Irish rail fleet and infrastructure plans

I'm not sure I'd want to be on a 29k doing 85mph on any condition of line, let alone the twisty mess the Maynooth line is. Those motors don't sound particularly happy with life idling let alone under normal load.

Also going north from P7 Connolly and between Pearse & Tara (more Northbound) are particularly poor for 22k, which do sway. Its more smooth doing 100mph on Heuston side than 25-30 between Pearse-Tara.

29s do 70 on the Maynooth line every day, just only on one or two sections sections.

Max speed for the units is 70mph. This obviosuly also applies when in line speed sections of 75mph.

Have you a link to where it says that on the IE website? Because it is incorrect.
29k absolutely reaches those speeds on Maynooth and M3 Parkway. I’ve been on the trains. There are only a few sections where the trains have the time and distance to get up to that speed though, if serving all stops.

That’s interesting. That must just be out of date, as they are definitely limited to 70mph.

Trains leaving Maynooth late, or on M3 Parkway spur, get up to 70mph, to minimise delays.
As do the empty trains on the way to start services, which may be delayed leaving Connolly, as passenger trains take priority.

and they all shake like feck at such speeds.
28s are the least worst from what i remember but it's a toss up between the 27s when they were in service and the 29s for the worst spot.

Ah fair enough. I shouldn't be surprised that the website is a bit out of date but I guess I hoped it wouldn't be.

I can't say I will miss them once the Adessia/X'Trapolis replace them for D+ services. I just feel bad for whatever service is stuck with them for the last 10-20 years of their lifetime, I can only hope they get replaced by some decent DMU set (assuming they are cascaded used for non-electrified lines).

I love the 29s. 😂

Most likely. But it depends on a few things. CACR progression, specifically electrification, the new depot, and fleet plans in cork. While in dublin it will depend on how much longer the 8100s will last.

Whether or not their are even going to be vehicles to send over to cork within the next few years is going to depend most on how much of the current dart fleet is planned to be replaced by the incoming orders and how many are left that can be used to replace 29Ks operating GDA services. It sounds like the original plan was to use the first two orders(which I think are supposed to be mostly BEMUs) to repalce all GDA operating 22K sets and all drogheda operating 29Ks, with the rest supplementing the existing DART fleet, and later orders replacing the 8100s. However given the state of the 8100 sets, Im worried IE is going to remove them from service and use some of the BEMUs to replace them (which would be a massive waste of BEMUs) and wait until a later EMU order comes in to start replacing/cascading 22Ks and 29Ks.

Then in Cork it seems electrification and new depot (and by extension EMU fleet) planning is making good progress (RO planned for next year) and IE might consider sending 29Ks elsewhere and waiting to give Cork more sets by either order additional Adessia sets for Cork or send refurbished 8500s. Especially if they refurbish 29Ks before sending anywhere, as in that case it might be 2 years before they are able to be cascaded.

I still think they will likely go to Cork as the odds of CACR being on time is… well we know this country. But on the chances it is I could see them sending them somewhere else that needs them more (somewhere that can't use BEMU/EMUs).

we do have to think of future growth and currently over crowded services, meaning 4 cars while a jump will be a necessity.

it would depend on their condition or whether they could still get parts for them.

of course there is always the possibility that their condition is such that they are unable to be economically given a midlife refurbishment, they are worked ridiculously hard after all.

like always time will reveal all.

if they are refurbished then no reason they couldn't make it to 40 or beyond.

I am not sure where else they would go, this is assuming Cork services would not need them both from electrification and a new fleet. If they were sent to Limerick and/or Galway the frequency/capacity increases would be good for future rail development. And even if they do go there, I can't imagine Limerick and Galway would need all >20 sets freed from the GDA (how many are needed for Dundalk, Longford, and Gorey? I assume less than 9?). The remaining sets could be used to either expand/improve commuter and regional services for other areas, or could at least free up 2800s to do the same.

Perhaps someone could tell us how many Mallow-Tralee trains are scheduled for ICRs or alternatively 2600/2800s. Of course there will be occasional disrputions or breakdowns which will lead to unscheduled operations of "commuter" trains.

My impression is that a large majority of workings are ICR.

Yes, it was actually worse years ago.

Sometimes I wonder if those who go around in the track recording machine ever take regular passenger services to review the ride quality at speed.