Rail transport in Ireland

Rail services in Ireland are provided by Iarnród Éireann in the Republic of Ireland, and by Northern Ireland Railways in Northern Ireland.

Ireland once had one of the most extensive railway systems outside Great Britain but it now has a greatly reduced network (see History of rail transport in Ireland). As the map below demonstrates, most routes in the Republic are radial from Dublin, while the North has suburban routes from Belfast and just two "main lines", to Londonderry (Derry) and to the border. The effects of the partition of the country are readily visible, with only one "cross-border" line now remaining.

A major infrastructure plan for the Republic of Ireland, Transport 21, was announced by the Irish Minister for Transport on 1 November 2005 which re-announced some existing plans but added some new heavy rail, light rail and metro projects covering the period to 2015.

The map shows the present railway network in Ireland and includes routes that are fully operational, lines carrying freight traffic only, and those which have been "mothballed" (i.e. closed to traffic but still to some extent in situ and subject to inspection). Some airports are marked for reference – Farranfore and Belfast City Airport are the only two within walking distance of a railway station. Nevertheless, the railway runs very close to Derry/Londonderry city airport and also the Antrim to Lisburn line skirts Belfast International (Aldergrove). It would be a simple matter to provide stations at both airports, the only lack being investment. Places having seaports are indicated as such, though only a few ports remain rail-connected. The country's principal mountains and lakes have also been marked for location purposes.

Traction

Locomotives

34 locomotives were added to the rail system in the early 1990s. This was a joint order by IÉ and NIR, with 32 locos for the former and 2 for the latter. They were supplied by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. The NIR locos, although shipped in NIR livery, were repainted in 'Enterprise' livery as were at least two IÉ locos. Iarnród Éireann designated their locomotives the '201 class', the entire 34 locos being numbered 201 to 234 (the NIR locos were later prefixed with an 8). These locomotives are the heaviest to run in Ireland to date, and are 3200 horse-power (2.5 MW). In December 2004, a new livery for the InterCity sector was tested on 228, consisting of dark green, lime green and grey. It is thought that this will be used as a permanent new intercity livery on new carriages.This new Intercity Livery is now being painted on other members of the class. A revised version of the existing livery has also been tested on another 201 locomotive and many members of the class are now apearring in this livery. Other locomotives in the class are due to be refurbished in any case.

IÉ's other locomotives are also from GM. There are 18 '071' class 1976, 2475 hp (1.8 MW), 12 '181' class 1966, 1100 hp (750 kW), 36 '141' class 1962, 950 hp (700 kW) and 2 remaining '121' class locos 1960, 950 hp (700 kW)(124 and 134). Mostly 071 are used on freight services and now only few Sligo line passenger trains as many services are now formed by the 29000 class Dmus. (formerly suburban services also, but these are mostly diesel multiple unit (DMU) operated now). NIR have three other GM locos, numbered 111,112 and 113. There is seldom more than one of these serviceable at a time and 112 is effectively owned by IE having been used by them for over two years These are identical to the 071 class locos

Multiple units

NIR and IÉ both run suburban services using DMUs – these are often termed railcars in Ireland (see rail terminology). IÉ also operates a few of its intercity services (including services between Rosslare Europort and Limerick Junction/Dublin Connollyand Dublin/Sligo, and one service per week from Connolly to Belfast and back. NIR is replacing some ageing DMUs with new regional railcars built by CAF, which arrived in 2005. These have been designated 3000 class. A series of difficulties has been encountered in testing, delaying the delivery and entering into service of some units. IÉ introduced 17 new suburban railcars in 1993 as the 2600 class (built by Tokyu, Japan) for the Kildare 'Arrow' commuter service. One of these has now been used for spare parts. Further additions to the fleet were made in 1999 (27 2700 class, GEC-Alstom built), 2000 (20 2800 class, Tokyu built) and 2003 (80 2900 class, CAF built). A further 36 CAF railcars arrived in 2005.The odd 2600 and 2700 railcars have been sent to Scotland for overhaul, to enter service as a mixed pair designated 2651 and 2652.

Rolling Stock

The 'Enterprise' service has the most modern rolling stock on the island. The carriages, commissioned in 1997, are by De Dietrich. They comprise a dining car, first class carriage(s) and driving van trailer (DVT) for push-pull operation. Notable is the omission of a generator van (the DVT does not have its own generator either). This requires the GM locos to supply head-end power (HEP) for heating and lighting.

NIR also has a rake of refurbished Mark II carriages acquired from the Gatwick Express service and converted to run on the Irish 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) track gauge. These are generally referred to as 'the Gatwicks'.

The backbone of IÉ's main intercity services to Cork, Limerick and Galway are the Mark IIIs. These carriages are the next most modern intercity stock after the De Dietrichs, being built in 1980, 1986 and 1989. Unlike their British equivalents they are equipped with power-operated external doors. They include a dining car, first class carriage (although on all but two of the sets, the carriage is half first class and half standard class), generator van and typically six ordinary carriages (prior to the smoking ban in the Republic, one of these was a smoking car).Three of these carriges where refurbished by Iarnrod Eireann in 1993 to be converted into CityGold business class accomadation for use on selected Dublin to Cork services.

Routes such as Dublin to Waterford and Sligo, as well as some early and late services to Cork are typically served in some part by Mark IIs. Air conditioned Mark IId type carriages date back to 1972, and are distinguished from the similar Mark IIIs by having slam doors and being about 2 m shorter. Earlier Mark IIa/b/c carriages dating back to 1966/1970 have recently been scrapped (even before older carriages) since they suffered from corrosion.

The oldest carriages run by Iarnród Éireann are 40 years old (1963/1965) and are termed the 'Cravens', the builder's name. They now only operate very rarely. These are slamdoor stock and are soon to be placed as reserve carriages. They may be scrapped, but the interior has been refurbished and they are structurally sound, unlike the Mark IIas. They are also steam-heated, leading to the scenes of a by-gone era gracing Ireland's railway stations, with jets and clouds of steam flowing out from the carriages while stationary. Problems with the ageing generator vans have made these carriages unpopular, as the heating (and even lighting) can be out of service.Some of this class will be withdrawn when the Mark 4s enter service and the rest will be placed in reserve for specials.

IÉ received 67 new intercity carriages (including dining cars, generator vans and DVTs) built by CAF of Spain in 2005. None of these carriages have yet been placed into service but the First set is due to enter service in March 2006. however; they can be seen in storage at the Iarnród Éireann depot at Inchicore, Dublin, and at Limerick Junction.The GM 201 class will operate these trains on a hourly Clockface timetable betwwen Dublin and Cork exclusivley useing this fleet. These will be formed into eight 8-car trains which will permit a massive expansion in Dublin to Cork frequencies.In January 2005 Iarnrod Eireann ordered 120 Intercity railcars from Mitsu of Japan.These will operate all Intercity services apart from Dublin to Cork which will permit a massive expansion in service frequencies -- by 2008 IÉ anticipates frequencies on the network will be:

• Dublin - Cork: Hourly all day.
• Dublin - Limerick: Hourly, with a mixture of direct services, and shuttles connecting with Dublin - Cork services at Limerick Junction.
• Dublin - Galway: Hourly in the peak, 2-hourly the rest of the day.
• Dublin - Waterford: 2-hourly all day.
• Dublin - Sligo: 2-hourly all day.
• Dublin - Westport: Existing through trains with extra shuttles connecting with Galway services at Athlone.
• Dublin - Tralee: Existing through trains with extra shuttles every 2 hours connecting with Cork services at Mallow.
• Dublin - Rosslare: Existing services with extra commuter services to Arklow/Gorey.

Main routes

Some services below usually, but not necessarily always, involve a change of trains. Changing points are shown in bold type. Usually services at different times of day will serve a different subset of the stations shown below. The "stations served" lists all possible stops for any train on a given route. As an example, some services to Limerick do not involve a change at Limerick Junction, and some services to Cork may stop at Limerick Junction, Charleville and Mallow only.

Dublin to Belfast

This service, named 'Enterprise', is jointly run by Northern Ireland Railways and Iarnród Éireann. Despite having some of the most modern intercity rolling stock on the island, it has been dogged by numerous problems. An historical problem on this route has been disruption to services caused by security alerts (devices on the line, hoax devices, threats and warnings). These continue to the present day.

The punctuality on this service remains poor for other reasons also. The intercity route, despite being mostly high quality continuous welded rail, is shared with suburban services outside both Belfast and Dublin. Unfortunately these are the busiest suburban routes on the island while only double-track is provided, hence very little mishap is required to disrupt the Enterprise service. In theory the trip should take 2 hours – there have been occasions where this has become almost 5 hours!

A further problem is due to the locomotive and rolling stock arrangements. Unlike most other locomotive-hauled rolling stock in Ireland, generator vans are not part of the train – even the DVTs do not supply power. Thus the General Motors-built locomotives must supply head-end power for lighting and heating throughout the train. Although many types of locomotive are well-designed for this purpose, these particular locomotives have struggled under the extra strain. The wear on the locos and time out of service are unusually high. In fact, on at least two occasions locomotives have burst into flames while shuttling along the route.

Dublin to Cork

This was known as the 'Premier Line' of the Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR), being one of the longest routes in the country, built to a high standard and connecting to Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Kerry as well as to Cork. These other destinations all have their own services, although connections are offered to/from the Cork service at Limerick Junction (for Limerick) and Mallow (for Kerry).

Most services to Cork stop at four or five stations at most, usually at least Limerick Junction, Charleville and Mallow. Other stops are not as frequently served, as services from other destinations mentioned above also serve those stops. Journey time varies, but mostly trains take 3 hours to complete the journey (express trains with few or no stops take just over 2.5 hours).

Dublin to Limerick

This service follows the Cork route as far as Limerick Junction. Limerick services leave the main line via a direct curve onto the Limerick-Waterford railway. However, many Dublin-Limerick services involve a change at 'the Junction' onto a local train for the remaining half-hour of the journey. The Limerick to Limerick Junction section was built as part of the Waterford & Limerick Railway (W&LR).

Dublin to Galway

The route to Galway now runs partly along the Cork main line. Originally the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) to Galway was built starting on Dublin's northside, continuing on through Mullingar to Athlone. The section to Mullingar is now part of the Dublin-Sligo route.

The present route, built by the GS&WR in competition with the MGWR, leaves the Cork main line just after Portarlington. The River Shannon is crossed at Athlone. Athenry, the last station before Galway, used to boast connections north and south along the west coast (to Sligo and Ennis/Limerick respectively).

Dublin to Tralee

This relatively indirect route runs along what is in essence a branch line connected to the Cork–Dublin mainline at Mallow. Trains run to/from the south of Tralee, services also once ran north to Limerick via North Kerry. The route became part of the extensive GS&WR network. As of 2004 the route boasts some of the oldest rolling stock and locomotives on Irish railways. In the new December 2005 railcars replaced the majority of locomotive hauled trains. There are now a record eight trains in each direction a day between Mallow and Tralee, including a early morning commuter service between Killarney and Tralee.

Dublin to Waterford

Since Kilkenny is a stub station, reversal is necessary when departing.

Dublin to Wexford/Rosslare Europort

Dublin to Sligo

Dublin to Westport/Ballina

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rail transport in Ireland".