The head of the state’s public transport system has resigned.

Rail Commissioner Emma Thomas, who is also the deputy chief executive of public transport at the Department for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, will leave her role next month.

Thomas had held the role since June 2012.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis yesterday stressed he did not want Thomas to leave the job.

“In fact, I asked her to stay,” he told InDaily. “I think she’s a great loss. I’m very disappointed – she’s one of the finest public servants I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.”

Koutsantonis said she had decided to join her husband in Canberra, where he works.

When asked what kind of replacement he was looking for, he said: “I think she’s that hard to replace, we might just put Rod (Hook, department CEO) back in charge.”

He added that he’d be taking advice from the department about filling the role.

The department says there will be no impact on network operations as a result of Thomas’s resignation.

Meanwhile, the department has still not released quarterly performance statistics for Adelaide’s bus network.

The October-to December 2012 figures were released in February, but the January-to-March 2013 numbers still have not been released.

The department says it has not had time to compile the report because of changes to bus timetables which were made that month.

“With regards to the quarterly report, the department was focused on the May service changes and hasn’t completed the compilation of the report. It will be released shortly,” InDaily was told by a department spokesperson in early July.

– additional reporting David Washington