IARNRÓD ÉIREANN is set to sell off about 90 railway carriages for scrap having failed to attract interest in the rolling stock from an overseas rail operator.
The iconic orange-and-black inter-city carriages are rusting away in sidings in Dublin, Waterford and Dundalk.
At one stage it looked as if Iarnród Éireann could recoup hundreds of thousands of euro for the carriages, which could have been refurbished. It advertised them for sale in 2010 but hopes that a British train operator would buy the carriages failed to materialise.
Iarnród Éireann is inviting tenders to “break-up” and “dispose” of the 90 carriages that “are now surplus to requirements”.
It’s the biggest sell-off of old inter-city stock in the history of the State, and comes just weeks after CIÉ was given a €36 million injection by the Department of Transport to help its worsening financial plight.
During the Celtic Tiger, Iarnród Éireann took the decision to spend more than €400 million on transforming its fleet from the oldest in Europe to the most modern.
The purchase of more than 180 railcars from South Korea saw the MKIII-type inter-city carriages being gradually withdrawn between 2005-2009. The carriages, built between 1984 and 1988, and sufficient in number to form more than a dozen full trains, were held in reserve.
One option was to use them to supplement services on the Dublin-Belfast route as part of the long-term objective to provide an hourly service during the day, but this never happened.
While some modifications could have extended their life by 20 years, it was deemed uneconomic.
The rise in passenger numbers has abated with the economic downturn, which means less demand for additional carriages. The decline in freight transport has also left Iarnród Éireann with a surplus of locomotives.