A communications blackout that grounded Queensland Rail's southeast network at peak hour has been labelled "not good enough" by the government.
Commuters were left stranded on Wednesday when all trains came to a halt between 5pm and 6.30pm because of a power failure at its Brisbane telecommunications facility.
The chaos caused a backlog of delays that continued through the night, but all services had returned to normal on Thursday.
Acting Transport Minister Steven Miles pulled no punches about the latest QR bungle, saying there was "no doubt" management knew the government and customers expected better.
"This isn't good enough; this is a very disappointing outcome," he said on Thursday.
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"It's now up to QR to investigate and determine how they can avoid it happening again."
Chief executive officer Nick Easy apologised and moved to reassure commuters a thorough review would ensure the incident wasn't repeated.
"It was a terrible evening for our customers and also QR," he said on Thursday.
"We will fix this. It's very important that we learn from these experiences."
Mr Easy, who took on the top job with the embattled rail provider earlier this year, said QR would also aim to improve communication with customers.
It followed claims some travellers feared there had been a security breach.
Dr Miles said Queenslanders had a right to be concerned about its rail network following the latest debacle, but dismissed suggestions it could not cope with increased patronage during next year's Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
"I think the fact that this morning the network was back up and running - basically at 100 per cent efficiency, no cancellations - indicates that QR is getting better at recovering from situations like this," he said.
"But there is no doubt being ready for the Commonwealth Games is a significant challenge.
"QR is a key part of that transport plan. There are lots of people working to ensure that they are ready to service the demand for the Commonwealth Games."
Opposition Transport Spokesman Andrew Powell used the incident to again take aim at the government over its handling of QR, saying commuters deserved better.
"They just want the trains to turn up at the platform on time," he said on Thursday.
Mr Powell said QR's decision to refund commuters was the least it could do, but it was for the government to decide if taxpayers should foot the bill.
