Rail Transport in Ireland - Rolling Stock

Rolling Stock

Main article: Coaching Stock of Ireland

Iarnrod Eireann's flagship intercity fleet are the Mark 4 trains (built by CAF of Spain in 2005/6). They are formed into 8-car sets, pushed or pulled by a mark 4 Driving Van Trailer (DVT). Each set contains (in order):

• A GM 201 class locomotive
• 5 Standard class carriages
• 1 restaurant carriage
• 1 'Citygold' (first class) carriage
• A driving trailer generator van

The Mark IV Trains have blue tinted windows, which help to create a cool journey for the passenger, electronic route maps showing train progress, and electronic seat reservation displays. Citygold customers on the new fleet have the added features of adjustable seating, greater room and comfort, in-seat audio entertainment, and power points for laptops, or recharging PDAs, MP3 players or mobile phones. They are used exclusively on the Dublin to Cork route; operating an hourly service each way.

The Mark IV Trains are capable of speeds of up to 125 mph (201 km/h), but are limited to a maximum speed of 100 mph (160 km/h) because of the line speed and the speed of the 201 class locomotives.

The second intercity fleet of Irish Rail are the '22000' class intercity railcars. There are 234 '22000' class carriages in total, being formed into the following sets:

• Ten 6-car sets — Each set will include a 1st Class Carriage and a Dining Carriage. They will be used on key intercity services between Dublin and Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Westport and Tralee.
• Forty-eight 3-car sets — These will mostly operate in pairs. They will serve lesser-used intercity services and all Dublin to Sligo and Rosslare services.
• Five 6-car commuter sets — These are high-density layout carriages for busy long distance commuter routes such as Dublin to Portlaoise/Thurles.

Features of the intercity railcar fleet include:

• Automatic PA and information display systems
• Electronic seat reservation displays for web bookings,
• Fully air-conditioned,
• Internal CCTV system
• Sleek carriage design
• Advanced safety features throughout.

Now equipped with the most modern Intercity Fleet in Europe (the new 22000 and Mark IV sets), Iarnród Éireann is now able to provide faster services and greater flexibility in providing these services. As sufficient numbers of the fleet have now come in to service these improvements can now be made. The 2010 Timetable embodies this. While it does not reach the originally anticipated improvements (due to the economic downturn room for improvements is constrained) it still marks a major change in services as outlined below:

• Dublin - Cork: Journey times remains as is or are extended due to the continuing relaying & upgrading of the entire Cork - Dublin Route. Services remain as is except the Limerick Junction stop is reintroduced to most services providing excellent connections for Limerick, Waterford & Galway from January. Also, due to fewer numbers travelling because of the economic downturn some services will instead be operated by 3 car 22000 sets instead of the full Mark 4 and there is one late evening service removed each way.

• Dublin - Limerick: hourly service, many more shuttles connecting with Dublin - Cork services at Limerick Junction however slightly fewer direct services.

• Dublin - Galway: Two hourly all day, including new split & join services with Westport Trains i e. Two 3 Car 22000 will leave Dublin together. They will separate at Athlone with the front set going to Galway and the rear to Westport.

• Dublin - Waterford: two-hourly all day, Journey time savings of up to 15 minutes on all services including a new fast service from Waterford in the morning, taking only 2 hours, it represents a saving of 35 minutes from before.

• Dublin - Sligo: two-hourly. From Sligo First:0545 Last:1900. From Dublin First:0705 Last:1905. Average Duration 3hrs 5 minutes.

• Dublin - Westport: An additional service due to the spilt & join bringing the number of services up to 4 daily and journey time cuts of up to 17 minutes.

• Dublin - Tralee: Two direct trains with extra shuttles every two hours connecting with Cork services at Mallow. Due to the connection with the fast Cork Service at 0630 the fastest service from Tralee takes only 3 Hours 40 minutes now.

• Dublin - Rosslare: existing services until the full introduction of the 22000 fleet.

• Dublin - Kildare: (commuter service): A very frequent service will be possible with the Kildare route project later in 2010.

• Dublin - Maynooth/Longford: Additional services.

• Dublin - Dunboyne/M3 Parkway (Pace): New Commuter line with services to begin in September 2010.

• Limerick - Galway: This new service which will begin in March 2010 will provide 5 trains a day each way between Limerick & Galway taking just under 2 hours.

• Limerick - Waterford: A reduction of 1 service daily due to insufficient demand and to allow more time for the continuing relay of the line. While the speed limit has been raised, journey times will not be reduced until the relaying of the line is fully complete. 75% of the line had been relayed by November 2009.

• DART: Major changes to services. There will now be a new clockface frequent service every 10/15 minutes.

The Dublin to Belfast 'Enterprise' service is operated jointly by IÉ & NIR with rolling stock from De Dietrich, commissioned in 1997. These sets comprise a dining car, first class carriage(s) and driving van trailer (DVT) for push-pull operation. Notable is the omission of a generator van (the DVT does not have its own generator). This requires the GM locos to supply head-end power (HEP) for heating and lighting.

NIR also has a number of refurbished Mark II carriages acquired from the Gatwick Express service and converted to run on the Irish 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge. These are generally referred to as 'the Gatwicks'.