Mordac
Established Member
Is the loading gauge in the NIR and IE network UIC, narrower, or as I suspect, even wider given the broader track gauge? Thanks in advance to anyone who knows the answer.
Is the loading gauge in the NIR and IE network UIC, narrower, or as I suspect, even wider given the broader track gauge? Thanks in advance to anyone who knows the answer.
Thanks for this. I did know signalling etc was pretty much the same as in GB at least in NIR, but thought the loading gauge would be better. So are trains the same width, but the wheels are farther away from the centre?
I think the electrification used on the Dart trains though is 1500v DC so it would work with the Tyne and Wear Metro but nothing else.
In theory I believe it would be possible to take the bogies off an Irish DMU and put a standard gauge bogie on it and it would run fine. I think there were proposals to send some Class 222s over there to run the enterprise service and its rather a shame they didn't.
I think the electrification used on the Dart trains though is 1500v DC so it would work with the Tyne and Wear Metro but nothing else.
There were mutterings at one point about some stock coming the other way (Irish network to GB network), must have been around the time EI/NIR mothballed stock and postponed new stock arriving, and there were some minor clearance issues to contend with. I'd guess that was the EI Rotem stock.
Think the plan mooted was for us to take their mothballed stock and pay them so they could then take out the options for delivery at a later date, or something stupidly complicated.
Are you sure?
If the rail network in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were to have a large scale electrification I would imagine they would consider switching over to standard gauge to go with an electrification.
what would be the benefit?
Is the loading gauge in the NIR and IE network UIC, narrower, or as I suspect, even wider given the broader track gauge? Thanks in advance to anyone who knows the answer.
what would be the benefit?
The electrons work better when the rails are closer together
Worldwide it just seems to be the standard to build high speed rail to the french standards of standard gauge, running on the left with 25 Kv AC electrification.
I am aware that electrification in Ireland won't mean high speed rail but at the same time given the amount of work that would require electrification I wouldn't be surprised if at the same time Iarnród Éireann looked at changing the gauge to allow new trains to be built to similar standards of Great Britain and other parts of Europe.
An example of this is the Luas which was built with standard gauge.
Worldwide it just seems to be the standard to build high speed rail to the french standards of standard gauge, running on the left with 25 Kv AC electrification.
I am aware that electrification in Ireland won't mean high speed rail but at the same time given the amount of work that would require electrification I wouldn't be surprised if at the same time Iarnród Éireann looked at changing the gauge to allow new trains to be built to similar standards of Great Britain and other parts of Europe.
An example of this is the Luas which was built with standard gauge.
I would think that changing the Irish Railway system to standard gauge, would only be worth doing if a tunnel under the Irish Sea joining their system to ours was going to happen.
I would think that changing the Irish Railway system to standard gauge, would only be worth doing if a tunnel under the Irish Sea joining their system to ours was going to happen.
Am I right in thinking that on the Irish rail network there isn't the variable loading gauge with passenger stock and in theory any passenger stock can run anywhere except of course for the DART trains.
But what loading gauge would it be built to?
If the rail network in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were to have a large scale electrification I would imagine they would consider switching over to standard gauge to go with an electrification.
was it the IR MKiii's?
It is more generous, but only width wise. The height is pretty much the same as England etc. Hence the similar problems with containers.
The width is more generous, but I'm not sure by how much.
Are you sure? There was a mooting around the time of the wrangling between Midland Mainline and the SRA over the use of the services of which the 9 Car Meridians were ordered for. There was talk that if the SRA didn't allow MML to use them as 9 cars, they could and were considered for use on the Enterprise services to at least supplement the Loco Hauled if not replace it. Of course the Enterprise network & track still requires a fair bit of upgrading to this day.
Speaking of rolling stock - the Rotems are I'm led to believe based around the envelope of a Mk3 - to which they replaced (and were mooted to be sent over here for further use back here), while in the north when bidding for the NIRs New Trains 2 Contract - CAF offered the 4000 Series which is based on the 3000, Hyundai Rotem offered a commuter based version of the 22000 while Bombardier offered something called the... Areostar... And I wonder what that was based on?! :roll:
Why wouldn't the S.R.A. potentially not allow M.M.L. to use ninec ar Meridians?
Surely standard gauge would be required for any new build in Ireland. They are subject to the same interoperability requirements as the rest of the EU are they not?