not believed to be linked to the most recent outages.
The December outage was caused by a lightning strike.
GoldlinQ CEO Phil Mumford said the affected network element had been identified.
“We understand how important reliable public transport is to our passengers and a specialist network engineering consultant has been brought in and has commenced a full, independent technical investigation,” he said.
The three most recent outages have all occurred during wet weather but Mr Mumford said that had no bearing on the tram system.
“Trams have been operating for almost three years in a wide range of weather conditions and a very small percentage of operating hours have been disrupted due to a technical fault resulting in a partial or full system shutdown,” he said.
Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Jackie Trad said the two most recent breakdowns were “very concerning”.
“This is the first time this sort of disruption has happened at this level and we will be investigating this,” she said.
“We’ll be getting a full report and if there’s any issues we need to pay attention to, we will,” Ms Trad said.
Hours into the outage, commuters were still arriving at tram stations expecting to use the service.
Southport technology worker Ihan Kariyawasan said he was unaware of the outage until he arrived at the platform.
“I guess I will have to find a taxi,” he said.