Irish Rail to order lots of Dart Carriages

[Mark Hennessy]

Potential good news for once :)

This has been out for tender for a good while, if this gets the go-ahead the case for electrification for Dublin suburban lines should be sealed.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1028/1225061111288.html


IARNRÓD ÉIREANN has shortlisted suppliers for a new order of more than 430 Dart carriages.

The tender will be the largest carriage order ever placed by the company. Announcing the move at the weekend, it said its multi-annual funding for Transport 21 projects "had continued apace" in the recent Budget.

[ThomasJ]

That is great news!

What is the timespan of the shortlist announcement to the contracter winner to the eventual delivery of carriages?

[Mark Gleeson]

Classic slow news day

They went out to tender in July 2007, deadline for registering your interest was August 2007

So it took them 14 months to figure out which of the bidders to select for the next round. There are 4 bidders and its so hard to guess which 4 it will be, odds are the French crowd ain't one of the them, that leaves the UK, Spain, Germany and Japan/Korea, as we aren't naming companies

No contracts signed, until the day they do, this is nothing more than a pr stunt

[Trampas]

will have no drivers to drive them

[Mark]

New depot needed too, wonder where?

[Thomas J Stamp]

will have to be along the line, pelletstown, out past Clondalkin/Nangor road.... of course there is also Inchicore

[Mark Gleeson]

Somewhere near Maynooth is on the list. Inchicore is probably a good guess as well

Parked back to back 432 coaches is 9km long!

[ccos]

Parked back to back 432 coaches is 9km long!

Does this mean I can board at Tara street and get off in Raheny without the train leaving???????

[Colm Moore]

Does this mean I can board at Tara street and get off in Raheny without the train leaving???????No, you'll have to use the wheelchair ramp to change trains north of Connolly. :D

[Jack O'Neill]

Forgive my ignornance, just back from Jupiter, should have gone to Specsavers and all that - but what's wrong with the "French" Dart trains (just for info)

[Mark Gleeson]

Forgive my ignornance, just back from Jupiter, should have gone to Specsavers and all that - but what's wrong with the "French" Dart trains (just for info)

They are probably the biggest pile of junk the Irish taxpayer paid for. French company, but built in Spain. Not one of the tenders thankfully.

[dowlingm]

Why are we being so coy? Does *l*t*m have a crack team of legal beagles?

[Mark Gleeson]

Why are we being so coy? Does *l*t*m have a crack team of legal beagles?

A wide range of equipment which was built in the mid to late 1990's had less than impressive performance, throw going bankrupt and getting fished out by the French Gov. Fact is when in service numerous sit down failures occurred. In simple terms they didn't come close to matching the performance requirements, despite having a significant technical advantage. Compare that to the Japanese first time in Europe, worked and the entire fleet is regularly in service at the same time

Several months out of service last year, currently out of service again. Shakes like mad when in service, doors give trouble. As a result the Uk experience the massive Mk1 contract went to the Germans who delivered a kick ass piece of train on time and it works

Get the feeling that 432 includes replacements for the 10 dodgy coaches. One good thing Irish Rail have done is focused on getting reliable trains, some of the manufacturers 'don't get it' and thats the CEO of Irish Rail's official comment on the situation