Iarnrod Eireann: 20 Years Of Progress

Iarnrod Eireannhad had perhaps the most difficult task of the three new companies.

The railways had been losing money for decades and had lacked appropriate levels of investment for many years.

The most recent locomotives were built in the late 1970s, the rest of the fleet dated from the 1950s and 60s.

Passenger rolling stock consisted mainly of ex BR Mk 11s and 111s and whilst there was still quite a lot of freight traffic out of the age of steam with most of the track away from the main Dublin to Cork line consisting of unwelded rail with manual boxes and semaphore signalling.

This was all a delight for visiting railway enthusiasts, but a nightmare for the operators.

This pictorial album shows the remarkable changes made by the company in the last 20 years.

Among topics covered will be the new rolling stock introduced, both locomotive and railcars, the major investment in infrastructure, the resignalling of a large part of the network, the investment in new stations and an indication of how much future investment is being planned.