 | Rail transport in Ireland: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport in Ireland - Traction
Rail transport in Ireland - Traction
Rail transport in Ireland - Locomotives
Main article: Diesel Locomotives of Ireland
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. A revised version of the existing livery has also been tested on another 201 locomotive. 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 also Sligo line passenger trains (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
Rail transport in Ireland - Multiple units
Main article: Multiple Units of Ireland
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 Connolly, 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 will arrive in 2005. An order is being placed for regional railcars also. The odd 2600 and 2700 railcars have been sent to Scotland for overhaul, to enter service as a mixed pair designated 2651 and 2652.
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Traction", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
