New Cork - Dublin Express launched

LXFlyer

savagethegoat wrote: »

with Mk4s in store and 29000 in use on long distance services, it's hardly ideal

Let's not get carried away here. Virtually all long distance workings are now ICR/Mk 4 rostered, with the exceptions being:

Dublin/Sligo
The 29000s are only on 2 Intercity trains on the Sligo route for capacity reasons principally:

Sundays only:
09:05 ex-Connolly
18:00 ex-Sligo

Dublin/Rosslare
The only other workings that have a 29000 on it is on the Rosslare route and again is down to one of the services primarily being a commuter service:

Monday to Friday:
05:35 Rosslare-Dundalk
16:37 Connolly-Rosslare

Again, some people seem to have a "head in the sand" mentality - when times are tough organisations have to make difficult decisions for cost reasons whether people like it or not. Sometimes you just cannot afford to do everything you would like, and having to put Mark 4 sets into storage was one of those difficult decisions.

savagethegoat

I've heard it before. Fine jobs people in the South East have to be headed for home at 16.37

LXFlyer

savagethegoat wrote: »

I've heard it before. Fine jobs people in the South East have to be headed for home at 16.37

If people start at 08:00 then leaving at 16:30 or thereabouts is reasonable. The days of 09:00-17:30 jobs being the norm are long gone.

But I was referring more to the 05:35 ex-Rosslare which is most definitely a commuter service.

savagethegoat

Yes but the first train ex Rosslare doesnt arrive until 0845

LXFlyer

savagethegoat wrote: »

Yes but the first train ex Rosslare doesnt arrive until 0845

There is a service from Gorey that arrives at 07:46.

Anyone commuting on that could very easily take the 16:37 home.

The main commuter loading in the morning would be on the 05:35 ex-Rosslare and that would need the extra capacity that a 29k delivers.

end of the road

lxflyer wrote: »

The main commuter loading in the morning would be on the 05:35 ex-Rosslare and that would need the extra capacity that a 29k delivers.

even on that a 29 is overkill before greystones. maybe its got busier since but i'd doubt it seeing as its so slow it would make you want to drink yourself into oblivian

end of the road

lxflyer wrote: »

Virtually all long distance workings are now ICR/Mk 4 rostered

they all need to be. 29s are for maynooth and droghida services. they should be for heuston hh shuttles as well allowing portlaoise services to be a more long distance service rather then an all shacks crawler which ICRS are very unsuited for

lxflyer wrote: »

The only other workings that have a 29000 on it is on the Rosslare route and again is down to one of the services primarily being a commuter service:

Monday to Friday:
05:35 Rosslare-Dundalk
16:37 Connolly-Rosslare

also the dinner time down. even the 7.43 service is a candidate which often has a 29. infact the only 1 which you can be almost guaranteed an ICR is the late evening service

lxflyer wrote: »

Again, some people seem to have a "head in the sand" mentality

no, its simply people having enough of irish rails treatment of passengers on the connolly side and the waterford line. not to mention the distructian of and continued distructian of a couple of other lines over the years.

Thedarkb

I'm thinking a kilkenny to cork via limerick junction would be reasonably profitable if run with a three car set given how busy macdonagh can be at times

Jamie2k9

Thedarkb wrote: »

I'm thinking a kilkenny to cork via limerick junction would be reasonably profitable if run with a three car set given how busy macdonagh can be at times

I think you are crazy, when the bus is as quick if not quicker.

Jamie2k9

Again, some people seem to have a "head in the sand" mentality

While I agree in principal I think it's safe to say IE have the same mentality when it comes to aspects of their operations.

end of the road

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

I think you are crazy, when the bus is as quick if not quicker.

well if irish rail offered something to attract people to the train the bus supposibly being as quick or quicker wouldn't be an issue. but these days they only seem to be a longer version of a bus so its not surprising bus competition is an issue again

stehyl15

I personally think its about time time intercity railways such as dublin to cork are electrified. It would be cheaper, greener and faster in the long run also I personally hate dirty smelly diesel trains.

Jamie2k9

stehyl15 wrote: »

I personally think its about time time intercity railways such as dublin to cork are electrified. It would be cheaper, greener and faster in the long run also I personally hate dirty smelly diesel trains.

Get the cheque book and drop IE a blank one....

When were you last on a train, such smells don't happen, apart form the 29000 (only a little).

end of the road

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Get the cheque book and drop IE a blank one....

When were you last on a train, such smells don't happen, apart form the 29000 (only a little).

the 2800s a tad as well. the 2700s were horrid though. fumes all over the shop. block the nose stuff.

n1ey

stehyl15 wrote: »

I personally think its about time time intercity railways such as dublin to cork are electrified. It would be cheaper, greener and faster in the long run also I personally hate dirty smelly diesel trains.

Where do you get the electricity for this? On-demand requirements of trains are not easy to fulfill. Amtrak(NPRC) struggles with electricity availability in Connecticut.

Bill

stehyl15

n1ey wrote: »

Where do you get the electricity for this? On-demand requirements of trains are not easy to fulfill. Amtrak(NPRC) struggles with electricity availability in Connecticut.

Bill

The national grid I would imagine

stehyl15

stehyl15 wrote: »

The national grid I would imagine

The grid in its current form most likely wouldn't have the capacity for a full scale electrification. Most countries with large electrified railway networks have nuclear power plants.

lucernarian

Karsini wrote: »

The grid in its current form most likely wouldn't have the capacity for a full scale electrification. Most countries with large electrified railway networks have nuclear power plants.

Power generation and power transmission are two quite different things. Looking at a single electric locomotive at around 4 or so MW max power, this is far smaller than the output of most gas turbine or peat power plants. Supposing 5 are in operation at any one time between Dublin and Cork, that 22 MW demand can easily be supplied via Eirgrid with a few 38 kV to MV substations along the route. Nothing particularly challenging compared to erecting hundreds of km of catenary wire and the cost of electric locos themselves.

Whatever the problem in Connecticut, it's hard to imagine what it could be unless it runs through comparatively remote parts of the state and (more likely) the line was electrified with much lower speeds envisaged by planners and also they installed the bare minimum of substations. If trains need more power through the wires than the existing substations and catenary can supply, either the catenary will have to be replaced with thicker wire or else the amount of substations will need to be doubled over the relevant stretch.

ardmacha

Karsini wrote: »

The grid in its current form most likely wouldn't have the capacity for a full scale electrification. Most countries with large electrified railway networks have nuclear power plants.

This doesn't make sense, railway demand is not a large part of the national demand for electricity. The DART has several trains moving at the same time on the network and nobody has suggested that is a problem.

Captain Chaos

ardmacha wrote: »

This doesn't make sense, railway demand is not a large part of the national demand for electricity. The DART has several trains moving at the same time on the network and nobody has suggested that is a problem.

For the DART they had to upgrade and build more substations with the introduction of regular 8 car train operations in 2000-2001. Don't know how much head room for future proofing of capacity and frequency was built into it.

ardmacha

ardmacha wrote: »

This doesn't make sense, railway demand is not a large part of the national demand for electricity. The DART has several trains moving at the same time on the network and nobody has suggested that is a problem.

The DART is also tiny in the broad scale of things. Try electrifying Dublin-Cork, Galway and Belfast and you'll have a problem.

stehyl15

Italy has a large electrified railway network and only it dosen't have any nuclear reactors altough it imports a small amount.

lucernarian

Karsini wrote: »

The DART is also tiny in the broad scale of things. Try electrifying Dublin-Cork, Galway and Belfast and you'll have a problem.

As I explained above, there is simply no problem even with all those examples. Still less than 50 MW demand at most.

n1ey

lucernarian wrote: »

Power generation and power transmission are two quite different things. Looking at a single electric locomotive at around 4 or so MW max power, this is far smaller than the output of most gas turbine or peat power plants. Supposing 5 are in operation at any one time between Dublin and Cork, that 22 MW demand can easily be supplied via Eirgrid with a few 38 kV to MV substations along the route. Nothing particularly challenging compared to erecting hundreds of km of catenary wire and the cost of electric locos themselves.

Whatever the problem in Connecticut, it's hard to imagine what it could be unless it runs through comparatively remote parts of the state and (more likely) the line was electrified with much lower speeds envisaged by planners and also they installed the bare minimum of substations. If trains need more power through the wires than the existing substations and catenary can supply, either the catenary will have to be replaced with thicker wire or else the amount of substations will need to be doubled over the relevant stretch.

The grid can not simply dump power anywhere. You need the feedline to the substations. You need the plants to power the substations. My understand is that Ireland barely has enough generation capacity. Coal can not be reduced due to this issue.

Places like France have many power plants throughout the country side and an extensive grid. New England suffers from an insufficient grid. Even if power was available it could not be delivered to the trackside. Lots of power generation will never reach.

Ireland has a similar lack of power networks.

Bill

dowlingm

n1ey wrote: »

Where do you get the electricity for this? On-demand requirements of trains are not easy to fulfill. Amtrak(NPRC) struggles with electricity availability in Connecticut.

Bill

east or west of New Haven?

At 25kV the substations can be widely spaced so more optimally located vs grid connections

loyatemu

Battery powered trains charged from large-scale wind and solar generation on Irish Rail's extensive properties? (I realise this is drifting off-topic in the realms of fantasy...)

cgcsb

Back on topic I think the new express service is fab. More of the same please. The express train is now a full 45 minutes faster than similar bus services. I note that track improvements between Hazelhatch and Portlaoise are ongoing and set to deliver more journey time improvement. Hopefully next year one could expect and express journey of under 2 hours.

Ultimately electrification and new rolling stock that comes with it should be aiming for a 90 minute journey.

Jamie2k9

cgcsb wrote: »

Back on topic I think the new express service is fab. More of the same please. The express train is now a full 45 minutes faster than similar bus services. I note that track improvements between Hazelhatch and Portlaoise are ongoing and set to deliver more journey time improvement. Hopefully next year one could expect and express journey of under 2 hours.

Ultimately electrification and new rolling stock that comes with it should be aiming for a 90 minute journey.

Fab for Cork passengers not for anybody else. More stupidity on IE behalf implementing such a service without a new timetable. Glorified PR stunt IMO

trellheim

Back on topic I think the new express service is fab. More of the same please. The express train is now a full 45 minutes faster than similar bus services. I note that track improvements between Hazelhatch and Portlaoise are ongoing and set to deliver more journey time improvement. Hopefully next year one could expect and express journey of under 2 hours.

Why is there no similar journey in the other direction leaving Heuston at 0615

Losty Dublin

trellheim wrote: »

Why is there no similar journey in the other direction leaving Heuston at 0615

Simply put, the demand isn't there for an early train out of Dublin.