Rosslare Train split in two

GerardKeating

According to RTÉ news, a Rosslare train yesterday split in two outside wexford, no one was hurt and the train continuted after a delay

mike65

I heard that headline on Morning Ireland and so had a vision of a train literally spliting, the reality was that a train decoupled between two carragies which is'nt quite the same though bad enough if you happened to be walking from one to the other when they parted!.

Mike.

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/5344183?view=Eircomnet

Íarnrod Éireann investigates train decoupling
From:ireland.com
Thursday, 7th April, 2005

A four-carriage passenger train that split in two while travelling at 25mph could have resulted in a serious accident, Íarnrod Éireann admitted today.

Travellers were left shocked after the front two carriages decoupled from the rear cars on the Rosslare-to-Dublin route.

Íarnrod Éireann said the four-car train was carrying around 40 passengers on route for Enniscorthy on the 1.25pm service to Dublin yesterday at the time.

Company spokesman Barry Kenny agreed that if a person had been walking between the two carriages at the time it could have resulted in a much more serious accident.

"Thankfully no one on board was injured, and no danger resulted to people as a result," he said. "There is a thorough investigation under way because it is extremely serious."

Mr Kenny said the emergency brake would have been quickly applied to the train, which was travelling at 25mph, but anyone who saw the gap develop would have been quite shocked.

Íarnrod Éireann engineers were examining the train to find out how the carriages separated. Mr Kenny said the train had been brought to the company's maintenance centre in Drogheda for technical examination.

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/5343933?view=Eircomnet

The train now standing is in bits
From:The Irish Independent
Thursday, 7th April, 2005

PASSENGERS watched in horror yesterday as the train they were travelling on split in two - the front two carriages uncoupling from the rear.

Shocked Iarnrod Eireann engineers are baffled as to the cause of the accident which a spokesman described as "very serious."

Dozens of passengers in the last two carriages of the four-car train could only look on in disbelief as they were left stranded on the track.

The accident happened at 2pm when the 1.25 Rosslare to Dublin train was four miles out of Wexford en route for Enniscorthy and near Killurin.

The train was travelling at about 25mph.

Between 40 and 50 passengers were on board at the time but, fortunately, none of them was passing between carriages when the uncoupling occurred and despite being badly shocked no-one was injured.

A spokesman said staff attempted to recouple the carriages but were unsuccessful.

After an hour's wait passengers were able to continue their journey as far as Enniscorthy travelling in the first two carriages.

A full investigation is now underway. Engineers will be trying to determine whether the uncoupling was due to human error or a mechanical fault.

Brendan Furlong

BrianD

I bet they all sat in the carriage behind the engine. Of course if the bar was in one of the decoupled carriages they may have opted to stay there!!

Victor

BrianD wrote:

I bet they all sat in the carriage behind the engine. Of course if the bar was in one of the decoupled carriages they may have opted to stay there!!

Well, you know the reason why train bars have special allowances, what with the trauma of long distance travel.

SeanW

BrianD wrote:

I bet they all sat in the carriage behind the engine. Of course if the bar was in one of the decoupled carriages they may have opted to stay there!!

The train that did an impromptu decoupling was not a locomotive drawn trainset but rather an assembly of 2700 class Suburban railcars. I've heards lots of things about the 2700s most of it bad.

The Rosslare Intercity line uses ONLY suburban railcars so there would have been no bar cars, restaurant cars or anything else that one might expect to find on an intercity train. These suburban railcars replaced 071 locmotives plus Mark 2d coach sets in 2003/2004. IEs commuter railcars have a drab interior and a generous helping of interior engine noise so they aren't really suited to Intercity work IMO, but the 2700 class have the added disadvantage of being brutally unreliable.

Irish Rail must be trying to kill the Rosslare line. Only reason I can think of ...

BrianD

I stand corrected. I'd visions of some of those old Creaven carriages parting company!

SeanW

BrianD wrote:

I stand corrected. I'd visions of some of those old Creaven carriages parting company!

Another little mistake the "cravens" and Mark 2d coaches are different, the Mark 2d is newer model of Mark 2 than the Craven coach.

Mark 2Ds had been the main stock of the line, but Cravens coaches might have seen use at weekends, Monday/Friday only trains etc.

jd

Of course the joke doing the rounds is that Wexford has the best rail service in the country. If you miss a train there is one following a few minutes behind

parsi

So does this mean that it was made of 2 x 2-car sets and the sets de-coupled ?

Chalk

anther example of "points failure"?

MarkoP11

parsi wrote:

So does this mean that it was made of 2 x 2-car sets and the sets de-coupled ?

Yes.

It should have been a 3 x 2 car set but guess what one set was removed since it failed

To quote the manufacturer of the coupler

Uncoupling is possible under all operating conditions. Operating errors are impossible

enterprise

SeanW wrote:

The train that did an impromptu decoupling was not a locomotive drawn trainset but rather an assembly of 2700 class Suburban railcars. I've heards lots of things about the 2700s most of it bad.

The Rosslare Intercity line uses ONLY suburban railcars so there would have been no bar cars, restaurant cars or anything else that one might expect to find on an intercity train. These suburban railcars replaced 071 locmotives plus Mark 2d coach sets in 2003/2004. IEs commuter railcars have a drab interior and a generous helping of interior engine noise so they aren't really suited to Intercity work IMO, but the 2700 class have the added disadvantage of being brutally unreliable.

Irish Rail must be trying to kill the Rosslare line. Only reason I can think of ...

I travelled on the Rosslare line shortly before loco-hauled trains (071's + Mk2'd) were replaced by 2700 class DMU's.

The Mk2'd carriages while being a fine carriage in their time are well past it. The two carriage sets allocated to the line in the last week of operation were barely fit for service, with numerous problems such as air-con failures in some carriages etc. Also I always found the Mk2d interior to be drab and not very pleasing to to eye. TBH I was glad to see the end of the Mk2's on the line.

In contrast the 2700, while built for suburban journeys are also suitable for longer inter-urban journeys as they have comfortable seating (the best bar the 2900's) & a bright airy interior. Also a 6 * pce 2700 has the same seating capacity as a 6 * Mk2 + Van set.

Before the 2700's were deployed on the Rosslare line the inital 6 * 2 pce units were given a heavy overhaul at the IE DMU service centre at Drogheda, with other units following through later. The scope of this work included a full mechanical overhaul, plus improvements to the drivers cabs and passenger saloon. The passenger saloon improvements included a full re-upholstery to the seats, refitting of flip-down tables to the airline style seats (these had been removed some years earlier due to vandalism on Dublin Suburban routes), fitting of bicycle racks and a storage cupboard for catering supplies.

After some months of questionable reliability until the timetable change in Dec the units now have more time in Drogheda every second night and are now more reliable as a result.

For the record I have travelled to Rosslare on a 2700 class unit and I know which I prefer.

Trojan

Trying to translate above for non-geek understanding...

http://ukhrail.uel.ac.uk/glossary/gl-d.html - DMU = Diesel Multiple unit...

http://www.transportimages.com/gallery/search.php?Input=&searchstring=Thomas+Bowman&submit=Go!

MarkoP11

Of course a MK2d had far more toliets, it had a buffet coach it was quieter it in fact could go faster. It has proper facilities for luggage. By no means perfect but at least they didn't split in two, the reason the MK2d fleet is in such poor shape is due to government refusal to fund a full refurbishment program

Despite the overhaul the 2700 sets have been nothing short of horrible, breakdowns are common, issues such as engines shuting down, doors locked out of service, heating failures, coupling problems the list goes on. On one occassion a 4 car set (the other 2 cars missing since they had failed) stalled outside Rathdrum, since only 1 of the 4 engines was running. There have been several instances where passengers have been forced to swap trains en route

Reliability is so poor 2 2900 sets are drafted in on weekends, one in service and one as a spare, both have been in service at least once

enterprise

I have now heard that all Rosslare services will now be formed of a 4 car 2900 unit from today. Im not sure if this is a long term allocation.

jd

Lots of fun during the summer- 4 car sets!

jd

Wexford people (C) today..

[font=Arial, Verdana, Arial]Rail worry as carriages on new train separate [/font][font=Verdana, Arial][/font][font=Verdana, Arial]




PASSENGERS on one of Iarnrod Eireann's recently-introduced Railcar services between Rosslare and Dublin were fortunate to escape injury when the front of the train became separated from the back just outside Wexford. Deputy Liam Twomey, one of more than 40 people travelling on the train last Wednesday afternoon, said that if anyone had been on the gangway between the railcars, the consequences could have been very serious.

'It was a bit of a surprise, but thanks be to God no-one was hurt,' said the Deputy, who last year publicly criticised Irish Rail for introducing the second-hand railcars on the Rosslare to Dublin route after he was told they had a poor reputation for reliability.

He said the train was travelling along the line past the Slaney at Killurin when the two railcars at the front separated from the two at the rear.

'The train just came to a stop, there was no big jolt or any screeching noise that might indicate anything was significant was happening,' said the Deputy, who was travelling in the rear section of the train.

He said after about 15 minutes a mechanic appeared and 15 minutes later, the passengers travelling in the back railcars were asked to move to the front units, which travelled to Enniscorthy, where all the passengers transferred to buses and taken to Bray where they were put on a DART -- nearly two hours later than they had been due.

Deputy Twomey said that Iarnrod Eireann had provided Wexford with a second-class service for years and the fact that it had a mechanic actually travelling on the train was a clear sign of how often the railcars were breaking down.

'There are later, and much better railcars on other routes, why not on the Rosslare service?' he asked.

Irish Rail described the division of the trains as 'a very serious incident' and promised a full investigation.

Automatic braking

'The train was travelling at 25 mph when it happened and the automatic braking system activated immediately,' said a spokesperson.

She said that following the incident, all the other railcars on the service were examined and found to be in good order.

'We're satisfied this was an isolated, although very serious incident,' she said.

Labour Party Deputy Wexford, Brendan Howlin said the 'extraordinary event' merited a full investigation by Iarnrod Eireann.

'This is a bizarre and extremely serious incident. Indeed, the passengers were very fortunate that the train was not travelling at a greater speed than 25 miles per hour.

'Questions must be asked about the safety of the type of trains that are being used on our rail network if yesterday's decoupling is not, in fact, an isolated incident,' he said, referring to stated comments by Irish Rail that similar incidents had happened before.



'I would hope, therefore, that any Iarnrod Eireann investigation would seek to establish whether or not there is a safety or design flaw in these carriages,' said Deputy Howlin.

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