Capacity Kildare South

[Mark Gleeson]

The deal is the 2700 will return. They will cover Limerick and Ballina shuttle services. The 2700 is for more suited to regional work and may release an ICR or two

This will release the 2800 back to Dublin, that provides all current 4 coach trains at peak to move to 6 or 8 and may displace the ICR off the Maynooth line for use elsewhere.

The Phoenix Park tunnel service added 10-11 coaches to the morning/evening peak, but thats mostly entirely used up now. Not bad for a service Irish Rail said no one would use.

The original plan was to have DART services from Hazelhatch by now but the funding has never been released.

There are plans to order 41 more ICR coaches and up to 300 DART/hybrid coaches, but that depends on the NTA providing funding just to issue a tender let alone sign a contract.

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The deal is the 2700 will return. They will cover Limerick and Ballina shuttle services. The 2700 is for more suited to regional work and may release an ICR or two

This will release the 2800 back to Dublin, that provides all current 4 coach trains at peak to move to 6 or 8 and may displace the ICR off the Maynooth line for use elsewhere.

The Phoenix Park tunnel service added 10-11 coaches to the morning/evening peak, but thats mostly entirely used up now. Not bad for a service Irish Rail said no one would use.

The original plan was to have DART services from Hazelhatch by now but the funding has never been released.

There are plans to order 41 more ICR coaches and up to 300 DART/hybrid coaches, but that depends on the NTA providing funding just to issue a tender let alone sign a contract.

Taught it had been decided against in favor of 300 hybrid. If they did go for the 300 and possibly a few more then its 37+ 8 car units should ensure ICRs are completely removed off Maynooth, M3, N Commuter and PPT service.

Wonder if they would consider ordering a larger hybrid order with a modified config internally and fully diesel and operate Sligo/Longford/Rosslare and remove the ICRs fully out of Connolly if on board service levels are similar to 22s. Prob 20 units in Connolly at the minute and would cater for Heuston growth long term.

[berneyarms]

As far as I’m aware the 2700 refurb is on hold and may not even happen, and I am pretty sure that the 41 extra ICR coaches was vetoed by the NTA.

Rolling stock (or more precisely the lack of any new additions) is fast becoming the biggest issue facing Irish Rail and the NTA’s lack of action is coming home to bite.

We are looking like nothing until at least the end of 2020 and maybe even 2021.

An absolute disgrace.

[Mark Gleeson]

The 41 extra was the fastest solution as Irish Rail could have leveraged the existing contracts to buy more from Rotem, but the window on this was quite tight. The ICR is a known quantity so it would be a quick build to service time and all the paperwork with the CRR could be avoided.

The Hybrid thing is making progress quickly, we have spotted Irish Rail management on the walk around at the Innotrans in Berlin and know they are very interested in the offering of a specific company. We ain't fans a straight electric option is better, cheaper and we could have Maynooth Connolly wired up several years before any train would be here.

The 2700 fleet, well to get all the information IE want several hundred euro for an FOI so there is something afoot, a train dumped in a shed doesn't generate paperwork so there clearly is a lot of work gone on in the background.

[ThomasJ]

https://www.kildarenow.com/news/iris...l-lines/252966

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[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

https://www.kildarenow.com/news/iris...l-lines/252966

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As I suggested above - 2700s and ICR options vetoed by the NTA.

An utterly shambolic approach to investment in the railways and dealing with the rolling stock shortage.

[ThomasJ]

Completely agree. It's a disgrace.