Intercity Railcars now running on Limerick Route
 

Has been some talk of this for some time however no proof until now

5:35, 14:15 ex Limerick and 11:25 and 17:25 ex Heuston

IE have pulled first class off the seat reservation system

No confirmation of this actually happening

Just in Heuston now. The 17:25 is one of the new ones. They look good from the outside.

Do they need to keep a limerick driver or two current or is that the reason ?

The entire fleet is based out of Limerick currently so its easier to run them from there reliably, the first trip to Sligo was political more than anything else

There is a urgent push to kill the remaining Mk2d coaches from service

Rosslare line has always been conditional on the signaling being in place and since it wasn't and the railcars where not ready it will have to wait till December 2008, that said likely to appear on some services before that

We've known since October that they could turn up just about anywhere during their initial deployment. We were banking on a mid-afternoon trip ex-Dublin, not a rush hour service. That said, the 1725 loading has been reduced a bit in the new timetable.

I imagine the loading has been reduced because of the removal of the stops at Naas/Sallins and Newbridge?

Interesting is that when you go and look at the detail for the 1725 it still lists first class.

Anybody know why no first class available. Is it available on the Sligh route?

Because there are no first class seats

Pardon my ignorance but why are there no first class seats? Did somebody forget to order them?:)

3 car version has no first class or kitchen
6 car version has 36 first class seats plus a kitchen

No 6 car sets have yet arrived, 6 more 3 car sets to be delivered first

Thank you Mark for that info.

Got this train from Portaloise this morning (6.51 am).

Not very impressed to be honest. Okay .... nice and shiny and new-looking.

But a tight squeeze ..... not much leg room ...... heating not working properly .... not a comfortable journey.

I'm told that the doors wouldn't open one of the evenings last week. I'm told that IE have the services of the engineers from Korea for a year to fix any faults.

It only seems suitable for short journeys.

We have had no complaints on leg room, it is better than on the Mk4. Its much much easier get in and out of the seats as the armrests lift up and you still get a decent table. We have measurements

The AC/Heating is a problem more to do with finding the correct setting, that takes time and IE are aware of that issue, the Mk4 and the 29k suffered from that

There is a report of a defective door on one service last week, nothing unusual in that doors are always in the top 5 faults on any train. Its the first in service fault which puts the MPC at about 5500 miles which for month 1 is fairly stunning

The manufacturers (or sub contractors on there behalf) will be travelling on the train for some time to shake out bugs and to train staff in identifing faults and so it. This is totally normal.

Having spent over 6 hours on board my only complaint its the lighting is a little harsh in dark conditions

Is it possible to buy a coffee on the 3 car version?

There is a space for a trolley on the 3 car version

Booking engine
 

Am I doing something wrong or is there a problem with the booking engine?
I have tried to book the 11.25am Dublin/Limerick on January 24th.
The only option available is ticket only but when I select this option, I get the following response...."in order to proceed at least one reservable leg of your journey must be selected". Well the system does not allow me to select anything except ticket only. The same applies to the 1325 service. There is no porblem with the 0925 or with any trains via Limerick Junction.

It's exactly what it says - you have to be reserving a seat if you want to buy ticket online. It's a crap system from that point of view.

I don't think there are reservable seats on the new railcars at the moment.

This has been covered before I think.

Not only is it impossible to reserve a seat, it is not even possible to buy a ticket online for the srvices operated by the new rail cars.

The online system is for seat reservations not ticket sales, so you will see "Search Reservations for", "proceed to reservations" etc

Irish Rail have learned a leason from the past and have taken all the intercity railcar operated services off the reservation system until they settle down in service

Back in 2006 there was all class of fun and games when the Mk4 train would be replaced by something else causing serious chaos as the reserved seats didn't exist

Thanks Mark, its a pity Irish Rail do not put this info on their site, would enable people to know what is going on.

Will there be enough 22k sets available from the coming weekend to cover all Sligo services in the new timetable? I gather that while the system is awash with 22k sets under test, that availability for service is much less. You can imagine that if there are going to be some 29k units still on the Sligo next week that any seat reservation would be a shambles.

Wouldn't be suprised if that was the case though there are plently of sets available

Should see another one appear on Dublin Limerick in coming days as well to cover the out and back trip in the afternoon which has been run by any junk in the shed for the last few weeks

Oddly enough, this was the service we expected the 22k's to run ex Limerick first given its simplicity. As MarkG says, plenty of sets out there, the current Limerick runner is a 2X3 car set for example.

The trick is to only allow the first X number of seats to be reservable, where X is the lowest amount of numbered seats in any vehicle in the fleet.

Doesn't work when people book 4 seats around a table, or where someone wants a seat with a table instead of the airline style since the layouts are wildly different

22 K's and catering?
 

I was on the 14.15 from Limerick to Dublin last week. It was my first time on the new 22k's and was very impressed with the ride and the standard of carriage. I did not notice any difference in ride quality between 22ks and the MKIII's. I hope both IE and the general public treat them with respect.

I was sitting at the front of the train and about 10 people came up and were looking for the snack bar on the train. There was no trolley on the train yet the timetable indicates that a snack service is available. Are there any catering facilities on the current 22ks in service at present or do we have to wait to the 6 set 22ks?:o

The seats are comfortable enough like Mark G said on a different thread if he can seat on the train to Sligo and back 6hrs, Then they are okay. I personally perfer the Mk3"s I still get that Intercity feeling from them if you know what I mean unforunatly not the 22k trains but that could all change once they are introduced on the Rosslare Line:D

Current 3 coach model doesn't have a snack bar, the 6 coach sets do have full catering that said no Limerick trains bar the 7:35 and 17:05 are listed as having a restaurant car at this time

Snacks and Drinks == catering trolley

The lack of catering on any service is not related to the train used more to do with bad management by the caterers

There 2 sets of 3 coaches each. And just 1 catering trolley. So staff should change 1 set for another(with trolley and personal belongings) at Portlaoise station and continue to serve there. It does mean that some of IE staff should help with that. This is information that staff told me. It is not possible to manage the trolley alone if you have to change the set to continue catering.

I imagine the wheelchair ramp is needed to get the trolley on and off trains, becuase they haven't worked out how to get the train deck level the same as the platform level, unlike Luas.

I understand they don't meet up because of the suspension system on the train - it if fails the carriage settles down and if it is at the same height as the platform the carriage would strike the platform edge.

That doesn't stop the Americans, take for example New York City, the Subway, the regional MTA Metro North and Long Island Railroads, even the long distance Amtrack carraige floors always match the platform surfaces, 100%. Each time. Every time. And I know for a fact that the M-series EMU trainsets of MN/LIRR have complex enough suspensions.

There seems to be a standard rail-to-floor height and everything is designed to match it. Without exception.

A similar situation exists on the S/U Bahns in the main German cities.

Why Irish Rail isn't capable of doing the same here, I do not know.

well, I think the easy solution is to get platforms that can be raised hydrolically or lowered as the case may be to match the train that comes in.

No, it should be simpler than that - every platform is being adjusted to be IIRC 915mm above rail, its just that its another 150-200mm to the train deck.

While it isn't so bad on a a straight platform, on curved ones like the main platforms in Cork, you have to deal with both a horizontal and vertical gap that combined are big enough for someone to fall in.

My sister is of a nervous disposition and isn't the most agile. Getting on and off a train can be a nightmare for her.

Very funny

Down with that sort of thing.

So it's just a case of making sure all future train orders specify a wheel-to-floor height of 915mm?

Ooops, they just bought 250 units specifying a difference.

hydralics work both ways lads......... if you cant adjust the platform......

You level correct the suspension

Seriously though a few platforms required the angle grinder treatment so the new trains could fit safely

You want to try the step up in mainland europe