Rail Transport in Northern Ireland - Ireland Rolling Stock - BRail Transport in Northern Ireland - BIreland Rolling Stock Irish Locomotives Diesel traction is the sole form of motive power in both the IÉ and NIR networks, apart from the electrified Howth/Malahide-Greystones (DART) suburban route in Dublin. Apart from prototypes and a small number of shunting locomotives, the first major dieselisation programme in CIÉ commenced in the early 1950s with orders for 94 locomotives of two sizes (A and C classes) from Metropolitan-Vickers which were delivered from 1955, with a further twelve (B class) locomotives from Sulzer in the late 1950s. Following poor reliability experience with the first generation diesel locomotives, in the 1960s a second dieselisation programme was undertaken with the introduction of sixty-four locomotives in three classes (121, 141 and 181) built by General Motors, of the United States. This programme, together with line closures, enabled CIÉ to re-eliminate steam traction in 1963, having previously done so on the CIÉ network prior to taking over its share of the Great Northern Railway. In parallel, NIR acquired three locomotives from Hunslet, of England, for Dublin-Belfast services. The Metropolitan-Vickers locomotives were re-engined by CIÉ in the early 1970s with General Motors engines. The third generation of diesel traction in Ireland was the acquisition of eighteen locomotives from General Motors of 2475 h.p. output, designated the 071 class, in 1976. This marked a significant improvement in the traction power available to CIÉ and enabled the acceleration of express passenger services. NIR subsequently purchased three similar locomotives for Dublin-Belfast services, which was the first alignment of traction policies by CIÉ and NIR. A fourth generation of diesels took the form of thirty-four locomotives, again from General Motors, which arrived in the early 1990s. This was a joint order by IÉ and NIR, with thirty-two locomotives for the former and two for the latter. They were again supplied by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. IÉ designated their locomotives the GM 201 class, numbered 201 to 234 (the NIR locomotives were later prefixed with an 8). These locomotives are the most powerful diesels to run in Ireland, and are of 3200 horsepower (2.5 MW), which enabled further acceleration of express services. The NIR locomotives, although shipped in NIR livery, were repainted in 'Enterprise' livery, as were six of the IÉ locomotives. The 071 class are now used on freight services. NIR's three similar locomotives are numbered 111, 112 and 113. There is seldom more than one of these serviceable at a time. Irish Multiple Units NIR and IÉ both run suburban services using diesel multiple units (DMUs) – these are termed railcars in Ireland (see rail terminology). Iarnród Éireann Railcars
Mallow–Tralee (Sundays only) Cóbh–Midleton 1993
Limerick shuttle Limerick–Ennis Limerick–Galway Mallow–Tralee Ballina–Manulla Junction 2000
Dublin–Drogheda/Dundalk Dublin–M3 Parkway Dublin–Maynooth/Longford Dublin–Rosslare Europort 2002–2005
Dublin–Cork Dublin–Maynooth/M3 Parkway/Longford/Sligo Dublin–Rosslare/Galway/Westport Dublin–Dundalk Limerick shuttle Tralee shuttle 2007–2012 IÉ DMUs operate all InterCity services apart from Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Belfast (one service per week from Dublin Connolly to Belfast and back is Railcar). Iarnród Éireann 22000 Class InterCity Railcars There are 234 22000 Class carriages in total, being formed into the following sets:
IÉ introduced 17 new suburban railcars in 1994 as the 2600 Class (built by Tokyu Car, Japan) for the Kildare 'Arrow' suburban service. Further additions to the fleet were made in 1997 (twenty-seven 2700 Class, Alstom built, now withdrawn), 2000 (twenty 2800 Class, Tokyu Car built) and 2003 (eighty 29000 class, CAF built). When the 29000 Class was introduced all Irish railcars were re-branded from 'Arrow' to 'Commuter'. A further nine 4-car 29000 Class trainsets arrived in 2005. NIR Railcars NIR replaced their ageing DMUs with Class 3000 and Class 4000 regional railcars built by CAF, which arrived in 2005 and 2011, respectively. NIR Coaching Stock Mark 4 Carriages Iarnród Éireann's flagship InterCity fleet are the Mark 4. Built by CAF of Spain in 2004–2005 they are formed into 8-car push-pull sets. Each set contains (in order):
The Mark 4 trains are capable of speeds of up to 125 mph (201 km/h), but are limited by the maximum line speed of 100 mph (160 km/h) and the locomotive. Enterprise Services The Dublin to Belfast 'Enterprise' service is operated jointly by IÉ and NIR with rolling stock from De Dietrich, commissioned in 1997. Four Mark 3 Generator vans were introduced in September 2012. Until then, 201 Class locomotives were required to supply head-end power (HEP) for heating and lighting. NIR Previous Stock NIR also had a number of refurbished Class 488 carriages acquired from the Gatwick Express service and converted to run on the Irish 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge. These were generally referred to as 'the Gatwicks'. They were in use from 2001 until June 2009. Rail Transport in Northern Ireland Operation Ireland Major Operators: Iarnród Éireann & NIR Ireland Ridership: 50 million (Republic of Ireland, 2019) 15 million (Northern Ireland, 2017) Ireland System Length Total: 2,733 km (1,698 mi) Ireland Electrified Lines: 53 km (33 mi) Ireland Freight Only Lines: 362 km (225 mi) Ireland MainTrack Gauge: 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Ireland Electrification: 1500 V DC DART in Dublin Ireland No. Stations: 147 | |||||
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