Category A incidents range from serious cargo loss to major incidents such as derailments.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said in the first 12 months since the new state government was elected there was a 10% drop in category A safety incidents compared to the final year under the previous government.

“The last three months under former transport minister and now Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk were the worst transport safety figures since July to September 2009,” he said.

In the final year under Labor there were 126 safety incidents, compared to 114 between April 2012 and March 2013, under the LNP government.

“We’ve managed to return rail reliability from a three-year low in January to March 2012 to an eight-year high,” Emerson said.

“Staff numbers in corporate areas such as corporate services, marketing and finance increased by between 60-120% over the last two years under Labor.

“I’ve told Queensland Rail to refocus its business on providing more train crew to deliver 150 additional weekly services and reduce the number of back office staff.

“At the same time we are continuing to ensure the network is safe, with the department’s rail safety regulator maintaining five investigators – the same number as under Labor.”