Dublin Area Rapid Transport.
The DART was the Irish Republics first attempt at thie own electric railways, initially running from Bray in north Co. Wicklow to Howth Co. Dublin. The first trains were West-German in make Linke-Hofmann-Busch 2 car units built in 1983 at Saltzgitter. These original 40 cars were upgraded by Seimens in Liepzig, Germany, in 2008, apart from sets 8110 and 8136 that were destroyed by a fire at the Fairview depot in 2001 and scrapped.
The Class 8100 have now been joined by the new Class 8200 built in Spain by GEC-Alstrom at Santa Perpetua de Mogoda. Both use the 1500 V Dc overhead. there is a small variation in weights, but speed remains at 62mph.
The network has greatly expanded over the years with an extention to Greystones and to Malahide. the latest additions to the ever need for increasing fleet has come from Japan. The 8500, 8510 and 8520 all built by Tokyu car corperation, Yokohama. Some of these newer vehicles have not lived up to expectations with many breakdown problems, All are 4-car units with a speed of 68 mph to slightly above.
No comments:
Post a Comment