Irish Rail seeking director of train operations

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by berneyarms

There aren’t any Mk 4 sets in storage. They are all in use on rotation.

As I understand it the maintenance requirements were too tight previously so hence less sets are now in daily use.

ICR covers the first round trip to Belfast during the leaf fall season due to the locomotives suffering severe low rail adhesion north of Dundalk.

They coped for 20 years on the route, using the ICR is the easy way out. Last year they had capacity, this year they had to use the spare ICR and have now had to stop it. From what I understand it returned to Drogheda to stable each day therefore not available if required. ICRs should not be operating Belfast services, no excuses. If they could have got away with removing it from the 07.19 ex Newbridge it would still be operating to Belfast today.

Didn't IE remove sanding equip out of 201s in the past, prehaps it should be re-installed on a few?

There is not 6 Mark IVs in full time usage and they still have a spare set. This must be addressed because its frankly unacceptable that a 7 car ICR operates the 19.00 to Cork Friday. If there are maintenance issues (I don't believe this excuse) then its up to IE to sort them out. They were generally reliable towards the late 2000s.

I fully appreciate the fleet is under serious pressure however it doesn't mean IE cannot provide a better service.