Irish Rail trains to get extra bicycle space

Extra storage space for bicycles is set to be included in new Irish Rail carriages, which are in the process of being ordered.

Screenshots from a webinar showing the layout of the carriages, posted to Twitter in 2019 by Rail Users Ireland, show a “multi purpose area”. Irish Rail last week confirmed to IrishCycle.com that this area includes bicycle storage.

One of the new carriages are expected to be added to most of the railcar trains used by Irish Rail for longer-distance commuter routes and Intercity services to locations such as Galway, Mayo, Waterford, and Rosslare.

Barry Kenny, communications manager at Irish Rail, said: “This area will allow for limited bike storage on the new carriages: the seats are flip up and there will be bicycle restraints fitted to the wall panels so bicycles can be leaned against the flip up seats when the seats are in a raised position.”

He added: “As you know, these carriages are predominantly being used in the Commuter area in the short term so it will be a first come / first served situation particularly when regular seating is full. The external door of the carriage at the multipurpose end will feature a large bicycle logo, and floor markings will be included too.”

Mark Gleeson, a spokesperson for Rail Users Ireland, said: “We are disappointed at the continuing delays to the intercity railcar carriage order, after a 2 year delay due indecision at Government and National Transport Authority what was due in Q3 2021 is now delayed until Q2 2022 at best. This order is essential to address continued overcrowding on services. Passengers particularly now will not tolerate overcrowding.”

He added: “There has been no consultation as to the ‘multi purpose’ space. This has the potential to make it easier to bring a bike onboard, but the focus needs to be on seating capacity, passengers will not tolerate overcrowding in the post Covid world.”

1 comments

  1. Its the exact same system as used on Northern Irelands Translink trains flip up seats that can be used for bicycles and it works well up there but then again they have a conductor/inspector on every train running. from my many trips up there I have never seen any issues yet and as the trains are all the same cyclists know exactly where to go on the train.

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