New Irish Rail Logo?

[Thomas J Stamp]

im more worried that the logo looks like something from 1973. reminds me of the old crown paints one.

[Eddie]

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I quite like the new logo. I like the symbol, the colours are fresh, and the dual language feels all-inclusive.

[James Howard]

I think that you would find that a significant proportion of our brethren up north would find the whole logo (both icon and text) not quite so inclusive as you do.

Irish Rail have never really had decent branding - the latest iteration is really no better or worse than the last so isn't really worth changing. They should either change nothing or spend decent money and get a proper logo that will last for 30 or 40 years. It would probably make more sense for Irish Rail to do a name change to an Irish name as the current dual-naming system dilutes their brand. The only problem is that Iarnrod Eireann is a bit difficult for non-irish speakers to spell for the internet, but they could have used something like rail.ie (like bahn.de) if they hadn't been so dumb as to let that domain be taken up by a squatter.

By contrast, Bus Éireann have, in my opinion, always had excellent branding and they have consistently used a similar logo since the CIE group was split. It is easy to understand as everyone knows about Greyhound and is well localised using a national symbol that doesn't offend anybody. It also reproduces well in reduced colour printing. The same could be said for the old CIE broken wheel logo.

[Thomas J Stamp]

and the dublin bus db logo

[James Howard]

I had forgotten about the DB logo. That is an excellent bit of design in that it manages to embed the company name into the city symbol.

[Jamie2k9]

IE are keeping the British up North sweet by dropping the flag from the logo on 22k sets 1 to 6 with TWPS.

It's ridiculous at this stage.

[dowlingm]

Don't know why they would bother painting 22001-6 differently. It's not like they send them North anyway... unless Mr Franks is bringing some new ideas to the Northern Line?

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

Don't know why they would bother painting 22001-6 differently. It's not like they send them North anyway... unless Mr Franks is bringing some new ideas to the Northern Line?

Could have something his hopes to have more trains to Belfast in future.

[dowlingm]

To be honest I think the best course for Dublin Belfast (assuming withdrawing the service entirely is off the table) would be for the service to be handed over to a third party train operating company. Nobody cares what colour the Aircoach is.

[Inniskeen]

Maybe they could go back to the old black and tan livery !

Best thing for the Belfast service (whoever runs it) is increased frequency, improved reliability and reduced journey time. Like the Cork line, trains were faster 20 to 30 years ago. Prior to the line being upgraded the fastest services took an hour and fifty one minutes.

The Dublin/Belfast service is hopelessly under-resourced with the entire service run by three sets which accumulate an average daily mileage well in excess of 600 miles each.

The Belfast line is handicapped by a difficult operating environment with hopelessly inadequate infrastructure, particularly between Malahide and Connolly. Scheduling anomalies and non-sensical operating practices complete the picture.

In the week ending yesterday of the the 106 services 50 were early or less than one minute late with a further 38 less than five minutes late. The remaining 18 services were either more than 5 minutes late (4 in excess of 30 minutes late), partially cancelled (2) or substituted by sub standard rolling stock including two operated by 2900 railcars. A further two services were substituted by C3K railcars.

Overcrowding remains a feature of many services although only one relief train operated.

Most of the weeks disruption was caused by OHLE problems at Howth Junction on Thursday, the incident involving the 1455 ex Bray on Friday and the knock-on effects of the OHLE problems near Dalkey on Tuesday.

Long standing speed restrictions at Malahide and Clongriffin remain a significant impediment to on time arrival at the Dublin end.

[Jamie2k9]

To be fair its up North where speed is a problem. I am not even sure if trains hit 80mph once they cross. The few times I use the route it seems to be a lot of 60 or 70. Once the Dart area near Dublin is cleared its largely 80mph without restriction.

I'm sure parts of the route in Co. Louth could be cleared for 90 or 100mph to improve times.

[dowlingm]

If the Enterprise was running with 22000s then presumably the distributed traction would allow the train to regain line speed more quickly out of the speed restrictions. I wonder if Adelaide Depot is as able (in terms of lifting jacks etc) to accommodate routine servicing of 22000s as it is C3Ks and C4Ks?

[Kilocharlie]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

If the Enterprise was running with 22000s then presumably the distributed traction would allow the train to regain line speed more quickly out of the speed restrictions. I wonder if Adelaide Depot is as able (in terms of lifting jacks etc) to accommodate routine servicing of 22000s as it is C3Ks and C4Ks?

20000s can be maintained in Drogheda; in fact most of the Sligo/Rosslare/Dundalk 22000s are maintained there. No need for Adelaide to be involved.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

To be fair its up North where speed is a problem. I am not even sure if trains hit 80mph once they cross. The few times I use the route it seems to be a lot of 60 or 70. Once the Dart area near Dublin is cleared its largely 80mph without restriction.

I'm sure parts of the route in Co. Louth could be cleared for 90 or 100mph to improve times.

Yes Jamie, there are speed limits on NIR also although, as on Irish Rail, the general speed limit is 90 mph and is routinely achieved both by the Enterprise and local services to/from Portadown and Newry.

The main issues on NIR are scheduling, particularly in the Belfast direction (loads of padding), a 60 mph speed restriction in both directions for about seven miles (Lisburn to Moira) and the tortuous routing to Belfast Central (from Central Junction). There are also speed limits at Portadown (40), Scarva (70), Poyntzpass (45), Mullaghglass (60) and the top of the Wellington Bank (60).

Much of the route, currently cleared for 90 mph could sustain 100 mph. Future track renewals on NIR, starting with Lisburn/Lurgan are planned to be suitable for 125 mph running.

Yes C3Ks/C4Ks or ICRs would produce substantially better timings than locomotive hauled stock as is the case on the Cork line.