‘Ride quality’ issues with €117m carriages
Iarnród Éireann admitted yesterday it has “ride quality” issues with the 67 carriages which cost €117 million and were first introduced in to service in 2006.
A company spokesman said certain “ride quality issues” arose shortly after the carriages entered service.
“The shake of the train was more significant that we would have liked,” he said.
Some modifications were carried out which resulted in some improvements. But there are outstanding issues which require further attention, he added.
Rail Users Ireland, the lobby group for rail passengers, criticised the company for the three-year delay in resolving the issue.
Spokesman Mark Gleeson said taxpayers are not getting the value they should from the initial €117m investment in the carriages.
“They shake. They shouldn’t. It was so bad in the past that I was thrown off my feet on one occasion,” he said.
“There have been some modifications but it is still incredibly hit and miss.
“We had eight months of an extremely rough ride after they were introduced but the last three years has been patchy service.
“Ironically, the first-class coach, Dublin-bound, gives the roughest ride.
“There is always an underlying shaking, and then there are patches where things starts to vibrate – never to a point where you want to get the train to stop, but it’s uncomfortable.
“You can’t type or write, and you are often worried about the cup of coffee on the table in front of you.”
He suggested the tracks were mostly to blame and claimed the planned repairs won’t solve the problem.
“If you drive a car on potholed roads, you don’t tweak the car suspension, you fix the potholes,” he said.
But Iarnród Éireann’s spokesman dismissed the issues as “minor”, indicating minor modifications would be carried out under warranty by a third party. The rail company said the cost would be picked up by the Spanish-based manufacturer of the carriages, resulting in no expense to either the company or the taxpayer.
“There are specifications in our contract. They are not dramatically off the standard we set out but we should ensure the contractor gives us the standard we pay for,” he said.
“The modifications will be done as part of the standard maintenance of our fleet.
“Most passengers wouldn’t even notice the issues. It just does not come up in our customer research,” he said.
He said customers have responded well to the new carriages which now run on an hourly basis between the two cities.
