Belmond Grand Hibernian

Belmond Grand Hibernian is the name of a proposed luxury train service in Ireland, expected to be launched in 2016.[1] The service will be operated by Belmond, the operator of several other luxury trains including the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.[2]

The rolling stock for the service will be heavily renovated Mark 3 carriages, originally built by British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) for Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ, now Iarnród Éireann) from 1980 to 1989 and withdrawn in 2009. As of 2015, the carriages were being refurbished in Kilmarnock, Scotland at a cost of £6.5 million.[3] Internal fitting is currently being performed on some of the coaches which have returned from Scotland by Mivan in Antrim, N. Ireland.

Route

The planned routes take in some of the history of rail transport in Ireland and are centred on Dublin. The service is timetabled to operate on a weekly schedule: a four-night tour of the south-west of Ireland during the week, then a two-night weekend tour to Northern Ireland. One night per week is planned to be available for maintenance and other activities. For the 2016 season, full six-night "Grand Tour of Ireland" journeys are scheduled to run Tuesday-to-Monday, as these would consist of both the south-westerly "Legends and Loughs" and northerly "Realm of Giants" segments with a change-over for some passengers in Dublin on the Saturday of each week.

Carriages

From the eleven Mark 3 carriages purchased,[3] the proposed train will include modifications to make five sleeping cars, two restaurant cars for dining, and an observation car. Carriage names are based on the counties of Ireland, two taken from each of the provinces of Ireland.

Carriage name Layout Double Twin Seating
Down[4] Cabins[n 1] 1 3
Waterford[4] Cabins[n 1] 1 3
Leitrim[4] Cabins[n 1] 1 3
Fermanagh[4] Cabins[n 1] 1 3
Kerry[4] Cabins[n 2] 4
Sligo[4] Dining/formal 20
Wexford[4] Dining/casual 24
Kildare[4] Observation/social/bar all
  1. 1 2 3 4 One family suite per carriage by connecting door between double and adjacent twin cabin.[5]
  2. ↑ One twin-bed cabin in Kerry, adjacent to corridor connection, is designed to be wheelchair accessible with 700-millimetre wide access route to day-facility carriages.

In December IE 201 Class-locomotive 229 moved the rake of eleven vehicles from Dublin Heuston Inchicore Works to Dublin North Wall sidings.[6] The Mark 3 carriages in the rake were ordered as 7601, 7149, 7104, 7129, 7169, 7158, 7171, 7122, 7130, 7116 and 7137.[7] As of January 2015 the carriages were transported by road to Brodie Rail Engineering in Scotland.[8][9] As of January 2016, two carriages have returned from Scotland, and are now at Mivan in Antrim having their internal fittings installed.

References

  1. ↑ O'Ceallaigh, John (21 April 2015). "Belmond launches train tours in Ireland". The Telegraph.
  2. ↑ "Belmond Grand Hibernian Train". Belmond website.
  3. 1 2 Sweeney, Joanne (24 April 2015). "All aboard the 5-star Portrush express, luxury 'hotel on wheels' will bring tourists to north coast for £1,000 a night". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 22 May 2015. Eleven Irish Rail carriages have been transformed into a top-quality hotel on wheels at a cost of £6.5m
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Belmond Grand Hibernian". The Society of International Railway Travelers. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  5. ↑ Clinnick, Richard (10 November 2014). "Luxury charter train launches in Ireland in 2016". RAIL (magazine). Retrieved 18 May 2015. four interconnecting suites to accommodate families
  6. ↑ DeutschBahn in HD (20 December 2014). "Drumcondra HD-Irish Rail 201 no.229+Belmond Mk3's pass on transfer to North Wall" (video). Retrieved 18 May 2014. Services: 07:30 Inchicore-North Wall (Delayed). This set consisted of 11 mk3's on transfer to North Wall for overhaul in Scotland.
  7. ↑ Marshall, Kieran (20 December 2014). "Belmond Mark 3's at North Wall, 20/12/14" (photograph). Retrieved 18 May 2015. Belmond Mark 3's were tripped from Inchicore to North Wall … as follows: 7601, 7149, 7104, 7129, 7169, 7158, 7171, 7122, 7130, 7116 and 7137
  8. ↑ Mulveney, George; Thompson, Gordon (22 January 2015). "Kilmarnock - 22-01-2015" (photograph). Retrieved 18 May 2015. Ex Irish Railways 'Inter City' BREL built Mk 3 carriage arrives at Brodie Rail Engineering for refurbishment.
  9. ↑ Yellowlees, John (31 March 2015). "Photographs of Andrew Barclay" (photograph). RailScot website. Retrieved 18 May 2015. Caledonia Works: An Irish Rail carriage in the yard at Brodie's, Kilmarnock, on 31 March 2015 awaiting conversion as part of the 'Belmond Grand Hibernian' luxury train, due to launch in 2016.

External links

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