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New DART Fleet

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Posted
32 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Alstom are the last company we should be buying from 😭😭😭

 

that would be like if CIE kept buying from metropolitan vickers in the 60s and 70s

Alstom have come a long way from the period when they supplied the 8200 DARTs and 2700 railcars.

Posted

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.

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
Typing error
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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Posted
29 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

That will create great fun at Ashtown and Merrion Gates!

Dunno about Ashtown but being involved with Merrion Gates, its a PITA developing a working solution. Hope the public like it when it goes to public consultation in the new year.

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Posted

Excludind the Luas* what has Alstom successfully produced for the Irish rail network?

*Luas is the Gaelic for 'speed'**

**Does not apply to trams operating in the city centre***

***I love using asterisks****

****There I go again*****

*****Can't help myself******************

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  • 1 month later...
Posted
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.

Posted
7 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.

They suffered from “crossly engine unreliability” Syndrome. 

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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.

Edited by Niles
  • 2 weeks later...
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. 

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.

Posted
48 minutes ago, railfan222 said:

There is ECM Trains who solely make DART 8100 EMUs.

 

 

Regards Kian.

ECM 2 car DART set was €300 when they were first released,  now €1200-€1500 depending on options, no thank you.

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.

 

 

  • 1 year later...
Posted

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.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
2 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

That’s been in Inchicore for a while now, with a comical amount of no photograph signs all over it 

Whats in front of it in that shed will gain more interest from this forum though

 

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