Irish rail, these days, record runs are generally, not given any special dispensations, to speed etc, so the only way they can achieve the record, are clearer run, and slightly harder running, so in practice, a normal passenger run, if given a clear run and driven a bit harder, can achieve same record time or get very close to it, take the Avanti record attempt, the London-Crewe section has probably been pretty much equalled or even bettered by normal services, and some of these runs would have been logged by RPS, and others, like your runs, not recorded, so never know if the Avanti record, was ever bettered by normal service train.
I think the last time, i can remember a record attempt being given any special dispensation, was the Brighton speed run, in 2005, and then the record breaking runs of the HST Tyne Tees Pullman, from Newcastle to Kings Cross, and the 225 set, which did, Kings Cross-Edinburgh, in 3 hrs and 29 mins, which had special dispensation, to run at 140mph where possible, where as now days, record attempts, arent given dispensation’s, so we cant see, what could be really achieved with modern trains, so records, these days, as u said, dont mean nearly so much, as they can be equalled or bettered by normal service trains.
As an aside, back in BR days, there was keen competition, between the Western and Eastern regions, and in the late 80’s, the Western region had just taken the record, for highest average speed between stops, of about 112mph,between Paddington and Bristol Parkway, if memory correct, and the Eastern Region, incensed by this, decided to see what could be done to beat this, so with the launch, of the new Tynee Tees Pullman service, they set out to see what could be achieved, between Newcastle and Kings Cross, and such was the determination to beat the Western Region record, that when the Drivers and Traction inspector, realised they were not going to achieve the record, they decided to run above authorised speeds.
They realised that if they ran legally after Huntingdon, they would not get the record, so the drivers and traction inspector agreed between them, to run above authorised speeds, with 140 mph being run to Stevenage area, then in the same vein, they ran above line speeds all the way into Kings Cross, with some hair raising speeds into Kings Cross, but they got the record, and arrived safely, it must have been an interesting last few miles into kings cross.
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