what is it?
The Córas Iompair Éireann 401 Class locomotives were built in 1957–1958 and designed for use on branch line traffic and shunting. They were fitted with a Maybach MD220 engine of 420 hp (310 kW), with diesel hydraulic transmission via a Mekydro KL64 transmission, and were of C wheel arrangement. Though they had a design maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), experience showed that they did not ride well when travelling at speeds over 40 km/h (25 mph) and so henceforth were limited to that speed.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 69 years ago, in 1957.
- 313 kW is about 4 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 7 African elephants (~6 t each).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1957–1958
- retired
- 1977
- status
- retired
- number built
- 19
- kind
- diesel locomotive
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- builders
- Inchicore Works
- operators
- Córas Iompair Éireann
- top speed
- 40 km/h
- power
- 313 kW
- gauge
- 1,600 mm Irish broad gauge
- wheel arrangement
- C
- length
- 9 m
- weight
- 39.4 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5011651, Wikipedia: CIÉ 401 Class (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.