Sail Rail - Is it always the cheapest option ?

qwerty54321

Sail Rail is a combined ticket, which offers a train from ANY UK station to ANY Irish station, via a ferry crossing, generally via HolyHead in Wales.

" Walk Up Ticket " prices from London Euston

Dublin Port - £ 45

However, to the end of the line on any of the main routes:

Cork / Galway / Midleton / Sligo / Tralee / Westport - All £ 66.50

Halfway along some lines:

Athlone / Kilkenny / Longford / Waterford - All £ 61.50

You will save £5 on any of those fares with an Advance Ticket.

( On this side, there is a big saving simply by buying from your local rail station direct to Ireland, rather than paying £6 / £7 to get to London, as the ticket is the same price from any station in London or the South East of England. )

So basically between £16.50 to £21.50 / 21 EUROS to 27.50 in EUROS from Dublin to most stations in Ireland.

Is that unbeatable ?

Would the really be no reason to look elsewhere, and simply book direct from end to end ?

If I buy an advance ticket, is it for a particular day, or an exact and particular train ?

Thanks guys !

Geog1234

Availing of some Irish Rail webfares could result in a small saving for the Dublin - provincial leg e.g. there are €14.99 webfares Heuston - Athlone and €9.99 Heuston - any Nenagh line station.

However the downside is that on separate tickets if the ferry is late such that the intended onward train from Dublin is missed then a €10 charge must be paid to travel on a different train. This almost certainly will cancel out any saving.

With, for instance, a London - Athlone through ticket in the event of a severe delay to the ferry there may well be assistance in terms of alternative transport or accommodation.

Purchasing a through ticket also makes the operators aware that people do in fact make such journeys day in day out.

Advance tickets (and Standby tickets) bought from stations or online providers in Britain are date specific and advance ones are train departure specific for the journey to the port (except for local trains which are unreservable in which case one can take any train that suits).

One is not committed to a specific Irish Rail train.

The Arriva Trains Wales SailRail microsite is very good for online booking.

Through booking is also available from any station to Rosslare Harbour (via Fishguard). Travelling overnight this route is better with less waiting around than Holyhead. Irish Rail issue through tickets for journeys from any Irish station to any British station via Rosslare-Fishguard.

Carawaystick

Certain people might say Sail rail only works between British stations and Irish stations.
Not likely to have a Ferry between Newry City and Dundalk...