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MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT Eamon Ryan has toured a life-size sample prototype of a new DART+ carriage located at Inchicore Works where it will be inspected by customer focus groups who will offer final suggestions on the design.
In total, 185 new carriages have been ordered to date, with delivery commencing in 2024 and entering service from 2025.
Up to 750 carriages will be ordered over the next decade under a framework contract with manufacturer Alstom, who also supplied Dublin’s Luas fleet.
They are being constructed at the company’s factory near Katowice in Poland.
The new trains will be comprised of five carriages which will be slightly shorter than the current DART’s four carriages, but both trains will be the same total length.
Several features have been added to the new fleet after input from focus groups, including dedicated family and bike areas and large, high-resolution onboard displays providing real-time updates, including information from other public transport systems.
New trains will also have more comfortable individual seating, reflecting longer distances which the DART+ fleet will operate.
Other key features include low-height doorway thresholds equipped with an automatic retractable step and improved dedicated wheelchair spaces.
Iarnród Éireann have shared drone footage of the inside of a carriage.
Speaking at the fleet preview in Inchicore, Minister Ryan said:
“It is great to see this preview of the new DART+ carriages today, which customers have helped design and which will be available in the coming years.”
“The DART+ Programme will transform our commuter system, vastly increasing the number of passengers who will have access to a quality and reliable rail network. This new fleet will facilitate DART trips to and from Drogheda from 2025 and then beyond that to the West and South West.”
“With dedicated wheelchair, family and bicycle areas, the new fleet will ensure accessiblity to a wide variety of passengers at different times of the day and week, providing comfort and independence for all users.”
Funded under the National Development Plan 2021 to 2030 by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority, the DART+ Programme will more than double the commuter capacity and treble the electrification of the Greater Dublin Area rail network.
A planning application for Dart+ West to expand out to Maynooth was lodged last July, while an application for Dart+ South West, which would see the DART travel as far as Celbridge, was lodged last week.
The number of people living within 1km of a DART station will increase from about 250,000 at present to 600,000 in future.
Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann, Jim Meade said:
“Thanks to input from our customers and drivers, and the work of the Iarnród Éireann and Alstom teams, we can now experience what the future of DART+ transport will be like. The sample carriage we see on display is modern, comfortable and customer centred and we look forward to having these carriages in use on our network serving new and existing communities for generations to come.”
In addition to the fleet, Alstom will provide a range of supports, including a Technical Support and Spares Supply agreement for the first 15 years of the fleet’s operation, and provision of three train simulators to support driver training.
A 10-carriage train, made up of two 5-carriage train sets joined, will be the longest train size operable by the new fleet on current infrastructure, and will have capacity for at least 1,100 customers.
Sixty-five new battery-electric carriages will be deployed first on Drogheda to Dublin Northern Commuter services from 2025.
New electric carriages will be also deployed on existing Malahide/Howth to Bray/Greystones DART services, allowing all services to be operated at maximum length.
The further 90 battery-electric carriages ordered in December 2022 will facilitate the overall DART+ network, with potential to use them on other parts of the rail network.
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So much unknown – who are these “foreign-backed terrorists” and why have they got it in for what was such a beautiful city.
@Anthony Clark: There are no foreign terrorists, years of boiling anger spilled over, the riots go out of control in Almaty and a few other cities.
The government is claiming they are foreign terrorists probably because the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) can only be evoked if a member country is attacked by an outside country, they invited in Russia and a few other member countries in to help with security. The real reason they are there I read is not to police the streets, they are there to threaten the police and national guard so they don’t switch over to the protestors
Calling rioters foreign terrorists is typical of Soviet and post-Soviet dictatorships, they then round up people and disappear them. There may be some credence that the violence in Almaty was a fight between factions in the ruling elite vying for power, but this might be just a wild rumour.
Here’s a description of the riots in Almaty by one of the rioters:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kazakhstan/comments/s0q0k7/witnesss_experience_about_the_protests/
Some Posts I found:
“Hey you all, I’ve made a post about how I couldn’t reach my XXXXXX who lives in XXXXXX. I’ve managed to reach some of his friends and they told me he got arrested. I honestly can’t believe that cause my brother is a very compliant guy, very obedient to the laws and even a bit paranoid about breaking rules. He wouldn’t even want to take me on the back of his bicycle when I visited last time cause it’s not allowed. So not a person I could see getting arrested rightfully. However last time there were protests in Russia they arrested random people too and I’m wondering if anything like that could have happened. … ”
“Sorry man, might be best if you stay away for a while though. Odds are fair you might get picked up just for being related. Good luck to you and all your loved ones.”
“I also fear that a very good friend of mine got arrested. I had contact with him on monday for a short time. He seemed to be fine. But since then nothing. First I thought it’s the internet not working again, but it seems to work in Almaty for some hours each day at least. He flew to KZ over the holidays to spend time with his family. As far as I can tell he was not involved in anything. They locked themselves in.”
@David Jordan: Hi David, you’ll probably appreciate these articles: This covers how Jihadis have been slipped into the country from Afghanistan – which explain the beheadings: https:// thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668?s=09
This refers to close links between the US and the recently deposed ruler, with details of US involvement in biological labs in Khazakstan: https:// asiatimes.com/2022/01/kazakhstan-becomes-toxic-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/?s=09
If I might quote a line: “Why is Kazakhstan a sought-after partner? Simply put, the country provides unique access to ethnic Russian and Chinese groups as “specimens” for conducting field research involving highly pathogenic potential biological-warfare agents.”.
The Ruling elite have been incredibly corrupt as you say, but they like stashing their money in the West for some reason: https:// http://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html
@Kerrill Thornhill: There were no beheadings. That was an unverified claim from the dictatorship.
“All these talks of beheading…never a photo. I’m not saying they didn’t happen but anyone seen evidence of these? Beheading are very violent and almost wouldn’t fit the nature of this riot.”
“And yet a lot of people believe them without question. Its dangerous.” – Kazakh citizens.
Oh, the ONE biological lab near Alamty, 3 day old Russian propaganda.
“Russia claimed a possible pathogen leak occurred at military lab in Kazakhstan; Kazakhstan denies facility was seized by rioters”
“‘This is not true. The facility is being guarded,’ said the health ministry which is responsible for the Central Reference Laboratory, in Almaty.”
“Now miskovites will create 1001 lie to hold occupation of Kazakhstan.”
“This lab is a popular boogeyman among Putinbots.”
Cant get over the faux outrage on social media/FakeNews media over the numbers detained. This was an attempted coup involving what appears to be a violent element that came in from outside the country. ~20 police dead, >750 injured, government buildings, transport hubs were seized, etc. By contrast in the US, the Jan 6th protest was a protest that descended into a riot. Completely overblown. 1 person killed on the day at the riot (a protestor named Ashli Babbitt) yet well over 700 people were detained, many in solitary confinement for months for walking around the Capital.
God bless Kazakhstan
Dead right by Putin, take control and arrest these anarchists
@David Jordan: Hi David, you’ll probably appreciate these articles: This covers how Jihadis have been slipped into the country from Afghanistan – which explain the beheadings: https:// thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668?s=09
This refers to close links between the US and the recently deposed ruler, with details of US involvement in biological labs in Khazakstan: https://asiatimes.com/2022/01/kazakhstan-becomes-toxic-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/?s=09
If I might quote a line: “Why is Kazakhstan a sought-after partner? Simply put, the country provides unique access to ethnic Russian and Chinese groups as “specimens” for conducting field research involving highly pathogenic potential biological-warfare agents.”.
The Ruling elite have been incredibly corrupt as you say, but they like stashing their money in the West for some reason: https:// http://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html
have your say