Irish Rails to apply for increase in speed limit on Intercity services in the autumn
Hi
I read a small article in The Star on Saturday about Irish Rail applying for speed increases on Intercity services in the autumn e.g. from current 160kph to 200kph. So theoretically Dublin-Cork could be done in 1.5 hrs. Trying to find a link to the article. Anyone on here know of such plans ? Would be good if it does happen. Compete with motorways. Possibly open up more commute options. |
Can any of our trains go 125 mph? It would probably mean buying new locomotives for the mk4 cork trains. As far as I know the ICRS were built to go 100, perhaps they can travel faster.
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Tracks - granted they've been laying new sections over the last year or so. Trains - like you asked, are they good enough to do such speeds. Signalling Equipment - ??? I presume as long as they don't go on fire ;) |
AFAIK The MKIV carriages are good to 200kph, but the locomotives are capped at 160kph.
I suppose if the speed limit has been raised, it would be easier to say there would be a fast return on investment on new locomotives. There are still vast sections of track (e.g. Cork-Mallow) where 160kph isn't possible, so I would assume 2 hours is the best case scenario. |
Apply to who, surly a rail operator doesn't need to apply for speed increases, unless they are going to apply for funding from department of transport to decrease journey times but none of our trains can get to 200km, ICR's can do a little over 160km.
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I am still unable to find a link to the article I read. It was definately in The Star ( Saturday edition ). Did not see it in any other news paper.
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Railway Safety Commission might have a role ?
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The RSC would have sign off as a whole different set of engineering rules apply above 165kph
On paper Mk4 stock is the only be design allowed to 200kph. The track relay on the Dublin Cork is/should be 200kph spec Long held investment plan was for 200kph and this sounds like a putting it out there for funding Reasonably light 200kph locomotives are now possible. You might be able to squeeze the ICR to 175kph through an approvals process (like the 110mph Siemens class 350 in the UK) but beyond that it lacks the power to weight ratio for sustained 200kph running |
Don't think I would fancy it trip on a Mark 4 at 200km, at times 160km is very bad ride quality.
Would say that better bogies would be needed, but then again it could be track problems. |
it really is a question of track. a lot of the kinks (Portarlington, Ballybrophy, Lisduff) have been ironed out. problem is that quite a lot of the midlands is pure bog.
the bit from Ballybrophy - Thurles is on the least boggy part (which is how Templemore ended up with a station as they curved around the very soft bits) but it is still soft. The newer ballast laying machines are a great help, also new type of stronger rail. till this is sorted you wont be doing 200 in any long burts anytime soon. |
Great, rail fantasies in the paper when KRP2 and similar bottleneck sorting would save more time system-wide.
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It was the Star for God's sake.
'Nuff said. |
It would be good if they increased a few more spots to 90 or 100 running for the next timetable, there is room for further reductions in times even with current speeds across the network apart from Galway route.
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