I was interviewed for the Sunday Tribune months ago on this, sadly the journalist got a little excited
What has changed is in the last month proof positive that the Mk4 ride problem has a very significant relationship with the track. Irish Rail laid about 2.5 miles of new UIC60 track between Portlaoise and Portarlington and the difference is amazing the Mk4 ceases to flop around and vibrate, everything goes quiet and it just glides. It actually behaves like it should, like a modern European long distance train.
The as delivered train had massive faults which should have been dealt with before passengers where carried, yes suspension bolts snapped, others where sheared off and the secondary suspension actually made the bumps worse. The partition doors still haven't been fixed, the doors give trouble and the automatic announcement system still gives trouble.
And the coaches don't do 300,000km per annum, well the odometers are just crossing 900,000km after 3 years 8 months, even if they did they need to do 325,000km to keep the Mk3 set idle
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