New trains will upgrade Dublin-Cork service: Irish Rail will start to introduce a fleet of new Intercity trains next year. This will herald a relaunch of its premier Dublin-Cork service

International Railway Journal, April, 2004 by David Briginshaw

IRISH Rail (IE) has described its con tract with CAF, Spain, for a fleet of Intercity trains as "the largest ever fleet investment in the history of Ireland's rail ways." The 117 million [euro] contract is being funded jointly with the Irish government under the 2000-06 National Development Plan.

Delivery of the new trains will start in mid-2005. They will be introduced between Dublin and Ireland's second city Cork. IE plans to recast the timetable in 2006 when it will introduce for the first time an hourly-interval service. There are currently only seven trains a day in each direction.

The journey time for the 266km trip will be between 2h 20min and 2h 35min depending on the number of intermediate stops. The trains will run at regular intervals, another first in Ireland.

IE carried 11.25 million Intercity passengers last year, of which 3.85 million were on the Dublin-Cork route, made 2.1 million on the Dublin-Belfast service, which is operated jointly with Northern Ireland Railways. IE's existing rail service between Dublin and Cork is already competitive with both road and air--the journey by road takes about four hours.

IE's fares are regulated by the government, with the result that it has some of the lowest train fares in Europe. For example, a Dublin-Cork standard-class return costs 51.50 [euro], which is below that charged in eight other European Union countries for a similar journey. IE hopes the new service will boost traffic and revenue still further.

IE is purchasing 67 coaches which will be formed into seven nine car sets plus spares. Each train will have six standard-class coaches, a cafe-style dining car, a first-class coach, and a driving trailer with a streamlined cab. The latter will have a section for the conductor and space for parcels. The push-pull sets will be powered by existing 160km/h diesel locomotives.

On-board, passengers will be provided with an audio and visual information system, and electronic route maps. In first class, there will be an in seat radio and music entertainment system, reading light, and table lamps. The trains will be fully accessible to disabled passengers. Each train will seat 499 passengers. Design Triangle, Britain, is working with CAF on the design of the new trains.

The introduction of the new trains will allow IE to transfer its existing Mark 3 coaches to other Intercity services and withdraw its oldest vehicles, some of which date from the 1960s. Indeed, about half the Intercity fleet is more than 30 years old.

IE is now drawing tip plans to replace locomotive-hauled trains with Intercity-style dmus. "We are preparing a tender for later this year for about 100 cars," Mr Dick Fearn, IE's chief operating officer, told IRJ in Dublin. By operating shorter trains with better acceleration, IE expects to be able to both increase frequency and reduce journey times on many of its Intercity routes.