Beer on trains

mikedragon32

Quickie for ye:

Can you take your own cans of beer onto intercity trains?

syklops

mikedragon32 wrote: »

Quickie for ye:

Can you take your own cans of beer onto intercity trains?

You are not allowed to, and if caught you can have them taken off you. However at ~6 euro a can, you would be crazy to pay that money.

LXFlyer

Yes - except for trains on the Waterford route to Dublin on Sundays or special match trains.

LXFlyer

syklops wrote: »

You are not allowed to, and if caught you can have them taken off you. However at ~6 euro a can, you would be crazy to pay that money.

Not true - see post above.

Beer costs €4 on board.

syklops

Thing have changed then because I had beer taken off me on a train from Dublin to Galway a few years back. Very embarrassing at the time as I had my polish Father in law with me, and it was his beer they confiscated. I wrote a letter to complain to Irish Rail, and they told me it was a policy to curb anti-social behaviour and had no control over the price set for drinks.

LXFlyer

They will occasionally impose additional restrictions if there are large crowds travelling on scheduled trains to/from matches.

mikedragon32

Cheers lads!

superelliptic

syklops wrote: »

Thing have changed then because I had beer taken off me on a train from Dublin to Galway a few years back. Very embarrassing at the time as I had my polish Father in law with me, and it was his beer they confiscated. I wrote a letter to complain to Irish Rail, and they told me it was a policy to curb anti-social behaviour and had no control over the price set for drinks.

Were you both drinking the beers at the time, or were they unopened?

If they were unopened I'd be screaming bloody murder if they tried to confiscate them :eek:

syklops

superelliptic wrote: »

Were you both drinking the beers at the time, or were they unopened?

If they were unopened I'd be screaming bloody murder if they tried to confiscate them :eek:

2 were being drunk and 2 were unopened. If I remember correctly it was Zywiec, which is really nice beer. Instead he told us we could pay 6 euro for carlsberg instead. I was fuming.

Judgement Day

lxflyer wrote: »

Not true - see post above.

Beer costs €4 on board.

The last Railgourmet bill of fare that I have shows the following:

Guinness, Bud and Heino (500ml cans) €5.65 and Bulmers €5.99.

On principal I never buy anything from the trolley as it's daylight robbery.

Losty Dublin

Judgement Day wrote: »

The last Railgourmet bill of fare that I have shows the following:

Guinness, Bud and Heino (500ml cans) €5.65 and Bulmers €5.99

On RPSI trains, it's less than 4... and it's draught beer into a pint glass

BrianD

I don't think there's anything to stop you bringing and consuming your own booze on train but, if not, it would be a very welcome initiative by IR to ban "carry on" booze on all trains.

There's nothing worse then having to endure a train journey with a load of drunken yobs. there seems to be something inate in Irish people that they must start drinking when they get on any form of long distance transport. I was out in the airport the other morning for an early flight and there was a couple at the bar sinking pints of Bulmers. WTF?

I was on a RPSI excursion a few years ago - I didn't cop why they have them on Good Fridays - but it just turned into a drunken mess.

Losty Dublin

BrianD wrote: »

I was on a RPSI excursion a few years ago - I didn't cop why they have them on Good Fridays - but it just turned into a drunken mess.

RPSi used to have them on Good Fridays. The ended up in, as you said, a drunken mess and hats were thrown at it in favour of less messy trips, or as they'd call itin the North, temperence

syklops

Well I have and do drink pints early in the morning when I am getting an early flight. For 2 reasons, I like having the freedom of being able to buy a pint at 7 am in the morning. A freedom I dont get to exercise very often due to stupid licensing laws in Ireland. The other reason is there is a hope that the alcohol will induce some kind of sleep on the flight.

LXFlyer

Judgement Day wrote: »

The last Railgourmet bill of fare that I have shows the following:

Guinness, Bud and Heino (500ml cans) €5.65 and Bulmers €5.99.

On principal I never buy anything from the trolley as it's daylight robbery.

Prices must have dropped so!

Trolley/Snack Car Menu

Dining Car Menu

Judgement Day

lxflyer wrote: »

Prices must have dropped so!

Trolley/Snack Car Menu

Dining Car Menu

You're not comparing like with like - my prices were for 500ml cans and yours are for 330ml. Incidentally, I was in a deli here in town this morning and single 500ml cans of Bud are €1.69 - compares well with €5.65 on the train!!

Rail catering needs to be taken back into IE control and food/drink etc should be sold at cost as an inducement to travel by rail but it will never happen because it's Ireland and CIE that we are talking about.

LXFlyer

Oops! Didn't even notice the different size cans!

Drimnagh Road

The "drinking moratorium" on Sunday Waterford trains can easily be flouted.

Back in the days of 071s, drinking played a big part of bashing trains. All you had to do was wield a camera as you approached the ticket gate and you were guaranteed to get by the gate no problem without a bag check.

Sure "trainspotters" as I heard one IE worker say to his buddy after we walked through aren't the types that would be drinking, they're geeks. No need to search their bags.

The last time I was on a train on a Sunday on the Waterford line was 2008 and it was the outsourced STD lads who were patrolling the train. Due to intense lack of interest in their job, all one has to do is drink their can when the gastepo isn't in your carriage and put it on the floor when they do appear.

I should replace the word when with if, in fact I think they only appeared once shortly after leaving Kilkenny and the two burly lads were down at the buffet chatting up the Rail Gourmet lady for the rest of the trip.

There's a difference between enjoying a few drinks whilst travelling, and getting Boris Yeltsined, nobody should be prevented from doing the former. They say it is to prevent trouble, well to put it simply, if somebody is already drunk as they board the train then they shouldn't be let on at all. FACT.

BrianD

syklops wrote: »

Well I have and do drink pints early in the morning when I am getting an early flight. For 2 reasons, I like having the freedom of being able to buy a pint at 7 am in the morning. A freedom I dont get to exercise very often due to stupid licensing laws in Ireland. The other reason is there is a hope that the alcohol will induce some kind of sleep on the flight.

Each to their own ...except this seems to be a recurring problem with Irish people who don't seem to be able to stop and then "having the craic" is just obnoxious behaviour for everyone else.

Personally, and I am a drinker, I can not understand why you'd be near a bar at that hour of the morning or why having a pint is so important to you to exercise your "freedom". The licensing laws in Ireland are not that unusual.

foggy_lad

lxflyer wrote: »

Prices must have dropped so!

Trolley/Snack Car Menu

Dining Car Menu

The beers on your list are only tiny cans 330ml while the others mentioned were 500ml

Casey_81

A group of guys from Mullingar regularly drink on the Dublin-Longford train.. Any time I saw them they were just having a chat - bit like the way people used to go to the pub for one or two on the way home from work..

Also have seen plenty of hen parties going up to Sligo drinking sparkly wine on the train too.

BrianD

Casey_81 wrote: »

A group of guys from Mullingar regularly drink on the Dublin-Longford train.. Any time I saw them they were just having a chat - bit like the way people used to go to the pub for one or two on the way home from work..

Also have seen plenty of hen parties going up to Sligo drinking sparkly wine on the train too.

Clear demonstrations of our national fixation and problem with alcohol.

The problem is that any sober passenger just going from A to B on the train will always be on edge because that nice bunch of lads and girls will disrupt their journey one way or another. This disruption will vary from annoyingly noisy to violent at the other end of the scale.

Can the lads not have the chat over a coffee? Bring their own flask!

Cookie_Monster

sure what else are ya going to do for 3 hours on a train? :P

BrianD

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

sure what else are ya going to do for 3 hours on a train? :P

Again there lies the problem. Lack of imagination when the drink option is removed.

We hear the same excuse being used by parents who say there are no "amenities" for the kids to use and hence the turn to drink. There are no shortage of amenities or things to do but the theirs a lack of imagination to go out and pursue them. In reality, kids are following in the footsteps of the parents where social amenity = boozing.

As regards your 3 hour journey - read a book, write a book, read a newspaper, draw, surf the net, watch a movie on your lap top ..........

(though I'm sure you're being tongue in cheek )

Cookie_Monster

BrianD wrote: »

(though I'm sure you're being tongue in cheek )

entirely.

L1011

What is with the Waterford Sunday rule??

BrianD

MYOB wrote: »

What is with the Waterford Sunday rule??

Waterford people must stay within the county limits on Sundays.

L1011

BrianD wrote: »

Waterford people must stay within the county limits on Sundays.

Isn't the train station actually in Kilkenny anyway?

LXFlyer

MYOB wrote: »

What is with the Waterford Sunday rule??

Serious problems with stag and hen parties (particularly returning from Kilkenny) in the past caused IE to ban all alcohol on trains to Dublin on Sundays on the Waterford route.

foggy_lad

lxflyer wrote: »

Serious problems with stag and hen parties (particularly returning from Kilkenny) in the past caused IE to ban all alcohol on trains to Dublin on Sundays on the Waterford route.

It is not just in the past! dublin women are just plain wild after a weekend of breathing country air.

n97 mini

BrianD wrote: »

Each to their own ...except this seems to be a recurring problem with Irish people who don't seem to be able to stop and then "having the craic" is just obnoxious behaviour for everyone else.

Some Irish people. The rest of us have no problem but suffer stupid laws or rules for it.

n97 mini

MYOB wrote: »

Isn't the train station actually in Kilkenny anyway?

No. The train station and its environs are in Co Waterford.

n97 mini

Judgement Day wrote: »

You're not comparing like with like - my prices were for 500ml cans and yours are for 330ml. Incidentally, I was in a deli here in town this morning and single 500ml cans of Bud are €1.69 - compares well with €5.65 on the train!!

Holy crap. Doing the maths if they were 500ml cans they'd now be €6.06! :eek: :eek::eek:

Judgement Day wrote: »

Rail catering needs to be taken back into IE control and food/drink etc should be sold at cost as an inducement to travel by rail but it will never happen because it's Ireland and CIE that we are talking about.

IE can direct pricing. Anyone that says otherwise isn't in the real world.

Carawaystick

syklops wrote: »

You are not allowed to, and if caught you can have them taken off you. However at ~6 euro a can, you would be crazy to pay that money.

Article 43 of the constitution would prevent summary confiscation of private property, i.e tyskie

There would have to be a lawful reason to confiscate the property and a method of appealing the decision.

I'd imagine any part of IÉ standing by their decision would be some evidence that the fluid confiscated in a tyskie can/bottle actually was alcoholic.

You also have the right to peaceful enjoyment of your property. any property confiscated is subject to fair compensation paid in good time [art 17 EU charter of fundamental rights]

n97 mini

Carawaystick wrote: »

Article 43 of the constitution would prevent summary confiscation of private property, i.e tyskie

There would have to be a lawful reason to confiscate the property and a method of appealing the decision.

I'd imagine any part of IÉ standing by their decision would be some evidence that the fluid confiscated in a tyskie can/bottle actually was alcoholic.

You also have the right to peaceful enjoyment of your property. any property confiscated is subject to fair compensation paid in good time [art 17 EU charter of fundamental rights]

You are probably right. IE had no powers of confiscation. Their only legal way to deal with someone carrying alcohol (or bananas, or baby seals etc) it is to refuse entry onto a train.

Hotblack Desiato

Carawaystick wrote: »

Article 43 of the constitution would prevent summary confiscation of private property, i.e tyskie

But by getting on the train, you agree to their conditions of carriage.

Same as if you buy a ticket to a concert which says you are not allowed bring in alcohol or cameras etc.

This is private property we are talking about (the fact that the company in question happens to be owned by the Minister for Transport is immaterial.) You cannot come into my house and enjoy your constitutional rights to freedom of movement, speech and assembly if I disagree with your presence or actions.

Hotblack Desiato

n97 mini wrote: »

Some Irish people. The rest of us have no problem but suffer stupid laws or rules for it.

Again we have the oft-repeated 'Irish solution to an Irish problem' - ignore the smaller number of troublemakers and instead make life more difficult for the much larger number of law-abiding citizens.

What we should have are looser licensing laws BUT combined with much more stringent public order policing. Bother no-one and nobody will bother you. Act like an idiot and get dragged off into a cell. Most civilised countries manage this.

Instead we have silly restrictions on where and when you can buy alcohol, and stupid bye-laws meaning you can't have a glass of wine with your picnic, yet at the same time those who are actually causing trouble are ignored because it's too much trouble for the 'authorities' to be bothered with. So the laws (and not just alcohol) only really apply to those who choose to be bound by them.

It also breeds a damaging culture surrounding alcohol, which leads to people seeking to bend or break the rules at every opportunity - even if only getting a couple of rounds in at closing time - and leads to far more problems than it solves.

Losty Dublin

n97 mini wrote: »

No. The train station and its environs are in Co Waterford.

The online OSI map shows the county border as the River Suir so the railway station is in county Kilkenny, albeit part of Waterford city and it's suburbs.

L1011

ninja900 wrote: »

But by getting on the train, you agree to their conditions of carriage.

Their CoC doesn't limit the consumption of alcohol, though; and additionally its the bye laws, not the CoC that have any legal validity. They, again, don't.

purplepanda

Losty Dublin wrote: »

The online OSI map shows the county border as the River Suir so the railway station is in county Kilkenny, albeit part of Waterford city and it's suburbs.

So a bit like Rosbercon & New Ross then?

But who do they support in the hurlng? :eek:

Losty Dublin

MYOB wrote: »

Their CoC doesn't limit the consumption of alcohol, though; and additionally its the bye laws, not the CoC that have any legal validity. They, again, don't.

The bye laws state that a passenger "in a state of intoxication" won't be allowed carriage on a train

As a thought, would the trains alcohol licence not cover personal drink to be consumed on board, on paper?

n97 mini

Losty Dublin wrote: »

The online OSI map shows the county border as the River Suir so the railway station is in county Kilkenny, albeit part of Waterford city and it's suburbs.

Not the online OSI map I'm looking at. Would you mind posting a screen grab of what you're looking at?

Where the station is located is under the care of Waterford City Council.

L1011

As far as I'm aware, the land is in the tradional area of County Kilkenny but is within the boundaries of Waterford City Council.

I believe there is an equivalent Drogheda TC in Meath setup also.

n97 mini

MYOB wrote: »

As far as I'm aware, the land is in the tradional area of County Kilkenny but is within the boundaries of Waterford City Council.

Waterford city's boundaries were extended in 1966 and 1980. Afaik either one of these SI's made part of Waterford, removing it from KK.

Max Power1

Good luck to them trying to confiscate private property.

Cant see that one standing up if challenged tbh.

cbl593h

purplepanda wrote: »

So a bit like Rosbercon & New Ross then?

But who do they support in the hurlng? :eek:

Ferrybank GAA play in the Waterford county leagues.