Railcar depot in Portlaoise

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Serious changes to be expected 2009 once the railcar deport in Portlaoise is up and running which will mean several early morning services to Dublin and several late evening ones back. 2010 will be a massive change again

Is it possible that the delay in the railcar depot in Portlaoise is part of the problem with getting the new 22000 railcars in service. Is it known if the contract for the railcars includes an extended warranty requiring the supplier (Rotem/Tokyu) to have their own depot?

[Mark Gleeson]

Its got nothing to do with rolling stock. Its only running a few months behind and that is fairly ok as standards go when there are projects years late

[Mark]

According to T21 website the depot is complete. Is that the case?

[Mark Gleeson]

Depot has been complete for several months, however it takes several months to commission all the equipment and train staff to operate it all. You want to be fairly sure it works when you try to lift a full 6 coach set into the air for the first time, and yes someone in the UK dropped a train recently so caution is advised

There are 4 6 coach sets, 1 3 car and 1 locomotive on site currently

May is the date for full operation

[Mark]

In a bulletin I receive - according to Today's Railways UK, May 2008, p.20 IE are looking at Limerick or Cork for a new depot. What trains would this be for? Any ideas on location?

Irish Rail (Iarnrod Eireann) is engaged in a feasibility study concerning whether to build a new railcar workshop in Cork or Limerick. Ahead of the opening of the Laois Traincare Centre, the 22000 Railcars have been stored in Limerick.

©Esmerk
Today's Railways UK, May 2008, p.20:- in English

[Mark Gleeson]

At the moment there is a fairly sizable and increasing number of railcars based in Limerick and Cork all these have to travel back to Drogheda for just about anything non routine as the number of trains in Dublin increases Drogheda won't have any capacity for this, plus it can take 2 days to get the railcar up to Drogheda if it has a serious problem

Limerick would be good since it on the bottom of the WRC and also will have a few 22k units overnight, problem is its rather close to Portlaoise

Cork would be good since it has a large number of railcars, a number which will increase in coming years, its about as far from Drogheda as you can get and will have a few 22k's based there

Portlaoise is designed for 23m coaches (mk3/4/enterprise/C3k/22k), it can't jack a 20m one