IARNRÓD Éireann (IE) and Northern Ireland Railways (NIR), which jointly operate the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise service, have invited train building companies to tender to construct new stock for the cross-border service.
The tender document published on September 27 states: “a call to competition by IE and NIR for the establishment of an eight-year Single Party Framework Agreement for the procurement of new Enterprise vehicles for the replacement of the existing fleet. The scope of the process will also include a contract in respect of providing maintenance, technical support and spares during a term of up to 15 years”.
Eight new trains are required as the companies plan to introduce an hourly service between the two capital cities during 2028 or 2029. The maximum length of each train is limited to 200 metres and the stock must be capable of completing the journey in less than two hours using the existing infrastructure.
The plan is to have a combination of diesel electric traction and battery electric power via 1.5kv DC overhead line electrification (OHLE), with the trains designed to “transition to net zero carbon operation during their working life”.
