Differences in online rail fares Belfast-Dublin

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

1huge1

I think I remember someone asking this on this message board before, If I recall correctly it was down to the subsidies provided by the NI/UK government.

XPS_Zero

If you're over 60 from NI the fares £9.99 for a return

We can't buy Translink tickets online for a journey starting in Dublin

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

n97 mini

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That's what I always do. Pick up the return ticket at the station on the way back.

XPS_Zero

I just see you can't get Derry-Dublin tickets on BE website

Also you can't get any Ulster rail stations other than Belfast, Portadown or Newry on the IE website
It makes no sense that you can walk up to Connoly ticket office and get a ticket to Derry or Bangor but can't get that ticket online

Irish Rails journey planner won't even show you a Connoly to say Lurgan trip, but Translink will

Losty Dublin

XPS_Zero wrote: »

I just see you can't get Derry-Dublin tickets on BE website

Also you can't get any Ulster rail stations other than Belfast, Portadown or Newry on the IE website
It makes no sense that you can walk up to Connoly ticket office and get a ticket to Derry or Bangor but can't get that ticket online

Irish Rails journey planner won't even show you a Connoly to say Lurgan trip, but Translink will

An online ticket on Irish Rail allocates you a seat for a specific train whereas a walk up fare merely gets you there on that day. In relation to through tickets online, well it is two different companies with two different booking systems. NIR doesn't offer online train ticket booking bar for the Enterprise at all so booking anything on it is impossible.

XPS_Zero

I appreciate that but Belfast is two different systems too we can still book that, they combined both FT pass systems even though NIs passes are way more generous they managed to take a confusing set up and make it work. They combine tech, crews, rosters, contracts, unions, work practices and management on the Enterprise itself and its best train service on the island

They should let you do it without seat booking or with seat booking only for the Enterprise portion (though I'm sure it's possible to do seat booking for both) the tech is there, it being two different companies doesn't make it unfeasible that strikes me as the old IE excuse why they didn't wanna do wifi "we'll have to keep upgrading it as the tech changes"

If you look hard you can find a reason why anything won't work, that's one of the problems with CIEs mindset "if it's hard don't try ".

I can get a ticket in the office from Cork to Bangor so getting it online should not be hard.

To my pleasant surprise they managed to figure out a way to cater for booking FT pass users who want to book a seat, they could use some imagination with this

I've also found Translink way more innovative. They've an over 60s pass unlike our 66 but it's not an all Ireland one until you get the full pass later, so they arranged a special over 60s Enterprise fare of £9.99 return
They also jumped I.E. on the eTicket front with mLink where there's no paper

A bit of effort goes a long way

Losty Dublin

XPS_Zero wrote: »

I appreciate that but Belfast is two different systems too we can still book that, they combined both FT pass systems even though NIs passes are way more generous they managed to take a confusing set up and make it work. They combine tech, crews, rosters, contracts, unions, work practices and management on the Enterprise itself and its best train service on the island

They should let you do it without seat booking or with seat booking only for the Enterprise portion (though I'm sure it's possible to do seat booking for both) the tech is there, it being two different companies doesn't make it unfeasible that strikes me as the old IE excuse why they didn't wanna do wifi "we'll have to keep upgrading it as the tech changes"

If you look hard you can find a reason why anything won't work, that's one of the problems with CIEs mindset "if it's hard don't try ".

I can get a ticket in the office from Cork to Bangor so getting it online should not be hard.

To my pleasant surprise they managed to figure out a way to cater for booking FT pass users who want to book a seat, they could use some imagination with this

I've also found Translink way more innovative. They've an over 60s pass unlike our 66 but it's not an all Ireland one until you get the full pass later, so they arranged a special over 60s Enterprise fare of £9.99 return
They also jumped I.E. on the eTicket front with mLink where there's no paper

A bit of effort goes a long way

Enterprise actually accesses Irish Rail's system to reserve seats. Operationally, it's an NIR operation with Irish Rail crews for some trips but overall it works well and is a credit to both companies, bar it's slow journey times.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.