Northern Ireland and Republic Of Ireland train headcode system.

[stadler]

Does anyone on here know more about exactly how the NI and ROI headcode system works.

Northern Ireland and Republic Of Ireland both use a joint headcode system which is four characters in LETTER - NUMBER - NUMBER - NUMBER format.

From what i can see these are the headcodes used on the two railway networks:

---

NORTHERN IRELAND:

• A### - Dublin Belfast trains

• B### - domestic passenger trains

---

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND:

• A### - Dublin Belfast / Dublin Cork / Dublin Sligo / Dublin Galway / Dublin Westport / Dublin Ballina / Dublin Rosslare / Dublin Waterford / Limerick Waterford / Limerick Ballybrophy / Limerick Limerick Junction / Limerick Galway / Limerick Ennis

• D### - some Cork Cobh / some Cork Midleton / some Dublin Portlaoise / some Dublin Hazelhatch / some Dublin Maynooth / some Dublin M3 Parkway / some Dublin Drogheda / some Dublin Dundalk / some Dublin Newbridge

• E### - Dublin Malahide DART / Dublin Greystones DART / Dublin Bray DART / Dublin Howth DART

• P### - some Cork Cobh / some Cork Midleton / some Dublin Portlaoise / some Dublin Hazelhatch / some Dublin Maynooth / some Dublin M3 Parkway / some Dublin Drogheda / some Dublin Dundalk / some Dublin Newbridge

---

Northern Ireland is very simple with A for Enterprise trains and B for domestic trains. Nothing really complex about this.

Republic Of Ireland is a bit more complex. They seem to use A for anything other than Dublin suburban services and Cork suburban services (basically all intercity and regional stuff) and use E for all DART services. But then for the Dublin suburban services and Cork suburban services they use both D and P and the allocations seem very random. I would be curious if anyone knows the difference between D and P and why both letters exist for different services on the same routes.

Also are there any other letters used besides the above ones. For example i presume they have other letters for freight trains and engineering trains and railtours and empty stock workings of passenger stock etc.

Lastly is there any duplication of headcodes like we have on the GB network or is each headcode unique and not duplicated on the same day. Also are there ROI and NI headcodes fully integrated so there is no duplication between the two either.

It is a real shame that Northern Ireland and the Republic Of Ireland both have such little publicly available information. They refuse to release working timetables or unit diagrams or signalling maps or sectional appendices and all sorts of other stuff that is publicly available for the GB network.

Thank you in advance for any information that anyone has on these NI and ROI headcodes.

 

[csd]

I'm not an expert, but from what I've noticed:

• The codes are unique
• A codes are for intercity, with the second character denoting the service origin/destination as follows:
  1. Belfast
  2. Cork
  3. Tralee
  4. Limerick
  5. Waterford
  6. Rosslare
  7. Galway
  8. Westport/Ballina
  9. Sligo
• Within A codes, even numbers are Down trains, odd numbers Up
• The numbers ascend with time, so A200 will be the first Dublin - Cork train of the day, A501 will be the first Waterford - Dublin
• For suburban/regional trains, D seem to be used for Down trains and P for uP trains
• Passenger specials seem to use H headcodes
• Freight trains use codes depending on type, eg M for Tara mines (Mineral), and S for liner trains (I think). The liner trains also have different codes if carrying hazardous materials (from what I've read on other forums)
• I haven't been able to work out any pattern for E (EMU/Electric) Dart trains

/csd

 

[Mr Bean]

On Irish rail the head codes are broken down into 3 parts, the letter denotes the type of train, the first digit denotes destination, the last two digits are usually sequential with 00 being the first train of the day, 01 being the second ect. Odd numbers are up and even numbers are down.



A = Mainline passenger timetabled
B= Mainline passenger special
C= Empty diesel suburban
D= Diesel suburban outer destinations (Balbriggan, Drogheda, Dundalk, Clonsilla, M3 Parkway, Maynooth, Longford, Newbridge, Kildare, Portlaoise)
E= EMU passenger
F= Empty EMU passenger
H= Heritage stock (steam and diesel)
I- shunting and pilot engines
J= Empty mainline passenger
K= Liner with dangerous goods
L=oil
M= Mineral
N= Cement
P= Diesel suburban inner destinations (Greystones, Bray, Dun Laoghaire, Pearse, Connolly, Docklands, Heuston, Grand canal dock
Q= Sleeper
R= Light engine
S= timber & liner trains with non dangerous goods
T= special freight
V= Beet
W= per way trains
Y= per way machine not capable of operating track circuits
Z= special movements

The numbers noted above by csd are the mainline destination codes.
The DART has its own set of destinations for use with the E & F headcodes.

1= Greystones
2=Bray
4=Dun Laoghaire
5= Lansdown road
6=Pearse
7=Connolly
8=Malahide
9=Howth
0= Fairview Depot.

Diesel suburban outer destinations with the D head code.

1= Greystones
2= Heuston/Kildare line
3= M3 Parkway
4= Kildare/grand canal dock service
8= Drogheda/Dundalk
9=Maynooth/Longford

Diesel suburban inner destinations with the P headcode

2= Heuston/Kildare
3=Docklands
4= Kildare/grand canal dock service
5=Lansdowne road
6=Pearse/Bray/Dun Laoghaire
7=Connolly
8= Malahide
9=Howth



Cork suburban run a with C2,D2 or P2 headcodes

D runs from Cork to Cobh or Midleton
P is the reverse running from Cobh or Midleton to Cork

23X & 24X run to Cobh while 27X & 28X run to Midleton

Hope that is of some help.