The first of a new €400 million fleet of railcars for the Intercity rail network will come into operation on the Dublin-Sligo route from later this year, Minister for Transport Martin Cullen announced yesterday.
The Minister said that about 150 of the 183 new railcars being purchased under the Government's Transport 21 programme would be used to replace older rolling stock on routes around the country. A further 33 railcars will serve longer-distance commuter routes such as Portlaoise, Athlone and Carlow.
The Minister was speaking yesterday at the arrival in Dublin Port of the first batch of 12 railcars, which were built in Korea.
Iarnród Éireann said the new railcars would undergo a period of testing prior to being commissioned.
A spokesman said the railcars would be introduced on the Sligo route from the autumn. The company hopes new railcars will also be placed in operation on the Dublin-Rosslare service by the end of the year.
Existing carriages on these routes will be redeployed to the Drogheda and Maynooth commuter lines, where demand is growing at record levels.
The full railcar fleet will be phased into service by 2008. The cars will operate on the Sligo, Waterford, Tralee, Galway, Rosslare, Westport and Limerick lines.
Iarnród Éireann said the new railcars would be fully air-conditioned, have improved accessibility for mobility-impaired customers and have automatic public announcements and information display systems.
Mr Cullen said the new fleet would also be extremely eco-friendly and would meet EU limits for nitrous oxides which will not be enforced until 2012.
He said between 1997 and 2006 more than €3.2 billion in capital and current funding had been invested in the rail network.
CIÉ chairman Dr John Lynch said: "With this record order of new trains, every single rail customer with Iarnród Éireann will be able to travel on modern, quality trains designed with the latest customer needs in mind."
