Question about Train Tickets to and in Belfast

Forsure

Hi there,

I am looking for some advice from people who may travel in and around the Portadown and Belfast areas regularly.

I work for a Dublin company and once a month travel by train to NI to visit a client site.

I usually catch the very earliest (7:35) train from Connolly to Belfast Central and then get the next available Translink train south from Belfast to Balmoral.

This usually gets me into Balmoral for about 10:15 - 10:30, depending.

I am now thinking I might be better off disembarking from the NI train at Portadown (just after 9AM) and getting a Translink train from Portadown to Balmoral. This would certainly leave me in Balmoral earlier (hopefully allowing me to then leave earlier).

I would assume that I have to purchase a separate ticket for the Portadown to Balmoral leg of the journey, and that's fine.

My question is, can this ticket be purchased in advance in Connolly, or on the NI train? I would hate to find myself waiting in Portadown Station to purchase a ticket and find myself delayed.

Is there anyone who makes a similar sort of journey that could advise me on the best way to approach this? I am not too concerned about costs of tickets as I can claim that back, I am really trying to optimise my time.

All suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Forsure

goingnowhere

Just ask for Connolly Balmoral ticket at the booking office...

n97 mini

Not sure you can buy tickets in RoI to stations in NI not served by the Enterprise. You could ask though.

sweeper4

If peace of mind and convenience are your main factors above price you could consider purchasing an iLink daily card in advance from the Translink website. The price would be £13.50 for your particular requirement (zone 3) and they allow you the option to have the card posted to your address. Just click on "Fares and Buy" and then "Cards and Products" to get to the iLink card option. Journey time from Portadown to Balmoral is about 40 minutes so you would scrub some time off your usual routing. If your Enterprise train stops at Lisburn (I am aware only a small number of Enterprise services actually do though) you could shave another few minutes off the travel time by getting off there instead of Portadown.

Victor

The Translink journey Planner actually suggests going via Portadown for most trips: http://journeyplanner.translink.co.uk/ext_widget/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2

Dublin-Balmoral is slightly cheaper than Dublin-Belfast. However, I don't know the fare rules, so I don't know if you can travel Dublin-Belfast-Balmoral on a Dublin-Balmoral ticket.

n97 mini wrote: »

Not sure you can buy tickets in RoI to stations in NI not served by the Enterprise. You could ask though.

Any stations that has a ticket office on either the Irish Rail or NI Railways networks can sell a ticket to any station on either network.

Forsure

Thank you all for your responses and suggestions, some interesting options here.

n97 mini

Victor wrote: »

Any stations that has a ticket office on either the Irish Rail or NI Railways networks can sell a ticket to any station on either network.

Good to know. Is there a fare calculator online anywhere?

Victor

Determining cross border fares is problematic.

http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_info/fare_calc_2017.php

http://www.irishrail.ie/fares-and-tickets/fares-info

http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/Enterprise/Fares/

Donal55

Victor wrote: »

Determining cross border fares is problematic.

http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_info/fare_calc_2017.php

http://www.irishrail.ie/fares-and-tickets/fares-info

http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/Enterprise/Fares/

Build a wall.

Victor

Donal55 wrote: »

Build a wall.

Meaning?

XPS_Zero

n97 mini wrote: »

Not sure you can buy tickets in RoI to stations in NI not served by the Enterprise. You could ask though.

You can I've done it
You're meant to be able to get point to point anywhere on the island machines have the codes

I've gotten tickets at Connoly to Derry, Lurgan, Lisburn, Portadown, and Ongar.

Hilly Bill

It's the same price as Belfast 40 euros day return. Tickets can be bought at the ticket office in Connolly to Balmoral.