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The CAF Mark 4 (or MK4 or MKIV) are railway carriages operated by
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 ...
in
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
on the
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
service from Dublin to Cork. These carriages have no connection to the
British Rail Mark 4 The British Rail Mark 4 is a class of Passenger car (rail), passenger carriages built for use in InterCity 225 sets on the East Coast Main Line between London King's Cross railway station, King's Cross, Leeds railway station, Leeds and Edinburg ...
.


History

Along with the occasional Cravens stocked train, the Dublin to Cork express was operated only with outdated slam-door
British Rail Mark 2 The Mark 2 family of railway carriages are British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops (from 1969 British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL)) between 1964 and 1975 and were of steel construction. Developme ...
s and electric-door Mark 3s. Since only a limited amount of Mark 3 DVTs were available most services required a
locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...
shunt at the end of each trip. This resulted in an infrequent service with most services bunched in the morning and evening rush hours. Iarnród Éireann opted to extend the service to an hourly clockface departure in order to increase growth on the line. Initially, to eliminate the Locomotive shunt, interest was expressed in a long range diesel multiple unit however, since Iarnród Éireann had a large fleet of high-speed diesel locomotives which were less than ten years old, a
push–pull train Push–pull is a configuration for locomotive-hauled trains, allowing them to be driven from either end of the train, whether having a locomotive at each end or not. A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected vi ...
was chosen instead. Funding was procured from the
Irish Government The Government of Ireland () is the executive authority of Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet – is composed of ministers, each of whom must be a member of the , which consists of ...
and an invitation to tender was put forward in 2001 and four companies qualified. In November 2002 the contract was awarded to
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Grupo CAF, ) is a Spanish publicly listed company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment and buses through its Solaris Bus & Coach subsidiary. It is based in Beasain, Basque Autonomous Comm ...
.


Description

67 Mark 4 coaches were manufactured in 2004-2005 by CAF and delivered in 2006. The designs for the interior of the carriages and the exterior styling of the DVT were produced for CAF by Design Triangle. Capable of 10-car operation, each in-service set currently comprises 8 cars: *Generator Control Car - GC (or DVT) *One First Class - FC *One Catering Car - CC *Four Standard Class - SC *One Standard End - SCE, with retractable buffers & drop-head buckeye coupling at locomotive end. Seating capacity is 422 (8-car set), the DVT (driving van trailer) is recognised as a carriage and the train is fully accessible to mobility-impaired customers. The DVT Features a Yellow front end to ensure visibility and has a compartment towards the rear to carry Mail and Luggage.


Main Features

The Standard Class carriages have improved passenger seating and leg room. They also have electronic visual and audible passenger information systems, electronic seat reservation displays, CCTV, air conditioning and additional space for luggage. Power sockets are supplied on all Standard and Citygold Class coaches. Citygold cars have ergonomic, electronically adjustable seats, multi-channel ear phone jack sockets and individual overhead lighting. Main features include: *Merak
HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. ...
*Power operated passenger doors *Fire resistance to BS 6553:1999 Cat 1B *
Public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...
(PA) including automated announcements in Irish and English *
Closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...
(CCTV) recording, including a forward-facing camera in the DVT *
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
Exterior & Interior Destination signs *Seat Reservation system with reserved seating LED displays above each passenger seat. System is updated via
Wireless LAN A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office building ...
(W-LAN) *LED Route Maps *In-seat audio in First Class *Power operated seating in First Class *Suspension: **Primary
coil spring A tension coil spring A coil spring is a mechanical device that typically is used to store energy and subsequently release it, to absorb shock, or to maintain a force between contacting surfaces. It is made of an elastic material formed into the ...
s & secondary air bags *
Sanding file:Schleifpapier verschiedene Sorten.jpg, upright=1.35, Sheets of sandpaper with different grit sizes (40 (coarse), 80, 150, 240, 600 (fine)) Sandpaper, also known as coated abrasive or emery paper, is a type of material that consists of sheet ...
on leading axle of GC & trailing axle of SCE cars *
Scharfenberg coupler The Scharfenberg coupler (, abbreviated ''Schaku'') is a commonly used type of fully automatic railway coupling. Designed in 1903 by Karl Scharfenberg in Königsberg, Germany (today Kaliningrad, Russia), the coupler has gradually spread from tr ...
s between cars, drop-head buckeye couplers each end *
Wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...
area & accessible
toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...
s to UK Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations Key dimensions: *Length between couplers - *Height - *Width -


Mark 4 DVT

*Air-conditioned driver's cab *Fault Diagnostic system, displayed on driver's monitor *Luggage Compartment *Fire Suppression System **Generator engine compartment protected by FM200 extinguisher **Fuel tank protected by AFFF extinguisher *Generators: **Twin MAN 2846 LE 202 (320 kW) / Letag (330kVA) engine / generator sets, assembled by GESAN *Length between couplers -


Performance

Although capable of operation, this higher speed would require both track and signal system upgrades and the provision of a faster locomotive than the currently used 201 class. A possibility being considered is the replacement of the existing 201 with two power cars, one of which would be converted from the existing generator control car.


Replacement stock

Since January 2016, six sets operate the Dublin-Cork route on an enhanced hourly clockface timetable. ICR's are used at quieter times of the day. The Mark 3 carriages, withdrawn in 2009, replaced the older Mark 2 carriages that previously operated mid-day Limerick, Galway and Waterford routes. The Mark 3s were in turn superseded by a new batch of 183 22000 Class in 2009. The first batch of these was delivered in early March 2007, while the final deliveries took place in 2012.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mark 4 carriages of Iarnród Éireann Railway coaches of Ireland