Irish Rail - Corporate Discounts for Business

Jamie2k9 · 13-05-2013 3:05pm #1

http://www.irishrail.ie/business

Travelling to or from meetings in Dublin? Why waste travel time by driving?

Take the train; you can work all the way there and all the way back.

It’s the perfect office away from the office; it’s comfortable, quiet, you can make or take calls; get a coffee or grab a bite to eat. Wi-Fi throughout allows you send and receive emails, work away on your laptop adding finishing touches or following up on the way home.

With fantastic fares from €14.99-€19.99 each way, excellent frequency and faster journey times on our Limerick and Cork to Dublin routes, it makes good business sense to take the train.

Companies looking to be more productive and save on travel expenses can sign up here for a corporate discount;

Judgement Day · 13-05-2013 4:06pm

Nothing new in that. Pity that they don't have a couple of carriages fitted out for meetings. NIR had one such vehicle back in the 1980s which could be hired for quite a reasonable rate - I seem to think it was a 1st class fare for each person on top of the normal fare. Innovation like that doesn't occur to CIE/IE or when it does it's never developed properly. A small set of MkIIIs could have been revamped for such traffic.

bk · 13-05-2013 4:16pm

Because there is zero demand for such a service.

What corporation do you think is running a carriage full of staff up and down the country?

Judgement Day · 13-05-2013 4:20pm

bk wrote: »

Because there is zero demand for such a service.

What corporation do you think is running a carriage full of staff up and down the country?

Sorry for daring to make a positive suggestion - I'm sure that all the corporations have their meetings on the new Aircoach services. :rolleyes:

bk · 13-05-2013 4:34pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

Sorry for daring to make a positive suggestion - I'm sure that all the corporations have their meetings on the new Aircoach services. :rolleyes:

No, they do it in the meeting rooms of their offices.

As some one who works for a major US IT multinational, who uses Skype, IM, web conferencing, etc. every day to keep in contact with colleagues around the world, I can assure you it is a ridiculous idea.

Richard Logue · 13-05-2013 4:35pm

bk wrote: »

Because there is zero demand for such a service.

What corporation do you think is running a carriage full of staff up and down the country?

I think that's a bit of a distortion to be honest. Whole companies won't have their entire staff travelling but in many cases one or more will.

I frequently have meetings on the train with colleagues here in GB and in Ireland.

bk · 13-05-2013 4:38pm

But no company would hire an entire dedicated carriage to do this, I can't think of a single company in Ireland who would need a facility like this even once.

Yes of course I can imagine having a meeting amongst three or four colleagues around a table, maybe in first class, but building a dedicated carriage like is being suggested would be a monumental waste of money.

Kumsheen · 13-05-2013 4:47pm

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

http://www.irishrail.ie/business

Maybe a better strategy could be IE marketing people identify the biggest companies doing corporate travel between the two cities and try and entice them into an exclusive corporate travel arrangement. You hear of airlines doing this sort of thing all the time.

You need to go out there and drum this business yourself though. It won't come to you by just putting a flyer on your webpage.

I'm sure they could increase business class travel if they really got out there and pushed some attractive corporate deals.

Judgement Day · 13-05-2013 5:06pm

bk wrote: »

But no company would hire an entire dedicated carriage to do this, I can't think of a single company in Ireland who would need a facility like this even once.

Yes of course I can imagine having a meeting amongst three or four colleagues around a table, maybe in first class, but building a dedicated carriage like is being suggested would be a monumental waste of money.

Without even working up a sweat I can immediately think of a company who have in the past and probably would in the future use such a service - Irish Distillers/Pernod Ricard - bringing people from Dublin to Midleton. Anyway, with an attitude like yours bk you would fit in well with the can't, shan't and won't mentality in CIE/IE management.

Richard Logue · 13-05-2013 5:12pm

IE do offer train chartering - either on a whole train or a dedicated carriage basis.

Charter Your Own Private Train

We offer private charter trains for meetings, retreats, events, special occasions, corporate travel, product launches or conventions. We can customise a charter train based on the size of your group and your group's individual needs. You and your guests can sit back, relax and travel in comfort whilst watching the Irish countryside go by.

Source: http://www.irishrail.ie/index.jsp?p=118&n=251

The train chartering brochure is here: http://www.irishrail.ie/media/06992CharterBrochure_20111.pdf

Perhaps we should organise a C&T meet-up somewhere like Midelton? One group of us could charter a train and travel down in comfort and have a beer or two on the way down and the puritans could catch the bus?

ballooba · 13-05-2013 5:26pm

bk wrote: »

But no company would hire an entire dedicated carriage to do this, I can't think of a single company in Ireland who would need a facility like this even once.

How is it any different to having a meeting in an airport lounge? You should have a look at all of the airport lounges around the world that offer meeting rooms like this. I know in my company we couldn't be having meetings in a public rail carriage, no more than we could a public airport terminal / lounge.

Richard Logue · 13-05-2013 5:45pm

Sorry to burst your bubble but it does happen. Clearly commercially sensitive information would not be shared but yes, people do have meetings on the train and work on it too.

Judgement Day · 13-05-2013 6:15pm

Incidentally, in reply to bk, I never suggested building special carriages for business meetings - rather the internal alteration of certain vehicles to facilitate a boardroom type setting. NIR did it with a brake vehicle but I can't find a picture online or remember the number. The charter of special trains is all very well for things like football specials where normal seating will suffice but for meetings something more is needed.

Con Logue · 13-05-2013 7:16pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

Incidentally, in reply to bk, I never suggested building special carriages for business meetings - rather the internal alteration of certain vehicles to facilitate a boardroom type setting. NIR did it with a brake vehicle but I can't find a picture online or remember the number. The charter of special trains is all very well for things like football specials where normal seating will suffice but for meetings something more is needed.

Irish Rail repainted and refitted a number of MkIII coaches into a maroon black and gold lined livery with "Executive" branding in cursive script sometime in the late 1990s. No doubt under the cutter's torch already.

Judgement Day · 13-05-2013 7:25pm

I was just searching for the "Executive Train" MkIII's and here they are at Enniscorthy. I'm sure that you're right and they have already been cut - the economics of the madhouse.

Photo: Eamonn Redmond

n97 mini · 13-05-2013 7:58pm

Anyone any idea of what level of discount?

ballooba · 13-05-2013 9:33pm

Richard Logue wrote: »

Sorry to burst your bubble but it does happen. Clearly commercially sensitive information would not be shared but yes, people do have meetings on the train and work on it too.

Where's there a bubble? Some meetings can be conducted in a public place, some can not. Hence why airport lounges rent meeting rooms.

Victor · 13-05-2013 10:42pm

n97 mini wrote: »

Anyone any idea of what level of discount?

I imagine there would be a sliding scale, depending on annual sales and type of usage. I imagine they would like to see people take and amount of standarda and up to half of first class, but not all first class, at that puts them in a difficult position with other first class passengers paying full price.

Stheno · 13-05-2013 10:44pm

I worked for a company with offices in Dublin and Belfast, and every week, easily 10-15 staff were up and down on the train on the Entreprise first class.

They got a decent discount and had rolls of tickets available due to the amount of travelling done.

It was dead handy as we'd start the day on the train, get through a mountain of work, then arrive up to Belfast for about 9:30

Hilly Bill · 13-05-2013 11:02pm

Stheno wrote: »

I worked for a company with offices in Dublin and Belfast, and every week, easily 10-15 staff were up and down on the train on the Entreprise first class.

They got a decent discount and had rolls of tickets available due to the amount of travelling done.

It was dead handy as we'd start the day on the train, get through a mountain of work, then arrive up to Belfast for about 9:30

Coach A is perfect for it.

BenShermin · 14-05-2013 1:22am

Judgement Day wrote: »

Incidentally, in reply to bk, I never suggested building special carriages for business meetings - rather the internal alteration of certain vehicles to facilitate a boardroom type setting. NIR did it with a brake vehicle but I can't find a picture online or remember the number. The charter of special trains is all very well for things like football specials where normal seating will suffice but for meetings something more is needed.

ICE-3s in Germany have private conference compartments for six people in some of their coaches. IÉ really should have thought about something like this when purchasing the MK4s. This is one area where IÉ could attract businesspeople from their cars onto the trains.

Unsurprisingly I see people are having a laugh at the buses. Last week I was on the double decker Go Bus, it has two tables downstairs and students were happily using these to study with laptops and books. It was every bit as comfortable as a train. If you start adding plug sockets, tea coffee making facilities, scanners, printers etc. then you have a working office on the downstairs of a bus.

Con Logue · 14-05-2013 8:13am

BenShermin wrote: »

ICE-3s in Germany have private conference compartments for six people in some of their coaches. IÉ really should have thought about something like this when purchasing the MK4s. This is one area where IÉ could attract businesspeople from their cars onto the trains.

Unsurprisingly I see people are having a laugh at the buses. Last week I was on the double decker Go Bus, it has two tables downstairs and students were happily using these to study with laptops and books. It was every bit as comfortable as a train. If you start adding plug sockets, tea coffee making facilities, scanners, printers etc. then you have a working office on the downstairs of a bus.

Perhaps if a business person had a height of five foot five or less it would help as dodging low roofs and having a low centre of gravity to avoid pitching issues would be a practical advantage.

It would be an interesting way to market a hypothetically inter city rail free Ireland.

foggy_lad · 14-05-2013 11:29am

Con Logue wrote: »

Perhaps if a business person had a height of five foot five or less it would help as dodging low roofs and having a low centre of gravity to avoid pitching issues would be a practical advantage.

It would be an interesting way to market a hypothetically inter city rail free Ireland.

Having a low centre of gravity will be a help for anyone that can't be on a train for a few hours without getting tanked up. Thankfully alcohol is not allowed on most/all bus setvices.

Im over 5'5" and have no issues with headroom on the fantastic double deck intercity coaches used by bus Éireann and CityLink.

As for corporate ticketing there might be a demand from larger companies if the discounts are good enough per hundred or thousand tickets bought, but I dont see special carriages being ordered so staff can hold conferenes on the way to the distillery or brewery.

BenShermin · 14-05-2013 11:30am

Con Logue wrote: »

Perhaps if a business person had a height of five foot five or less it would help as dodging low roofs and having a low centre of gravity to avoid pitching issues would be a practical advantage.

All fair enough points, but buses are constantly being upgraded to adapt to customer's needs, IÉ needs and can beat them to it. After all, isn't it amazing how political campaigns in Ireland can be fought from the inside of a Scania Irizar coach.

I just saw advertising for IÉ on this mornings broadsheets. Page one asks "is your business on the move?" Page three shows a 22K with an "office to let" sign on it with an advert for €19.99 Cork to Dublin fares underneath.

I have to give it to IÉ, the advert certainly catches the eye. Although I hope the businessmen who avail of the €19.99 fare are not too disappointed when they find they're actually renting a MK4 with very few plug sockets.

AngryLips · 14-05-2013 11:43am

I don't think people having business meetings on the train would translate into demand for a specific coach kitted out for meetings.

Irish Rail - Corporate Discounts for Business

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