ICR Train Carriage with New Standing Area

Does anyone have picture of the new style carriages?

Why are we only getting 41 new cars?

Budget 2021, Budget 2022 and Budget 2023 each referred to the purchase of 41 new cars.

They are not commuter trains they are ICRs

Strictly speaking, the Portlaoise services are Intercity stopping services, feeding into the Dublin/Cork services at Portlaoise.

The ICRs can avail of the higher line speeds on the Dublin/Cork line and hence all services on that side are operated by them. Operationally too it makes sense, as the 29000s are maintained at Drogheda.

Medium term, when DART+ SouthWest comes into effect, it's likely that the Portlaoise services will switch to operating as semi-fast services, running non-stop between Heuston and Hazelhatch, and linking into the DART at Hazelhatch.

These 41 ICR intermediate cars will primarily facilitate the addition of extra trains on Intercity routes next year, when the set reformations are completed, with services that currently use two sets of three cars being able to use a single six-car set instead, resulting in some additional sets becoming available. ICRs will also likely replace the 29000s off the longer distance Longford and Dundalk commuter services, which should then free up ICRs off the likes of M3 Parkway-Docklands.

Once the DART+ fleet orders start entering service, they will in turn facilitate further set cascades of 29k sets to elsewhere on the network.

Any future requirement for additional Intercity trains will be from orders of new train types and not more ICRs - this should be the final set of deliveries of that class of train. We would have had these 41 intermediate cars far earlier had the NTA not prevaricated unnecessarily over ordering them.

you would hope the first place they'll be going is somewhere to be refurbished as currently they're wrecked.

There was also either a tender or PIN for new seats I think

no, it was to get them to and from the train care depot which is at portlaoise.

it and droghida are where all long distance diesel trains are maintaned bar the cork and belfast loco hauled trains.

i would say beyond clapped out personally, they look and feel as if they are beyond life expired.

but yes they should be salvagible if they can be refurbished properly.

very little, just more steel in the bogies to make them wider. The loading gauge (ie the width and height of rolling stock) is the same as the UK so UK stock can run here and vice versa by swapping bogies, and this has been done in the past.

The UK/Irish loading gauge is however more restrictive than the continent or US so still requires design constraints and off the shelf designs used across Europe for example cannot be used here. Double decker coaches for example simply cannot fit under the bridge heights or tunnel widths here.

The Irish loading gauge is more generous that that of the UK. Earlier coaches designed by Bulleid were over 10 feet wide, whihc would nevefr fit in the UK. However it wiil often pay to buy already available designs with UK specifications. As far as I am aware, the Mark IV coaches on the Cork main line (built by CAF in Spain) exceed UK loading gauge limits.