Irish Rail Transition

The mid-2000s saw a rapid transformation of Irish Rail.

Older equipment, some of which had served the railway for decades, was withdrawn as newer trains entered service. Stations were revamped, modified and improved with modern access and longer platforms. A series of new paint liveries were introduced and discontinued in rapid succession. In just a few years most of the trains were transformed from variations of Irish Rail’s orange liveries to schemes featuring two-tone greens and silver with dashes of safety yellow.

On 28 April 2007, I made this view of Irish Rail’s Class 201 diesel wearing the orange with safety yellow front scheme (introduced in 2005) leading Mark II carriages at Portarlington. A new handicapped access foot bridge has supplanted the traditional lattice bridge that connected the up and down platforms, while some work around the station and platforms had already begun. More changes to the station were soon to follow, which included easing the track curvature through the station-area to allow for higher running speed.

This photo is not a work of art, but rather a straight narrative image aimed at documenting the scene as it appeared on 28April2007.

There was a comparatively short window in time where it was possible to make transitory photos like this one. Soon all changed.