Enterprise replacement and Connolly station based trains generally.

loyatemu · 02-05-2024 12:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122087305#Comment_122087305

but hey, in a couple of years they'll just turn them off because they're faulty like every previous PIS they've had.

Citizen Six · 02-05-2024 5:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122086330#Comment_122086330

Who worked on the new Dart ones? These new units look very similar. Fitted by Spanish lads, but not sure if they are from Caf.
At least they’ll address the issue with speakers that don’t work on the 29s. Drivers make announcements, but they often don't get heard due to faulty speakers.

dowlingm · 08-05-2024 12:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122080022#Comment_122080022

interesting take. GE sold their locomotive division to Wabtec, and no passenger locomotive is currently being offered in North America from their stable of products or powered by them. Similarly, Tier 4 was a blow to EMD since the 710 couldn’t manage it, so they offered the F125 with their sister company Caterpillar’s engine and only one agency bought it (and didn’t have a fun time introducing it).

Siemens are making money hand over fist because as far as US made new build diesel passenger locomotives go, they are the only game in town.

Beta Ray Bill · 14-05-2024 11:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122111551#Comment_122111551

I believe physical Locomotive Safety mechanisms on US trains are better than in the EU. I know Siemens did have to do a lot of work on ACS-64 to get it to comply with US Safety standards.

Interesting times, Siemens has a monopoly on a lucrative yet comparatively stagnant passenger train market.

dowlingm · 17-05-2024 11:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122136359#Comment_122136359

stagnant for a while but actually having a small renaissance because decades of underinvestment are coming home to roost while demand is soaring, for varying reasons. Whole fleets of trains - power and coaches - have been retained a decade or three past their sell-by and now Amtrak, CTDOT, Ontario Northland, VIA Rail Canada and others are all being obliged to replace rolling stock as the likes of Brightline are desperate to expand

The problem is that it has perhaps come a little too late for companies like CAF, Brookville, Kawasaki to get a piece of. While Siemens has the cash flow to open a new facility in South Carolina, Nippon Sharyo in Illinois and Talgo in Wisconsin are dead and gone, and Alstom can’t build “Buy America” federally funded orders from Canadian plants to any useful extent.

as for the safety thing - there’s strong opinion on that on both sides over here and you are seeing some Euro-spec DMUs and what not show up here under Alternate FRA rules. The legacy FRA Tier 1 rules put a big emphasis on sheer buff strength rather than crash energy management which puts manufacturers in a cleft between axle weight and passing compression tests - and that was what brought down Nippon Sharyo

Red Alert · 20-05-2024 1:25am

The new PIS from pictures looks like a right bodge job on the 29s. The exterior displays are smaller, and can show less text than the old ones. The original interior scrolling LEDs were quite legible… the new ones look amateurish. No doubt Irish rail will soon use them to remind us again to Seachainn an Bhearna continuously. I wonder if they couldn’t just have replaced the head-end for the system using the existing displays - most use relatively standard communication protocols.

Citizen Six · 20-05-2024 11:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159158#Comment_122159158

New system also replaces the PA system, so announcements will actually work. And new CCTV system too. Alarms triggered in the carriage will then display the associated camera to the driver.

Jem72 · 28-06-2024 8:21am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122080094#Comment_122080094

I had to endure one of these to Edgeworthstown from Drumcondra yesterday evening. Can't really see the point in fitting the new PIS. The external displays are a lot smaller and it still doesn't actually work. It started announcing "This is the last stop" at Mullingar. It also spent at least half the time displaying "Mind the Gap" or an Irish Rail logo. Complete waste of money.

The old system actually gave more information as it used to announce every stop which while useless to regular passengers was very useful to those unfamiliar with the train.