Shuddering Railway tracks

adharc

Why do the trains to Cork, and Belfast shudder and jerk. The minute one gets over the border with the North the line becomes smooth. Are our railway engineers not capable of providing a smooth line. How do other railways not have this problem. The carriages jerk forwrd and back and sway from sise to side. Ever try to fill a cup on Iarnroid's trains.

Victor

I think part of this is 'wobbly' rail, but another part is the shock wave as a train passes an overbridge.

SeanW

Yes, track in the ROI is generally of a rubbish quality and the two premier lines are the worst beacuse their carraiges were built on the European mainland, where the companies are used to building fancy trains for good tracks, the Enterprise coaches came from France (DeDietrich, now Alstom) and the new Cork trains come from Spain (CAF) and in addition to not being designed for Irish railways, their suspension is not very robust at all. When they first entered service, they shook so bad that many of the fixtures and fittings fell loose.

The old coaches on the other hand, most were built by BREL in England, where the best of (that times) technology is used in conjunction with old school suspension technology designed to work easily on spotty quality track.

Of course it doesn't help that the 201 class locomotive used on most lines has a tendancy to tear up tracks.

I can certainly see the difference on the Sligo line, where the old BREL Mk2ds dramatically outperform the CAF 29000 Commuter railcars in terms of smooth ride.

As for the new Intercity Railcars, which have yet to enter service, from what I've seen it looks like a combination of hydraulic or air suspension on old school springs.

So I'm guessing (very unscientifically) that they'll do a reasonably good job comfort wise.

Victor

SeanW wrote: »

I can certainly see the difference on the Sligo line, where the old BREL Mk2ds dramatically outperform the CAF 29000 Commuter railcars in terms of smooth ride.

I understand that the similar DMUs to the 29000s up north have a much better suspension because the IÉ specification is designed to minimise maintenance and faults, at the cost of comforst.

SeanW

Well, they managed to do THAT alright.

Still, it's a damning indictment of a company that a rusting scrapheap from 1972 sets the bar insurmountably high in terms of passenger comfort ...

ian_m

Did Iarnrod Eireann not upgrade every rail line in the country in recent years? I think they were all replaced.

Victor

ian_m wrote: »

Did Iarnrod Eireann not upgrade every rail line in the country in recent years? I think they were all replaced.

Most, some minor routes are still being worked on.

ian_m

Cork and Belfast surely aren't minor routes?

Victor

Victor wrote: »

Most, some minor routes are still being worked on.

they upgraded the tracks but they still suck? LOL

L1011

adharc wrote: »

The minute one gets over the border with the North the line becomes smooth.

Because the trains get dramatically slower to cope with the Norths *worse* track, thats why.