Irish rail fleet and infrastructure plans

QQ, where did this extract come from? I mean, who said it and in what situation?

Will the new warning systems been installed at various farm/local road crossings result in any speed changes assuming other factors allow it.

It's in the IR freight plan also.

With land in the north Docklands that was used for (non port company) container storage and haulage ops being turned in to apartments and hotels very rapidly there may be a need for one.

Can the PPT even take container flats or do they need to be in pocket wagons?

The PPT currently takes container flats from Ballina to North Wall (and not on pocket wagons)

Its actually just there as an 'eastern gateway' west of Dublin without the location being specific. I thought it was more specifically Cherryville but must have misremembered.

Ready this with interest. I wonder if Irish Rail would consider these?

they're never going to electrify the whole network; hydrogen could be long term replacement for diesel on branch lines etc.

Seen this come up in the news today.

Preliminary design beginning soon for flood & erosion prevention on the Rosslare line between Merrion Gates and Greystones.

Ah my bad, even better!

The first 3 carriages arrived to Dublin this morning along with new RTGs for DFT terminal.. They should be offloaded on Wednesday evening in Ocean Pier terminal

Seems Irish Rail now want to keep the 8100s going.

https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2022/09/17/irish-rail-seeks-another-life-extension-of-original-dart-fleet-up-to-2034/

Is the 2700 class still completely out of service?

I know a plan to renovate them was abandoned.

There are 26 vehicles, I think.

I have seen massive, severe overcrowding on first train into Galway in the morning, so more stock is needed.

Out of service, unserviceable and non-economic to restore.

If they wanted more stock, they could get it quicker and easier by ordering it. But it seems to be the case that anything other than the limited number of 22ks that are on their way here is going to rely on cascaded diesels from Dublin when the DART+ fleet start to arrive.

They were borderline unservicable from the day they arrived. There were huge warranty claims which made them just usable enough for the life they had.

The very closely related 8200 DARTs had an even worse service history. Both should have been rejected to the manufacturer like Denmark did to AnsaladoBreda but massive fleet constraints at the time meant they weren't.

Hydrogen?

https://www.alstom.com/solutions/rolling-stock/alstom-coradia-ilint-worlds-1st-hydrogen-powered-train

If they're going down this route of sort of sometime partially electrifying the Dublin-Belfast line with caveats, then it strikes me that continuing to divide the service with locomotives and carriage sets (with a DVT) would be ideal. A good start might be to acquire a replacement for the 201 class locomotive that can use both diesel and draw from the DART (1.5 kv DC) OHLE for start, then if it later turns out that the Northern Ireland rail network is to be electrified with 25kv AC but with gaps for tunnels, bridges etc, then the DVT could be replaced with an AC powered locomotive that includes batteries or something.

25kv AV electrification with gaps (for bridges, tunnels)? What a laughing stock Translink or IE would be if they went for this nonsense, They might save on the fixed OHLE but what about the cost and complexity of having hybrid stock? Dual voltage electric traction is no problem, perfectly routine in Europe and totally proven technology.

Does anyone in Ireland ever go to the Continent and see how things should be done?

IÉ have issued a tender for passenger seat replacement for 2600 & 29000 DMU Fleets;x

and a hell of a lot more to boot.

they need a complete refurbishment at this stage they are almost clapped out.

wouldn't surprise me if they do get scrapped but to be honest it would be stupid as chances are they could be refurbished reasonably enough.

if they are i can guarantee just like last time the new stock won't be enough to replace what was scrapped and deliver the necessary increased services and capacity.

Presumably there won't ever be orders of new DMUs again (EMU/BEMU only), and a large part of the network will remain non-electrified and beyond battery range. Could they are looking to flog the DMUs for as long as physically possible because they know they won't have any other options?

They've had a hard life, mainly due to there being insufficient stock to cover for them. IE probably couldn't take them out of service for a midlife refurb even if they wanted to, at least not until the DART is extended to Drogheda.

I wonder if there's any potential for preserving one of the 8100 sets?

that was in relation to the original order of 95 carriages. An extra 90 has now been announced, it seems likely the LHB Darts will be retired as those come on stream. As RUI points out, those original units are becoming very unreliable.

They're referring to the 29000 DMUs, that's what is getting new seats (along with the 2600) and had further discussion of the significant corrosion problems they are showing (floors bubbling up etc).

The LHB DART units were taken to Germany nearly two decades ago for a mid-life refurbishment and are now exceptionally close to their official end of life date. Time marches on terrifyingly!