8100 Class DART unit 8113 heading to Malahide
The Dublin Area Rapid Transit' system is an electrified suburban railway network run by CIÉ. It was trialled in 1983 and opened officially to the public in 1984. It was intended to replace the, by then worn out, refitted 2600 class DMUs working the line. The 8100 class units were the first to be delivered and were the only units working along the line, built by General Electric and Linke-Hoffman-Busche they are among the most heavily used and reliable units on the network today.
History[]
The original seating layout consisted of 72 seats per coach with 16 tip up seats at the doors, giving 176 seats in total. With increasing passenger numbers and the heavy spring in the tip up seats becoming a possible source of injury, the tip seats were removed in the late 1980s. As a result of ever continuing passenger demand in the late 1990s extra standing room was provided through the removal of 16 seats from the 83XX unpowered driving trailers, reducing seating capacity to 56 giving a 2 car unit a total of 128 seats.
8110-8310 and 8136-8336 were scrapped after suffering serious damage in a fire at Fairview depot on 14 July 2001.
When the 8600 Class units entered service from 2001, a number of 8100 Class units were modified to make up six car sets with them. Since the refurbishment detailed below this is no longer possible. The units concerned were 8101, 8102, 8108, 8114 to 8118, 8120, 8122, 8123, 8126, 8135 and 8137.
All of the remaining units returned to service in 2007 and 2008 following refurbishment by Siemens. This included the installation of modified marker lights, removal of some seats to add more standing space giving all coaches 64 seats and space for a wheelchair, installation of an electronic passenger information system, new wheel slide protection equipment and digital traction control to replace the outdated analog system and installation of a door closing warning beeper. It was also supposedly intended to allow the units to operate in 8-car sets, the original units being limited to six cars, but some unmodified LHB sets had operated in 8-car formations during 2007.
As with other DART units, they are maintained at Fairview depot, as well as being stabled at Bray. By January 2013, as reported in the ITG Magazine "Irish Mail" sets 8103, 8105, 8113 and 8138 were temporarily stored out of service. All these units were returned to revenue service except 8103-8303, which remained in storage not having run since 18 August 2010, however this unit returned to revenue service on 20 September 2018.
Technical Data[]
The 8100 class units have a top speed of 62 mph and are capable of multiple-working with up to 8 cars, they are fitted with ATP(a rare feature among irish trains) and CAWS along with wheelslip and an event recorder similar to an aircraft's black box.