NIR News 161

Irish Railway Record Society

NORTHERN IRELAND RAILWAYS

VISION FOR FUTURE

In June, Translink revealed its Vision for Future of NI Transport. Referring to the improved services following the introduction of the C3K railcars, Translink Chief Executive, Keith Moffatt, said 'Success of the new trains assists us in making a case to Government for funding to replace the Class 450 trains and expand the fleet; a business case is being developed to be submitted to the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review 2007’. The report also said: ‘Plans are being developed for further modernisation and expansion of the network, including for the Larne line, making the case to increase rail capacity, replace the Class 450 trains, and potentially increase fleet size. These proposals are outlined in our New Trains 2010 project document …’.

Translink is also working on an outline Vision 2020 with IÉ ‘for a high-speed rail service to Dublin with departures every hour and a 90-minute non-stop journey time’. Mr Moffat said a preliminary report confirmed that a high speed, high frequency service could be economically viable. He said 'The cost of such a service using 125-mph trains and upgrading the track would be around £500m’. Journey times could be cut to 60-minutes using 140-mph tilting trains, but he expressed doubt that the £1.5 billion cost would be acceptable to the politicians holding the purse strings.

PASSENGER TRANSPORT AUTHORITY

In August, Regional Development Minister David Cairns announced changes to the structure of planning and delivering transport services in Northern Ireland with new local authorities taking over responsibility for planning, designing and securing public transport services, both bus and railway.

‘I am proposing that the functions of the new local authorities in relation to public transport should be carried out by them acting together in the form of a Passenger Transport Authority… The changes that I am announcing will result in a three-tier structure with a top Government tier responsible for broad policy, legislation and regulation, including the regulation of operators; a middle tier responsible for designing and managing services and securing their provision from a third tier comprising transport operators. There would be arrangements for consumer input at all levels’.

Chief Executive of Translink, Keith Moffatt said ‘We fully support the concept of devolving authority from the Department to the new District Councils and look forward to working with the Minister on the details of this new structure. … In addition the number of passengers on the railway continues to grow impressively’.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND SIGNALLING

Dublin Line Work has taken place on construction of a new overbridge OB177A carrying the A1/N1 link road at MP64³/₄ north of Meigh.

Larne Line In early September, the deck of a new bridge OB427A was installed at Barn Halt MP10. The original bridge is being replaced.

Procurement NIR has taken delivery of an ultrasonic rail testing vehicle, Sperry SRS241. It is a locomotive hauled self-contained vehicle capable of testing rail for defects. It can test both rails in both directions while travelling at 30-mph, and give a printout and location of all defects found. The defects are ranked 1-4, and an action level determined. They are then located, verified and addressed on foot. Subsequent run readouts can be superimposed on previous runs and the defect progression can be monitored. It traversed the system in early September, hauled by 8113.

AWS/TPWS AWS (Automatic Warning System) was commissioned between Moira and Lisburn in June, Castlerock in July and Portrush in August. TPWS (Train Protection and Warning System) work is due to start on site in October.

Level Crossings In August, NIR launched a campaign called 'Don't Cross the Line' with the aim of reducing reckless and inattentive misuse of railway crossings. It follows findings by the UK Railway Inspectorate that misuse of crossings by road users is now the single biggest threat to rail safety. Featuring hard-hitting TV, radio and outdoor advertising, the intensive public awareness campaign aims to ensure maximum awareness of the danger of misusing trains and rail facilities – and to remind the public that they will be prosecuted for such misuse.

Translink General Manager Rail Services Mal McGreevy said ‘Specific safety investment initiatives include a £4m programme, now nearing completion, to install state of the art Train Protection Warning Systems on all trains to eliminate driver error at higher risk signals. We've also enhanced public facing safety features, including upgrading barrier systems, introducing warning lights, and installing CCTV’.

‘However, the reality is that the biggest threat to rail safety is currently presented by the public itself. In the last year alone, a total of 32 incidents of level crossing misuse, including motorists driving through closed crossings with high speed trains less than seconds away, were reported locally. With trains travelling at 70-mph involved, these people really are taking their own lives and the lives of countless others in their hands’.

LOCOMOTIVES AND ROLLING STOCK

111-Class GM 111 is undergoing overhaul in York Road Works.

3000-class (C3K) Availability continues to improve and is generally very good with passengers enjoying the improved comfort and speed of the CAF railcars over their predecessors. For example, 22 out of 23 sets were in service during Friday 12 May.

80-class In August, three sets were available for regular service, with two sets in general use daily. Although formations varied regularly, they normally consisted of one 3-car and two four-car sets. One set normally worked the Portrush Branch, while another worked on the Larne line, but they did work other services. In August, active power cars were 8069, 8082, 8083, 8090 and 8098.

Power car 8099 was transported from RPSI Whitehead to the East Lancashire Railway on 10 August, where it is now stored on a short section of 5’ 3” track. No. 8771 was taken to Belfast docks and scrapped on 14 July.

Mk IIf (Gatwick) Carriages Crew training with a view to returning the train to service took place in August and September. Locomotive 8113 was normally used, but IÉ 162 was used when 8113 was unserviceable.

OPERATIONS

The Irish Special Olympics were held in Belfast in June. On Wednesday 21, the 10:20 Dublin Connolly-Belfast special was formed by 088 + EGV + 7 Mk IId. The 08:15 Cork-Belfast Central special was formed by 210 + EGV + 7 Mk IId to Connolly where 206 took over. Both sets returned empty to Dublin. The 15:30 Dublin Connolly-GVS Executive special on Thursday 22 June was 231 + 5 Mk III + EGV. It returned empty to Dublin from Belfast Central. The Executive train ran empty to GVS on Saturday 24 hauled by 202. It returned as the 11:15 GVS-Dublin Connolly special hauled by 225. Next day, 202 + EGV + 7 Mk IId worked the 15:15 Belfast Central - Cork throughout, with 29113+29127 working the 12:10 Central-Connolly and 3002+3020 working the 16:00 Central-Connolly specials.

On Sunday 9 July, Tyrone played Donegal in the Ulster Football Final in Croke Park, Dublin. Two specials operated. The 08:55 Belfast Central - Dublin Connolly was 3001+3004 and the 09:10 was 3003+3005. Both were sold out in advance. In addition, 3002+3006 operated a 10:30 Central-Connolly relief the 10:00 Enterprise. It only carried about 30 passengers, while the preceding Enterprise had about 550.

Increased passenger numbers on the Belfast-Londonderry/Portrush line during the summer resulted in many trains being formed by 6-car 3000-class railcars. One down side was that the platforms at Cullybackey, University, Dhu Varren and Bellarena are not long enough and trains skipped these stations to the annoyance of local politicians.

GAA specials on Saturday 5 August were fully sold out as was the allocation of seats on Enterprise services and NIR advised Armagh supporters without tickets and boarding cards for services to Dublin to make alternative travel arrangements. The specials were: 08:35 Belfast-Dublin 3003+3005, 11:05 Dundalk-Dublin 29123+29111 and 09:05 Belfast-Dublin 3006+3004.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 161, published October 2006.