on a to service in 2012. The 22000 class was primarily ordered for InterCity routes except the Dublin-Belfast services operated by
Enterprise and the Dublin-Cork service, for which IÉ purchased
67 locomotive-hauled coaches in 2006, but they have also been used on off-peak Dublin-Cork services since November 2009. 22000 units have now replaced coaching stock on services from Dublin to Galway, Westport, Limerick, Waterford and Tralee, and
2800 Class and
29000 Class DMUs to Sligo and Rosslare Europort. The expansion of the Dublin
commuter belt led IÉ to need dedicated long distance
Commuter trains, and so purchased additional units for use on services to destinations such as Portlaoise, Carlow, Athlone, Dundalk, Kildare, and Longford; as well as Mallow in the Cork commuter belt.
NI Railways was offered a variant of the 22000 Class to meet its
"New Trains Two" requirement, before ultimately choosing a design similar to its existing
Class 3000 unit, which became the Class 4000. The train was sometimes seen on the Dublin to Belfast railway line, on out-of-service transfer to Drogheda train service depot.
Unit types As delivered, the first 30 units were of three cars, for use on InterCity routes, as were ten of the 15 6-car units. The remaining five 6-car sets and the 17 3-car sets ordered in 2008 were configured for long-distance Commuter services from Dublin. Combinations of two 3-car sets, three 3-car sets, two 4-car sets, a 3-car set + a 4-car set and two 5-car sets are possible. on a Cork to Dublin service in 2008 • A1 22131–35, 40: Driving car, catering, wheelchair accessible WC, one wheelchair space, 36 1st class seats • A11 22136–39 :A1 car with NIR signal & radio system • A2 22207–30,41–63: Driving car, standard WC, 66 seats • A22 22201–06: A2 car with NIR
TPWS/
AWS & radio system • A3 22307–63: Driving car, wheelchair accessible WC, two wheelchair spaces, bicycle storage, 54 seats • A33 22301–06: A3 car with NIR signal & radio system & parcels/bike space • B 22401–63, 631–45, 731–45: Intermediate car, standard WC, 72 seats • B1 22531–45: B car with sanding system • B2 22511–27, 441–52, 641–52: Intermediate car with multipurpose space In 2013, IÉ announced plans to reform the 22000 class units from 3 and 6-car sets into 3 and 4-car units, to obtain better flexibility from them in regards to passenger numbers per train. However, it soon became apparent that replacing 6-car units with 4-car ones would lead to overcrowding, which caused IÉ to subsequently alter the proposal into sets of 3, 4 and 5-car lengths. The 20 cars taken off the original 6-car sets 22031–45 and inserted in the original 3-car sets 22011–30 got additional numbers 22811–30 but also kept the original number 22531–540,641,741,642,742,643,743,644,744,645,745.
Fuel economy There have been attempts to improve the fuel economy of the 22000 Class. In 2008 the class were modified to shut down the engines after a period of inactivity if the drivers cab key was off, with route-dependent fuel savings of up to 33%
Future In 2018, it was announced that Iarnród Éireann were seeking to procure a further 41 new 22000 Class vehicles, encompassing three additional units plus a number of intermediate trailers intended to lengthen some of the existing fleet. The ultimate aim is to return the fleet to a mix of three and six-car sets. An order for 41 intermediate ("type B") cars, which would release additional units by reconfiguration of existing pairs, was confirmed in October 2019. As of the 16 February 2024, the first of these carriages has entered service. ==Fleet details==