[Article] Suburban rail capacity to double, says Brennan

Victor

Ah, it has been a few weekes since Seamus opened something.

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/2020418?view=Eircomnet

Suburban rail capacity to double, says Brennan
From:ireland.com
Monday, 24th November, 2003

Capacity on pressurised suburban lines will increase by up to 50 per cent from mid-December according to the Minister for transport, Mr Brennan.

Mr Brennan said there would be major improvements in rail services - including an improvement to the DART service - as the "benefits from the huge investment of over €1 billion in recent years in upgrading the railways results in significant additional capacity on trains and increased frequency of services".
"As a direct result of the historically high investment, which also funded the delivery of 80 new rail cars, the comprehensive new Iarnród Éireann timetable which comes into operation in mid December will outline a vastly improved service, with capacity on pressurised suburban lines increasing by up to 50 per cent", he said.

The new timetable will improve mid-morning and mid-afternoon intercity services also. Seven additional services will be introduced on the Limerick-Ennis route, while in Cork, the commuter service from Cobh to Cork will be extended to the growing population area of Mallow.

The delivery of 40 additional DART cars will begin in 2004 and when they go into service will increase DART customer capacity by 100 per cent since 2000 as all trains increase from six to eight carriages.

The Minister was speaking in Drogheda where he officially opened Iarnród Éireann's new €42 million Railcar Services Depot at McBride Railway Station.

The new Depot will service on an around the clock system the Irish Rail fleet of 144 diesel railcars, including the 80 new DMU's (Diesel Multiple Units), which were built in Spain.

The new fleet has many special features including air conditioning, wheelchair accessible toilets and close circuit television cameras (CCTV). Almost all of the railcars will be in service by the end of this year.

Mr Brennan said the Drogheda Depot was delivered well ahead of time and more than €1.5 million under budget.

Major improvements for customers include:-

Increases in peak commuter capacity of 43 per cent on the Dundalk/Drogheda route from 5,670 to 8,100
Increases of 130 per cent on the Kildare/South West route from 2,200 to 5,000
Increases of 26 per cent on the Maynooth/Longford line from 3,320 to 4,200
Increases of 30 per cent on the Arklow/Gorey route
Increases of 50 per cent on the Cork/Cobh route

sceptre

while in Cork, the commuter service from Cobh to Cork will be extended to the growing population area of Mallow.

Hopefully it'll be more commercially successful than the 11pm train from Cork to Mallow that lasted only a few weeks (because no-one caught it).

Occidental

The most bizzare bit I've seen so far is the 9.40am Arrow from Heuston to Galway. I wonder if it has a catering car.

dmeehan

what is this all about?
an intercity from kildare straight through to bray?? phoenix park tunnel anybody?

BuffyBot

Originally posted by Occidental
The most bizzare bit I've seen so far is the 9.40am Arrow from Heuston to Galway. I wonder if it has a catering car.

Services run with Arrow railcars generally have no catering facilities`.

deRanged

Originally posted by BuffyBot
Services run with Arrow railcars generally have no catering facilities`.

and in Cork they've no toilets!
They don't have the facilities in Kent to allow the use of the toilets on the trains. I hope that as part of the increase in the service they'll put the infrastructure in too.

BuffyBot

and in Cork they've no toilets!

Having seen the general state of the toilets on some of the Dublin based Arrows, I'd consider it a blessing..

GerardKeating

Originally posted by Occidental
The most bizzare bit I've seen so far is the 9.40am Arrow from Heuston to Galway. I wonder if it has a catering car.

I thought the InterCity on 07/01/2004

Dublin Connolly 03:20
Kildare 04:25


was more bizzare

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by BuffyBot
Having seen the general state of the toilets on some of the Dublin based Arrows, I'd consider it a blessing..

Why do they need toilets on the dublin based arrows?

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by GerardKeating
I thought the InterCity on 07/01/2004

Dublin Connolly 03:20
Kildare 04:25


was more bizzare

We could all head down to connolly to catch this train. It could be the boards.ie mystery tour:)

We could show IE there is a demand for such late night services:)

BuffyBot

Originally posted by Bond-James Bond
Why do they need toilets on the dublin based arrows?

Because they are designed for short-range (Sallins/Naas, Maynooth), medium range (Athlone, Portlaoise) and long range (Galway, Sligo etc) journeys. They are supposed to be multi-functional and can be used on any route as back-up and relief trains...so if you did happen to find yourself on one of these pieces of rolling stock on the way to Waterford without a toilet, when in need, I think your question would be answered.