I assume from this LED map in the carriages that they intended to, or did at some point, but I’ve never seen it.
by Bluskranger
I assume from this LED map in the carriages that they intended to, or did at some point, but I’ve never seen it.
by Bluskranger
4 comments
No, but a couple have gone to Tralee on special charters and GAA specials.
The LED’s probably aren’t even fitted.
That’s a fine train, but more importantly that train’s for Cork boy. Corcaigh.
From what I gather when they were designed in the early 2000s they were contemplating using them on various routes. When they launched however they were part of hourly scheduling for Dublin-Cork and effectively are the equivalent of the Enterprise on that route, with CityGold etc.
The LED maps at least give them flexibility should the ever get used on any of those lines for specials etc.
In theory they can run at 200km/h with an additional brake added to each axel. They are designed for higher speed service than anything else on the network, but they’re hobbled by the locomotives being limited to 160km/h and the track and signalling being inadequate. There was some notion of forward planing to add new locos or power cars, but I would suspect it’s more likely that if Cork-Dublin goes to medium high speed, it will probably be with a new fleet of electric trains, not the MK4, whenever it is we get past the psychological barrier we seem to have about electrification.
The scale of the fleet replacement also vastly improved with the decision to buy the Hyundai-Rotem intercity DMUs which ultimately replaced all the older generation of locomotive hauled intercity stock entirely, so the MK4s have rarely left the Cork-Dublin line.
They’ve always been a bit like a sports car being driven on a clapped-out low spec 1980s dual carriageway with potholes. They’ve never liked IE’s rougher quality tracks and seem to be spec’d for smooth, high speed continental style railways. That’s why they’ve always had a self-stirring coffee feature…
When you look back at Irish Rail’s 1990s and early 00s projects, they seemed to be very lacking in ambition – buy some half-decent push-pull European style intercity rolling stock and bolt it to a rather clunky GM diesel freight locomotive…