New Intercity fleet finally arrives

[Mark Gleeson]

The first coach was placed on the rails earlier this morning

As always Platform 11 is first with the news and have the very first photo of the new intercity fleet in Ireland

http://www.platform11.org/news/news....2007&no=1.html



With thanks to the crew who sat it out in the rain

[hhf8]

thought the livery would tie in with the cde,thats a No then?

[Mark Gleeson]

Its more or less the same colours

The blue van hides the new long swish of the logo

[Mark Hennessy]

Looks very snazzy, hope it will go into service without any mechanical/union/makey-up problems.

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Is that really large luggage/bike space or what? (the windowless section after the door on the right hand pic?)

[Mark Gleeson]

Thats where the toilet is or the corridor to the side of the toilet, its very Mk4 on board.

Rain spoiled the later photos

It looks fantastic, nearly all the seats have full tables and they all line up with the windows bar the seats at the coach ends. Seats are dark navy in colour, the tables seem to be a off white green tint. The grab on the seat back is grey. Celling is more or less indentical to the Mk4

We still have the only photos

[StephenM]

Nice looking things alright! Any word on those new fangled gadgets called "Sockets" pretty rare items on any other stock.

[essoII]

very nice!! will these inter-city trains be independent in power? as in will they need 201 Class locos or have they got reverse power? why do the other kind need a 201 Class on one end actually?

[Derek Wheeler]

Yep, they work under their own power. As they're railcars, the oul engine is under the floor of some coaches. They are supposed to be a fancier version of existing commuter railcars. Higher speeds, more comfy etc.

[Mark Gleeson]

If you look carefully here right end of the coach on the right you can just about see the exhaust silencer of the engine
http://www.platform11.org/images/22000/image_3.jpg

Each coach has a 520hp MTU engine good for 100mph

The only time these will need a locomotive in front is on the way from the docks to the depot. That said IE hid the locomotive this afternoon when the bus full of IE heads arrived and I mean bus as in double decker

[Derek Wheeler]

From the boys in Connolly.

First Trains of 183-Carriage InterCity Order Arrive by Corporate Communications



FIRST TRAINS OF €400 MILLION 183-CARRIAGE INTERCITY ORDER ARRIVE

New Intercity trains for every route on network

LARGEST EVER ORDER OF TRAINS FOR IRELAND

Greenest diesel fleet in Europe

Commuter routes also benefit from new trains

The first 12 carriages of a record 183-carriage order of new Intercity railcar trains for Iarnród Éireann have arrived at Dublin Port today.

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen TD and CIÉ Chairman Dr John Lynch were amongst the first to see the new €400 million fleet of trains, as they arrived from Rotem’s factory in Changwon, Korea.

Together with a previous order of 67 carriages now operating hourly services on the Cork-Dublin route, the new fleet will transform Ireland’s Intercity rail fleet from the oldest in the European Union to the newest by the end of next year. The Intercity railcar order is funded by the Irish Government under the Transport 21 investment programme.


Following a period of testing and commissioning, they will begin the process of transforming fleet across the network from this autumn, when they will begin entering service on the Sligo-Dublin route. The entire fleet will be delivered and phased into service through 2007 and 2008.

Quality, comfort and frequency are set to improve on every single route on the radial Intercity network, courtesy of the 183-carriage fleet, namely:

- Sligo/Dublin - Rosslare/Dublin

- Waterford/Dublin - Westport/Dublin

- Tralee/Dublin - Tralee/Cork

- Galway/Dublin - Limerick/Dublin

The 183 carriage Intercity railcar order will lead to frequency improvements across the rest of the network as follows, when all trains are in service in late 2008:

ROUTE
FREQUENCY

Dublin – Cork
Hourly all day (in operation Jan 07))

Dublin – Limerick
Hourly peak, every two hours off-peak – mix of direct and shuttle services to/ from Cork service

Dublin – Galway
Hourly peak, every two hours off-peak

Dublin – Waterford
Every two hours all day

Dublin – Sligo
Every two hours all day

Dublin – Westport
5 services per day - mix of direct trains and shuttle services Athlone-Westport, connecting to Galway service

Dublin – Tralee
Mix of through services and shuttle service Mallow-Tralee connecting to / from Cork service giving an overall 2 hourly service. (in operation Jan 07)

Dublin-Rosslare
Additional services to Arklow/Gorey/Wexford

Branch lines
Additional services



Commuter services will also benefit

In addition, the arrival of the trains will provide a boost to capacity for the wider Commuter area.

They will provide additional capacity and comfort for longer-distance commuter services from Carlow, Athlone and Portlaoise, and they will also allow existing modern carriages in use on the Sligo and Rosslare lines to be redeployed on routes such as the Drogheda and Maynooth commuter lines, where demand is growing at record levels.

The fleet was ordered from Mitsui of Japan, in partnership with Rotem of the Republic of Korea and Tokyu Car Corporation of Japan.


Features of new fleet

Benefits to customers will include:

- Significantly higher frequency and capacity on all InterCity routes

- Modern on-board comfort standards

- The replacement of outdated fleet across the network

- Improved accessibility for mobility-impaired customers

- Better reliability and performance, with integral engines in each carriage


Features of the Intercity railcar fleet will include:

- Automatic PA and information display systems

- Fully air-conditioned

- Internal CCTV system for improved security

- Modern catering facilities

- Individual base seating

- Sleek carriage design

- Advanced safety features throughout

In a new departure for Iarnród Éireann’s Intercity fleet, the new trains are railcars, with integral engines in each carriage – this delivers greater reliability and performance, as well as operational flexibility. Trains are in 3-car and 6-car sets, with seating for 192 customers and 378 customers respectively.

Eco-friendly fleet

It has also been revealed that the new Intercity railcar fleet will be the greenest diesel train fleet in Europe.

The European Union are set to impose stringent new emission standards for rail vehicles, which are already the most environmentally sustainable form of travel.


Iarnród Éireann’s new fleet already meets the Stage 3B EU emission limits for nitrous oxides (2.0g/kWh), a limit which will not be enforced until 2012. They also meet the Stage 3A limit for soot particles, of 0.2g/kWh, which will be enforced from 2009. The new green engine technology has been developed by MTU of Friedrichshafen, Germany,

Iarnród Éireann’s fleet transformation comes at a time of record demand for rail services, with 43.1 million journeys made on the country’s rail network last year.

The figures confirm Iarnród Éireann’s status as the fastest growing railway in the European Union. The Cork-Dublin route has already benefited from a previous fleet order, with hourly services now operating on the route each way. These improvements, along with this brand new fleet order, and initatives such as the opening of Docklands and Adamstown Stations in the coming weeks, are set to see the record growth in passenger demand continue.

CIÉ Chairman Dr John Lynch said of the new trains “with this record order of new trains for our network, every single rail customer with Iarnród Éireann will be able to travel on modern, quality trains, designed with the latest customer needs in mind. The transformation of our rail service is extraordinary – we have totally rebuilt our network, we have dramatically expanded commuter capacity, and now we are completing the task of a total renewal of our Intercity fleet.

With record demand, and the best performance levels ever achieved on our network, we will continue to grow with the investment support from the Irish Government under Transport 21, to allow our rail services play the strongest possible role in meeting the transport needs of our customers and our communities.”

Long, isn't it?

Anyway, a P11 member hiding in a ditch, spotted a DB double decker (on charter) carrying all the honchos from IE hq down to the scene of the crime against gricers. Shortly afterwards as he left, he spotted a black merc pulling up. His automatic assumption was that the Minister had arrived on the scene. (couldn't possibly have him on an oul bus now could we?) But alas, it appears that once you reach the chair of CIE, a bus is not worthy of you either. Senor Lynch, YES, the chairman of CIE (who? what?) who stayed silent all those years and now never misses an opportunity to smile, say cheese and talk ****** apparently emanated from the said black merc.

[Mark Gleeson]

Report in they are moving very slowly towards Drogheda.

And its running at least 35 minutes late but that should come as no surprise to anyone. Report received indicates the IE photo team had set up to photo the train alas a DART rolled infront and blocked the shot

[ThomasJ]

Any odds on minister cullen sitting on 22001 in platform 1 in docklands station come monday morning.

[robdrysdale]

They passed me by (held me up really) at 18:45 yesterday evening as they crossed over East Wall Road. Bit of a silly time to be doing the crossing but anyway.

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

Any odds on minister cullen sitting on 22001 in platform 1 in docklands station come monday morning.

Come to think about it a intercity railcar will be in Docklands from sometime over the weekend, not joking

[sean]

Question: can the 22000s use Biodiesel? What does the warranty say about it?

[dowlingm]

Presumably a trials period/run in starts now? How many km will it have to put up before it goes in-service?

[Rushed2nowhere]

Just wondering what's are the fuel consumption figures and how many grams of CO2 do they emit per kilometre?
Could any station in Ireland take a 9 coach train?
Also could these new carraiges run in Northern Ireland once they have passed their testing in the Republic Of Ireland?

[Mark Gleeson]

Its a MTU 1800 390Kw
http://www.mtu-online.com/en/pres/pr...544/press1464/

The first 6 sets are equipped for operations in Northern Ireland

Standard intercity platform length is 8 23m coaches plus loco which is equivalent to 9 23m coaches, secondary routes the length is 174m which could take a 7 coach intercity railcar (23m) or a 8 coach suburban (20.5m)