Enterprise C3K

[James Shields]

I noticed this morning's Enterprise arriving in Connolly just after 9:00 was run by a six-car C3K pair. First time I've seen the C3Ks MU.

I find this curious, as there are normally two sets stabled in Belfast overnight, so they would have had the pick of which one to run. Presumably means they knew one was *******ed, and ran with the C3K in order to have it home in time tonight.

As I understand it, the Mk2ds have gone back to Sligo, so presumably if the problem happened on the southern end it would be picked up by 2900s.

Makes me glad I was on the commuter train ahead of it, as that train is normally pretty packed on a Monday even as an 8-car Enterprise.

[Mark Gleeson]

The sets run on a fixed roster based on staffing, so sending a C3K out on that service means it ends up in Belfast at the end of the day. Still waiting to have a go appearently it really moves even to the point of out accelerating a 29000, it does have 60hp more per coach

If the 7:30 Dublin Belfast died the MK2d set would be sent if available, 29000 availabllity isn't good at 7am

The assumption of course is Belfast had both of her sets, she might only have one as one died on Saturday on the approach to Dublin, some kind of engine management glitch quite rare these days. IE to be fair sorted the locomotive issue out but NIR let the side down with the coaches which are the weak link

[sean]

Yeah, what's the deal? They (IE) take away our Mk2ds using the much trumpeted "life-expired" nonsense, only to find them on the enterprise every other day. They're only too "life-expired" for Sligo where IE is (conveniently) looking for an excuse to fobb us off with rolling trashcans.

While I'm on the subject, whatever happened to the Mk2f "Gatewick" set? Did that just disappear into thin air or something? Or has it rusted away from lying idle somewhere in Belfast? Why are these not doing Enterprise cover?

[James Shields]

That's a very good question. It used to show up on Enterprise replacements every so often. As far as I know they're still sitting in York Road. The problem is that NIR don't have a loco to haul them.

[ACustomer]

NIR have no loco to haul the "Gatwicks"?. Well they have three 071-class (111, 112 and 113). One of these is on permanent loan to IE, and the other 2 are the most underused locos in Ireland, usually idling around York Road doing sod all. NIR's performance with the Gatwicks is truly pathetic: it makes IE look like something from Switzerland!

[Mark Gleeson]

You have to remember that NIR provide 2 enterprise sets and IE provide the other so the ball is in IE's court to provide extra

This is a very delicate issue as we cannot demand or even seek NIR to get there house in order as we have no power over another jurisdiction

The C3K units where designed for use as backup Enterprise sets if needed

[Craigmore Viaduct]

Well from what I've gathered from IRN, the Gatwicks have a poor reliability record in service mainly because NIR only bought one operational set and it suffered a high failure rate because of the relatively high usage it was getting.

As for their 111 class locos, the consensus is that NIR are so underfunded that the majority of their maintenance is concentrated on the front line fleet, mainly the Enterprise and the C3K's, the rest are just left to run until they fail. Apparently when Loco 112 was loaned to IE, the engineers at Inchicore were appalled at the condition the loco was in. Nowadays they tend only to have one of the 111's in service at any time, the other is being cannibalised for spares until they can get some parts in from EMD.

Pathetic really!

[MrX]

You'd feel sorry for NIR. They do provide an excellent service given the fact that they've absolutely no resources. I really think they should be co-operating much more heavily with IE to give them some economies of scale. Particularly, when IE is currently in spending spree mode. NIR could easily jump on board for some of these orders of trains. e.g. perhaps order up some of those Mitsui DMUs to replace the remainder of the NI fleet and have IE do the servicing on their behalf?

[Mark Gleeson]

I had some fun with IE management when I pointed out in Kildare last week that NIR start refunding passengers after 30 minutes of delay and time suburban services to 5 minutes not 10 as IE do and that they also discount monthly and annual ticket holders, hell they even issued refunds for the strike last week

I was talking to a rail passenger group from the North West last week who are rightly pissed off at the state of things, the C3K only manages 3000 miles per failure, when I said the almost mechanically identical 29000 manages 30,000 plus you can imagine the response