The Iarnród Éireann 90000 Class is a type of

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

(EMU) which will be deployed on the

DART Dart or DART may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Dart, the equipment in the game of darts * Dart (comics), an Image Comics superhero * Dart, a character from ''G.I. Joe'' * Dart, a ''Thomas & Friends'' railway engine character * Dart ...

network in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. In December 2021

Iarnród Éireann Iarnród Éireann, () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national Rail transport in Ireland, railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of CIÉ, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal I ...

chose

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

as supplier of up to 750 carriages, in five- or ten-carriage trains, and made an initial order of 19 five-carriage trains, 13 of which will be

battery electric multiple unit A battery electric multiple unit (BEMU), battery electric railcar or accumulator railcar is an electrically driven multiple unit or railcar whose energy can be supplied from rechargeable batteries driving the traction motors. Prime advantages of ...

s (BEMUs). A second order was placed in December 2022 for 18 five-car BEMUs.

Background

Iarnród Éireann were in talks with the NTA by 2017 about acquiring a new fleet of

bi-mode An electro-diesel locomotive (also referred to as a dual-mode or bi-mode locomotive) is a type of locomotive that can be powered either from an electricity supply (like an electric locomotive) or by using the onboard diesel engine (like a Diese ...

DART trains to replace the current fleet. Plans to order new DART trains had previously been announced in 2008, but had been cancelled as a result of the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. A tender for the 600 new DART carriages was published in March 2019, attracting bids from

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. ...

(Alstom after Bombardier's buyout),

Siemens Mobility Siemens Mobility GmbH is a division of Siemens. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens Mobility has four core business units: Mobility Management, dedicated to rail technology and intelligent traffic systems, Railway Electrification, ...

and

Stadler Rail Stadler Rail AG is a Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stock, with an original emphasis on regional train multiple units and trams, but moving also into Rapid transit, mass rapid transit, High-speed rail, high speed, Inter-city rail, interci ...

. The class is part of the DART+ project, which will expand DART services to lines which are currently served by diesel multiple units (DMUs) such as the 29000 class and 22000 class. The BEMUs will be used for services on the non-electrified lines to Maynooth, Hazelhatch and Drogheda. The class is being constructed by

at their facility in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, Poland. The first unit arrived in Ireland in late 2024 and the first trains are expected to enter service in 2026.

Design

The five-car articulated trains are long, the same as the current four-car 8500 Class trains, and have a capacity of 551 passengers, including 204 seats. The maximum speed is . To improve accessibility the trains will have lower floors for level access from platforms and a sliding ramp at each door. The BEMUs will be fitted with

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy ...

with a capacity of 840

kWh A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a common b ...

and an expected range of even at the end of the operational life of the batteries. The trains will not charge from the existing

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...

s, but will need special charging points, the first of which will be at Drogheda. no ten-car trains have been ordered, but it is expected that they would be formed of two five-car half trains which could be split for maintenance. The 5-car sets will be classified as the ''90000 Class'', while the 10-car sets will be classed as the ''97000 Class''.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Iarnród Éireann multiple units {{rail-transport-stub Alstom multiple units