Question re return train to portadown

Grawns

Hi, I'm going up North and would like to leave from skerries tomorrow but return to Connolly on Thursday. Due to the inability to navigate the awful translink site I can't book two single tickets so have to book a return

The question.
If I pay from Connolly to Portadown return but just use the drogheda commuter train from skerries to pick up the train to Portadown in Drogheda would I be breaking the train law? And if so would they care?
Thanks

Stephen15

Buy them from the Irish Rail website

danm14

Grawns wrote: »

Hi, I'm going up North and would like to leave from skerries tomorrow but return to Connolly on Thursday. Due to the inability to navigate the awful translink site I can't book two single tickets so have to book a return

The question.
If I pay from Connolly to Portadown return but just use the drogheda commuter train from skerries to pick up the train to Portadown in Drogheda would I be breaking the train law? And if so would they care?
Thanks

You'll need to buy a return ticket from Irish Rail, from Dublin to Portadown. This is cheaper than two singles from Irish Rail from Skerries to Portadown and from NI Railways from Portadown to Dublin. Irish Rail can't sell tickets starting in NI, and NI Railways can't sell tickets starting in ROI.

If you buy your ticket at the station, you're definitely fine. You can get off the train, leave the station and come back later ("break your journey") at every single station en-route if you feel like it. By extension of this, you can also start at a later station or finish at an earlier station.

If you buy your ticket online, technically you aren't allowed to do it, but in practice once you pick a Flexible ticket I think you should be fine, as these tickets are valid on any train on the day you pick. However, I don't think there's any discount (or at the very least not a substantial one like other routes) for buying cross-border tickets other than the full route from Dublin to Belfast online.

Skerries ticket machine won't be able to sell a ticket starting in Dublin, but you'll be able to collect a ticket already purchased online there regardless of where it starts from. The ticket office (open till 2:30 PM) should be able to sell one though.

Grawns

danm14 wrote: »

You'll need to buy a return ticket from Irish Rail, from Dublin to Portadown. This is cheaper than two singles from Irish Rail from Skerries to Portadown and from NI Railways from Portadown to Dublin. Irish Rail can't sell tickets starting in NI, and NI Railways can't sell tickets starting in ROI.

If you buy your ticket at the station, you're definitely fine. You can get off the train, leave the station and come back later ("break your journey") at every single station en-route if you feel like it. By extension of this, you can also start at a later station or finish at an earlier station.

If you buy your ticket online, technically you aren't allowed to do it, but in practice once you pick a Flexible ticket I think you should be fine, as these tickets are valid on any train on the day you pick. However, I don't think there's any discount (or at the very least not a substantial one like other routes) for buying cross-border tickets other than the full route from Dublin to Belfast online.

Skerries ticket machine won't be able to sell a ticket starting in Dublin, but you'll be able to collect a ticket already purchased online there regardless of where it starts from. The ticket office (open till 2:30 PM) should be able to sell one though.

Thank you. There's the nub though, technically it's not OK but in practice it's fine. I will risk it I already had issues with drogheda when I found out my leap card didn't cover the ticket from skerries. They were cool about it thankfully.

Another point I had to buy a single ticket for mother in law from drogheda to skerries and a single ticket from skerries to Portadown and she's buying the first ticket cash in station from Portadown to drogheda due to translink chaos rip off. People might give out about irishrail but it's a lot better than some. Choo choo

Stephen15

Grawns wrote: »

Thank you. There's the nub though, technically it's not OK but in practice it's fine. I will risk it I already had issues with drogheda when I found out my leap card didn't cover the ticket from skerries. They were cool about it thankfully.

Another point I had to buy a single ticket for mother in law from drogheda to skerries and a single ticket from skerries to Portadown and she's buying the first ticket cash in station from Portadown to drogheda due to translink chaos rip off. People might give out about irishrail but it's a lot better than some. Choo choo

Why don't you just buy a through ticket from Skerries to Portadown or I am I missing something?

jippo nolan

Who wants to go to Portadown?

danm14

Grawns wrote: »

Thank you. There's the nub though, technically it's not OK but in practice it's fine. I will risk it I already had issues with drogheda when I found out my leap card didn't cover the ticket from skerries. They were cool about it thankfully.

Another point I had to buy a single ticket for mother in law from drogheda to skerries and a single ticket from skerries to Portadown and she's buying the first ticket cash in station from Portadown to drogheda due to translink chaos rip off. People might give out about irishrail but it's a lot better than some. Choo choo

Portadown can sell a ticket to Skerries, you won't be able to buy one online but they can sell them at the station.

I don't understand what the rip-off is?

Grawns

danm14 wrote: »

Portadown can sell a ticket to Skerries, you won't be able to buy one online but they can sell them at the station.

I don't understand what the rip-off is?

Portadown can't sell a ticket to skerries!

danm14

Grawns wrote: »

Portadown can't sell a ticket to skerries!

Portadown are able to sell a ticket to Skerries. Skerries is on their ticket machines. There's a fare for Portadown to Skerries (see http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/Enterprise/Fares/)

I have seen Skerries (and plenty of further away places like Cork and Tralee) on an NIR ticket machine with my own eyes, a very friendly ticket seller insisted on showing me all the "far away places" he could sell to when I asked if he could sell me a through ticket to my local ROI station.

There's a possibility that the person you dealt with in Portadown doesn't know how or want to sell a ticket to Skerries, but they can do so.

Grawns

danm14 wrote: »

Portadown are able to sell a ticket to Skerries. Skerries is on their ticket machines. There's a fare for Portadown to Skerries (see http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/Enterprise/Fares/)

I have seen Skerries (and plenty of further away places like Cork and Tralee) on an NIR ticket machine with my own eyes, a very friendly ticket seller insisted on showing me all the "far away places" he could sell to when I asked if he could sell me a through ticket to my local ROI station.

There's a possibility that the person you dealt with in Portadown doesn't know how or want to sell a ticket to Skerries, but they can do so.

Thank you! I could not find that link and obviously the person on the translink phoneline knew nada.
I still think it might be more expensive but not enough to sweat the cost. Again thank you.

Grawns

jippo nolan wrote: »

Who wants to go to Portadown?

Lots of lovely people live there, blah blah blah. I have to attend a funeral not to be a cow but I have never met the deceased

danm14

Grawns wrote: »

Thank you! I could not find that link and obviously the person on the translink phoneline knew nada.
I still think it might be more expensive but not enough to sweat the cost. Again thank you.

The people in the Translink Contact Centre are, with one or two exceptions, terrible at what they do. Whether it's incompetence, not caring, erring on the side of caution (better to make them ask for something I know they'll get than something I'm not completely sure is possible) or actually being provided with false information themselves I don't know.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been told the wrong fare, or that something valid is invalid, or some other false information. One Translink employee told me not to bother calling them again after I told him what they told me, he claimed "They're sitting up there in Belfast reading scripts and talking nonsense, 90% of them have no understanding of how things work apart from what the script says"

With the exception of the Contact Centre though you'll find the vast, vast majority of their staff to be helpful and pleasant (and in fairness to the Contact Centre, pleasant they are if nothing else), altogether they're a much friendlier operation than any of the CIE companies in my opinion.

Jamie2k9

OP you can buy online (Irish Rail) return from Skerries for 26.00 and the ticket is fully flexible which means you can travel on any service. Its 3 euro more booking from Connolly.

You will take commuter to Drogheda then Enterprise as detailed on the journey planner.

danm14

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

OP you can buy online (Irish Rail) return from Skerries for 26.00 and the ticket is fully flexible which means you can travel on any service. Its 3 euro more booking from Connolly.

You will take commuter to Drogheda then Enterprise as detailed on the journey planner.

But he cannot go to Dublin instead of Skerries using that ticket on his return journey, as his post states he needs to.

Jamie2k9

danm14 wrote: »

But he cannot go to Dublin instead of Skerries using that ticket on his return journey, as his post states he needs to.

Oh missed that, just do Connolly then while there may be a question about the law but I wouldn't worry about potential fines at all.

Grawns

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Oh missed that, just do Connolly then while there may be a question about the law but I wouldn't worry about potential fines at all.

Yep gonna risk it! Thanks all

Jamie2k9

Grawns wrote: »

Yep gonna risk it! Thanks all

Any fine which is very very unlikely would have good grounds to appeal because you are not evading a fare by paying less than you should. You are paying extra.

Stephen15

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Any fine which is very very unlikely would have good grounds to appeal because you are not evading a fare by paying less than you should. You are paying extra.

Also how would an inspector know where you got on. My advice would be not to reserve a seat then an inspector definitely wouldn't know.

danm14

Stephen15 wrote: »

Also how would an inspector know where you got on

There wouldn't be an issue, but it's very unlikely that a passenger with a ticket to Portadown on a Commuter train to Drogheda (which leaves Dublin before the direct Portadown train) got on in Dublin.

Stephen15

danm14 wrote: »

There wouldn't be an issue, but it's very unlikely that a passenger with a ticket to Portadown on a Commuter train to Drogheda (which leaves Dublin before the direct Portadown train) got on in Dublin.

I was more thinking about the Enterprise where ticket inspection would be more likely than on a Commuter train.

danm14

Stephen15 wrote: »

I was more thinking about the Enterprise where ticket inspection would be more likely than on a Commuter train.

There'd definitely be no issue on the Enterprise as they couldn't tell where you got on - the only issue would be on the Commuter where they could be quite sure of where it wasn't.