History
The fleet covers 20 DMUs which were procured by Translink. None of the Northern Irish rail network is electrified, and diesel multiple units have been used since nationalisation in the 1950s.
Prior to 2000, the rolling stock used by NIR consisted of a mixture of diesel multiple unit types that had entered service between 15 and 25 years previously. The main type was the Class 80, based on the Mark 2b bodyshell. These were a fleet of 3-car and 4-car units built in two batches between 1973 and 1978, with a total of 22 sets eventually constructed. Additional capacity on the network was provided with the entry into service of the Class 450, which consisted of nine 3-car units that entered service in 1985 and were based on the Mark 3 bodyshell. However, chronic underinvestment in the railway meant that by the millennium these were still the newest domestic trains in service. Indeed, by 2000 it was estimated that the network as a whole required investment totalling £183 million simply to bring it up to basic safety standards.
Read more about this topic: NIR Class 4000
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the “anticipation of Nature.””
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!
There are only two great currents in the history of mankind: the baseness which makes conservatives and the envy which makes revolutionaries.”
—Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)
“When the history of guilt is written, parents who refuse their children money will be right up there in the Top Ten.”
—Erma Brombeck (20th century)