Enterprise service

[Jamie2k9]

There is loads of 201's that can operate PP, 21 in service which on an average weekday for passenger services 7 are require, 4 spare, 10 for freight/maintenance. There is no reason why a spare one wasn't in Connolly and add 230 out of that 21 as it will most likely not see passenger services again but will never be up North like 209 on HEP.

071's normally operate freight but some are having overhauls which is why 201's are being used.

[Mark Gleeson]

18:05 Belfast Dublin, went on fire just north of Newry
Train halted per rules
Unclear if the on train fire extinguishing system activated (the fire alarm did)
Despite media reports the locomotive was not separated from the train
Fire was contained within the locomotive and did not spread
Train was not carrying a generator van
Failure of light/AC and all secondary systems instantly, limited to battery

Evacuation was painfully slow and relied on the 20:05 from Belfast (already running 30 minutes late due earlier breakdown) to run alongside and use the wheelchair ramps, total 5 hour delay reaching Dublin

Utterly unacceptable, despite the serious nature Irish Rail made gave no formal statement as to the goings on.

It is unclear if EC1371/2007 was complied with, if it wasn't once evidence is gathered its time for a prosecution

[James Howard]

I have noticed over the last few years that Irish Rail appear to have no organised plans for breakdowns. Thankfully this seems to be pretty rare on the Sligo line but when it does happen, it takes an inordinate amount of time to rescue a breakdown.

I had a look at the Indo to see what idiotic drivel they had written on the incident and the article itself actually seemed to be mainly factual. I'm sure they'll get around to doing the dramatic stupid version in the next couple of hours. They do have a picture of a driving van at Newry captioned "The fire broke out in the engine of the train, which is similar to this one".

[Thomas J Stamp]

i guess that a week of hot weather + lots of Air Con demand + ever ageing engines just did them in yesterday.

Its not as if IE/Translink are not aware of the problem, as they have been trying to get the Mark3 Generator Van project to work for a long time now.

I know there has been a lot of hot weather since the mid 90's when this service started, but things are older, no matter how well you service something, the older it is the more likely something will go pop.

Then again, its not like every year irish rail are surprised by the onset of winter and suffer the frozen points problems, despite warmers being around for decades.

So it will be interesting to see if passengers add 2+2 and decide not to enter a lotto to see if their train will pop in hot weather, and if IE will move the PP fleet around a lot more frequently to help things out.

[Mark Gleeson]

Warm weather is certainly a factor, failure rate increases massively in Summer

Key problem is running the engine at full revs means the radiator is running at close to limit so if it gets clogged up or the locomotive gets stuck for a prolonged period it will overheat and die.

Alternatively in idle you get a risk of unburnt fuel in the exhaust silencer which in turn will go bang after a while.

[Inniskeen]

This is at least the 2nd in-service 201 class fire on the Enterprise. It will be interesting to see if this one was caused by an electrical fault or a build up of combustible residue in some part of the locomotive such as the exhaust stack.

Given the apparently excessive demands placed on these locomotives, can it be assumed they have a correspondingly intensive maintenance regime ?