Rail passengers will be travelling on the most modern intercity train fleet in Europe by 2008, Iarnród Éireann said yesterday, following the placing of the largest order for trains by the company.
Iarnród Éireann signed a contract for 120 new rail carriages that will enter service in 2007. The €262 million contract, funded under the National Development Plan, is with Mitsui of Japan, in partnership with Rotem of Korea and the Tokyu Car Corporation of Japan.
Mr Joe Meagher, Iarnród Éireann managing director, said this was one of the most significant announcements in the company's investment programme and he was "absolutely thrilled" with the news.
"It will make a very marked change to the quality of service that we will be able to offer on our intercity service," he said.
The 120 new carriages will service the Dublin-Westport/Ballina route, the Dublin-Galway route, the Dublin-Tralee route and the Dublin -Waterford route.
More than half of the intercity fleet is more than 30 years old but all these older trains will be removed from the fleet once the new order is filled.
The investment will mean a more frequent service with hourly departures between Dublin and Cork and Dublin and Limerick. Hourly departures will run between Dublin and Galway during peak times and every two hours during off-peak times.
Departures between Dublin and Waterford and Dublin and Sligo will leave every two hours.
The new trains will be fully air-conditioned, with improved accessibility for passengers with disabilities, modern catering facilities and automatic PA and information display systems.
Making the announcement yesterday, the Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, said there had been "a quiet revolution" on the rail network in the past six years.
He said the latest investment was in addition to the introduction of 67 new carriages entering service later this year at a cost of €117 million. These will operate on the Dublin-Cork line and will allow more modern carriages to be diverted to the Dublin-Sligo route.
Also at the end of this year, a further 36 carriages will come into service on the commuter routes serving Kildare, Naas, Maynooth, Leixlip, Castleknock, Drogheda, Balbriggan and Skerries.
This €83 million investment will service 3.5 million passengers on these commuter routes.
Yesterday Mr Cullen, and CIÉ chairman Dr John Lynch, rejected weekend suggestions that the latest contract could have been secured at a better price from the Chinese locomotive manufacturer, CSR Ziyang.