1. Rail is way more fuel efficent that road
2. Most of the fleet either is euro 3 standard or will be within a year
3. Irish Rail's fleet is conservative in weight and power, UK trains are over weight and carry around way too much horsepower resulting in heavy fuel consuption
Privately owned is where the problem is
The jury is out as to actual benefits of bio fuel since it has to be produced by some rather intensive farming practices.
Latest reports in the engineering journals reports a collapse in performance beyond a 20% blend in a demanding railway application.
There are rumours of trials in Ireland but nothing concrete.
Just to note the DART is power by airtricity as far as I know
|