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New DART Fleet

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Barl

By Barl
in What's happening on the network?

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Shinkansen Community Regular

Shinkansen

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Posted (edited)

Good to see some much needed investment. Although I would have liked to have seen DART underground go ahead instead of getting kicked 20 years down the road. Seems a bit crazy to me!

I like the look of the new DART units. Good looking modern livery too, a bit more imaginative than the “lets paint everything silver” blandness we’ve seen in the past. And hopefully they’ll finally fix the DARTs biggest fault… those seats 🤮

https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2017/09/07/designer-responsible-for-the-seat-upholstery-on-the-dart-is-finally-arrested/

Edited by Shinkansen
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DoctorPan Proficient

DoctorPan

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Posted
16 hours ago, connollystn said:

Have to say that my heart dropped when I saw who will be supplying the fleet and, what are they going to do about the Connolly [Dublin] - Maynooth stretch of the network? It takes up to 45 minutes to travel between these destinations on ICRs hence, I travel with Bus Eireann as it's quicker.

 

DART West plans are for full electrifiction and closure of the level crossings along the route along with the remodelling of Connolly, its approach and Docklands station

https://www.dartplus.ie/en-ie/projects/dart-west

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railfan222 Apprentice

railfan222

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On 13/12/2021 at 12:51 PM, flange lubricator said:

Lets hope so as they will be running out of room in Inchicore to store all these mistakes !!!

 

What ever was wrong with the 8200s? Did they keep on breaking down or did it just simply be hard to get spare parts? The 8200s are surly the shortest ever DART EMUs ever in service.

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Niles Mentor

Niles

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Posted (edited)
14 hours ago, railfan222 said:

What ever was wrong with the 8200s? Did they keep on breaking down or did it just simply be hard to get spare parts? The 8200s are surly the shortest ever DART EMUs ever in service.

I think both to an extent. I know from chatting to staff involved they had issues with brakes, among other things. Not the only Alstom product of that era to suffer issues either, for instance the 2700s and some UK stock. On the parts issue, compared to the German and Japanese fleet it's a very small fleet to hold specialised parts for. 

On the time in service issue, to give an idea, I started volunteering in Inchicore in Oct 2006 and set 8204/8404 was there the day I started, never left in the following 9 years I spent around there. So at this point it's easily spent 2/3 of its life away from the wires. I think two sets got a reprieve around 2007/8 but didn't last. Then you have the recession hitting so it makes sense that IÉ would give them the chop in favour of the more numerous and reliable German and Japanese fleets. Some may remember that the recession even saw some services worked by 2 car 8100s, mad to think now.

Probably worth bearing in mind that the Alstom of today very different to that of 1999/2000, I wouldn't doubt the reliability of these units based on the follys of old.

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railfan222 Apprentice

railfan222

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

 

I have got a few questions to ask. I would be grateful if anyone could answer.

 

First Question: Why did IE have to open up public consultation to the public to have their say on the DART extensions to Maynooth, M3 Parkway, Halzelhatch and Drogheda?

Second Question: Why did IE extend the DART to Malahide and Greystones in 2000? What were the reasons?

Third Question: What will be the frequency of DARTs in both directions between Hazelhatch, Maynooth, M3 Parkway and Drogheda? 

Fourth Question: Why were Alstom products of the late 90s/early 2000s very bad runners? The 2700s had issues running at 6 cars in length. Why was this so? 

 

Regards Kian. 

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jhb171achill Grand Master

jhb171achill

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Posted

Questions:

1     They need to know what the possible demand might be.

2     Malahide & Greystones were (and still are) growing rapidly and thus more commuter traffic.

3     Who knows - they haven't been built yet, or delivered, let alone trialled. Far, far too early to tell.

4     You'd need to speak to an IE engineer who was involved at the time.

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DoctorPan Proficient

DoctorPan

Posted
Posted
On 14/2/2022 at 12:38 AM, railfan222 said:

Hi all,

 

I have got a few questions to ask. I would be grateful if anyone could answer.

 

First Question: Why did IE have to open up public consultation to the public to have their say on the DART extensions to Maynooth, M3 Parkway, Halzelhatch and Drogheda?

Second Question: Why did IE extend the DART to Malahide and Greystones in 2000? What were the reasons?

Third Question: What will be the frequency of DARTs in both directions between Hazelhatch, Maynooth, M3 Parkway and Drogheda? 

Fourth Question: Why were Alstom products of the late 90s/early 2000s very bad runners? The 2700s had issues running at 6 cars in length. Why was this so? 

 

Regards Kian. 

 

1. Legal requirements, any projects that impact on public land require public consultation. Since DART + West, South West and Coastal all include stuff like brand new depot, level crossing closures, construction of new bridges, substations, they require that the public be allowed to give their say on things. DART + BEMU infrastructure is all taking place on Irish Rail land will only require planning premission instead.

 

2. Growing towns, growing demand for expansion of DART and a by-election win in Greystones. 

 

3. The aim is to start with 10 min frequency and ramp up over the years to a 3 min frequency.

 

 

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Darrman Enthusiast

Darrman

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When you actually take a look at the schedule on the Dart website, you'll see a few entries using different fonts than the rest.

image.thumb.png.9637f63c300e77c3943a600baa6191b6.png

Check the page on Archive.org and the schedule slip reveals itself.

image.thumb.png.0ec75e497adc205cf8cdb3e8b6cdca8e.png

To avoid spamming the thread with screenshots, Dart+ West construction is scheduled for 2024 at the moment. Though the Dart website doesn't say anything, Dart+ Southwest is scheduled to start in 2025 according to the government press release.

Will An Bord Pleanala approve things in a reasonable time frame? Will Irish Rail get caught up in a pile of red tape? Will some other nonsense happen? Those are other questions to ask.

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GSR 800 Veteran

GSR 800

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Darrman said:

https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2023/03/22/application-lodged-for-extension-of-dart-to-celbridge-and-hazelhatch/

The Dart+ Southwest railway order application has been made. In other news, An Bord Pleanala "need more time" to approve extending to Maynooth.

Can't say I'm surprised, considering how horrendously understaffed An Bord Pleanala are.....

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