New trains to Cork

penexpers

I would like to get a train to Cork next week, does anyone know which times the new trains are operating at? And same for the way back? Thanks!

Fool 5000

http://www.irishrail.ie/home/

Look for it here

Chris_533976

They look pretty nice and make a pleasant humming noise

MarkoP11

penexpers wrote:

I would like to get a train to Cork next week, does anyone know which times the new trains are operating at? And same for the way back? Thanks!

See this thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054935223

The Website won't tell you which services it runs, its meant to be on the 9:00 Dublin Cork, Monday Saturday and the 13:30 Cork Dublin, Monday Friday, 14:30 on Saturdays. Word is the second set goes into service shortly

To be honest its nothing special it only as good as what the rest of Europe has had for a decade or so worse in some respects but anything is better than the 43 year old relics still knocking around

penexpers

Fool 5000 wrote:

http://www.irishrail.ie/home/

Look for it here

How can I tell? What I mean is the trains to Cork are a mixture of the old inter city trains and the newer ones. Which services are operated by the newer ones?

MarkoP11

penexpers wrote:

How can I tell? What I mean is the trains to Cork are a mixture of the old inter city trains and the newer ones. Which services are operated by the newer ones?

Well if you understand Irish Rail its fairly obvious the direct trains where you can't book at seat are those run by the new train. New train has a neat display above each seat showing the reservation information needless to say it doesn't work

John R

MarkoP11 wrote:

Well if you understand Irish Rail its fairly obvious the direct trains where you can't book at seat are those run by the new train. New train has a neat display above each seat showing the reservation information needless to say it doesn't work

God I hate those things. Used to use Virgin Trains regularly, on the old trains they had pieces of card on every reserved seat and it was easy to pick out the unreserved ones. On the new trains with the electronic displays it was always a right pain trying to find an unreserved bay of seats. Progress my arse.

John R

MarkoP11 wrote:

To be honest its nothing special it only as good as what the rest of Europe has had for a decade or so worse in some respects but anything is better than the 43 year old relics still knocking around

I'd rather the 43 year old relics to the 2600 that used to be used on a sunday Cork-Dublin run.

To be fair though there is scant improvement on the cork line with these new trains, the only big difference is that they are new and fresh inside. If the Mk3s had been given a proper refit they would be just as good as the new stock.

The real improvement on Cork-Dublin will be the hourly timetable.

Speaking of which, do you guys have info on the likely schedule? Stopping patterns, changes to other routes to accomodate Cork, etc.

What's the chance of getting an earlier first train from Heuston, I really miss the old 05.20MO. It wasn't ever that well used, typically only around 100 people on board before Mallow so I can't really criticise them too much for dropping it. A quicker 06.00 daily departure with an arrival in cork pre 9am would I am sure be much more popular though.

MarkoP11

John R wrote:

God I hate those things. Used to use Virgin Trains regularly, on the old trains they had pieces of card on every reserved seat and it was easy to pick out the unreserved ones. On the new trains with the electronic displays it was always a right pain trying to find an unreserved bay of seats. Progress my arse.

It progress

Problems with the paper system are quite well known, like Irish Rail not bothering to put the card out in the first place

You can unreserve a seat by removing the card, against the rules but you don't see anyone around to stop you

The electronic system has the advantage that to set up the reservations is a simple case of downloading it into the train, i.e. all of 5 seconds, very handy when turnarounds are tight also means seats can be reserved and reallocated at stops, so if I get out at Thurles someone else can book the seat onwards, a new WIFI network has appeared in Heuston might be related, no rubbish left over either

MarkoP11

John R wrote:

What's the chance of getting an earlier first train from Heuston, I really miss the old 05.20MO. It wasn't ever that well used, typically only around 100 people on board before Mallow so I can't really criticise them too much for dropping it. A quicker 06.00 daily departure with an arrival in cork pre 9am would I am sure be much more popular though.

Its on the hour from Dublin, on the half hour from Cork, a 6am ex Dublin is possible and needed hopefully a later service from Cork 20:30 ? as well. First stop Thurles, last stop Mallow, not more than 3 stops, connections for Limerick taken at Thurles. Limerick trains leave Dublin on the half hour every second hour call most stations Thurles, thats to gist of it

Thats not offical

Victor

What about Cork - Limerick?

penexpers

MarkoP11 wrote:

Well if you understand Irish Rail its fairly obvious the direct trains where you can't book at seat are those run by the new train. New train has a neat display above each seat showing the reservation information needless to say it doesn't work

Ahhh thanks for that

Stark

You generally can't reserve seats for the old trains either. At least I've never been able to any time I tried. Their online booking system is a joke, no discount, no seat reservation. All you're doing is shooting yourself in the foot by buying yourself a ticket that has a restriction on what outgoing and return trains you can get. (So you're ****ed if you're late for your train).