NIR Class 4000

The Class 4000 is a type of diesel multiple unit in service with NI Railways.

History

The fleet covers 20 DMUs procured by Translink. None of the Northern Irish rail network is electrified, and diesel multiple units have been used since nationalisation in the 1950s.

Prior to 2000, the NIR rolling stock consisted of a mixture of diesel multiple unit types that had entered service between 15 and 25 years previously. The main type was the Class 80, based on the Mark 2b bodyshell, 22 3-car and 4-car units built in two batches between 1973 and 1978. Additional capacity was provided with the Class 450, nine 3-car units that entered service in 1985 based on the Mark 3 bodyshell. Chronic underinvestment in the railway meant that by the millennium these were the newest domestic trains. By 2000 it was estimated that the network required investment of £183 million to bring it up to basic safety standards.

New Trains

Recognising that the railways serve an important role in the growth of the local economy, the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly granted funding for improvements in December 2000 following the report of the Railways Task Force. Included was £80 million for rolling stock, the largest order in the history of NIR. The result was the Class 3000 DMU from CAF in Spain, 23 three-car units to replace the increasingly outdated Class 80. They entered service between 2004 and 2005. This was a like-for-like replacement meaning that older rolling stock had to be retained, and NIR could not introduce the service enhancements it desired.