Crazy price for Student Rail tickets

enterprise · 13-07-2005 9:05am

You disgust me!

How DO YOU PROPOSE that people living in or near Banteer (for example) which have NO ACCESS to a car get themselves to Mallow?

MG · 13-07-2005 9:20am

enterprise wrote:

You disgust me!

How DO YOU PROPOSE that people living in or near Banteer (for example) which have NO ACCESS to a car get themselves to Mallow?

Point to point rail travel has been a failure in Ireland. It saves money in the short term but in the long term it drives people into cars and off the trains. Integrated rail is the best way to maximise rails benefits. There may be some point to having different categories of trains - direct/express and local- as they do in other countries with an integrated local system feeding to and from designated hubs on the main lines.

johnnyc · 13-07-2005 9:24am

enterprise wrote:

You disgust me!

How DO YOU PROPOSE that people living in or near Banteer (for example) which have NO ACCESS to a car get themselves to Mallow?

Take a bus!

parsi · 13-07-2005 10:09am

johnnyc wrote:

Theres none because they are all run by socialist states where competition is a bad word for trade unions(france).If a company which could use the ryanair type model and charge a resonable fare such as 15euro return dublin-galway they would make massive in-roads into irish rails profits.All i am saying is that theres too many stations which are not economically viable come on the main line from dublin-tralee only 5 people got off on banteer. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out if you closed banteer and updated the car park facailites in mallow irish rail could charge for car parking(make more of a profit).

So will this Ryanair type model operator supply their own infrastructure and rolling stock ?

One reason Mr Aircoach is cheaper is that he only has to supply buses and drivers - the cost of repairing potholes isn't borne by him, the cost of new roads that will speed up his hourney isn't borne by him. So the logical comparison is between Bus Eireann and AIrcoach - both services are similarly priced.

enterprise · 13-07-2005 10:27am

If you such an expert on Banteer, which quite frankly your not, you would know that Banteer has only two buses a week on Tuesdays and Thursday from Tralee to Cork via Ballydesmond. There is no bus service along the Rathmore - Mallow corridor.

Calina · 13-07-2005 10:35am

MG wrote:

Integrated rail is the best way to maximise rails benefits. There may be some point to having different categories of trains - direct/express and local- as they do in other countries with an integrated local system feeding to and from designated hubs on the main lines.

I'd normally go along with this except that as far as I recall, the Kerry line is a single track which may make it difficult to implement on that line from a timetabling and signalling point of view.

The point is no matter what we do, however we decide to organise it, it's going to cost money to implement and johnnyc doesn't appear to be able to understand this.

MG · 13-07-2005 10:39am

CIE have not been allowed to follow a Ryanair strategy because they have been starved of investment for years and are unable to develop capacity. In the circumstances they took the logical step where demand outstripped supply and increased prices.

Calina · 13-07-2005 10:48am

johnnyc wrote:

Theres none because they are all run by socialist states where competition is a bad word for trade unions(france).If a company which could use the ryanair type model and charge a resonable fare such as 15euro return dublin-galway they would make massive in-roads into irish rails profits.All i am saying is that theres too many stations which are not economically viable come on the main line from dublin-tralee only 5 people got off on banteer. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out if you closed banteer and updated the car park facailites in mallow irish rail could charge for car parking(make more of a profit).

To be able to make money running a train service much as Ryanair does flying planes, a company is going to have to have an awful lot of sources of ancillary revenue. Such as agreements with car hire companies and hotel booking companies and they are going to have to sell a lot of car hire and a lot of hotel rooms to get anything like enough commission to subsidise their train fares. Also, they will be selling a lot overpriced food on their trains. To be honest with you, I'm not really that sure if a full implementation of the Ryanair business model is a goer in a market of fewer than 100million people, train or plane. Also, Ryanair depends on a lot of indirect government subsidies - Charleroi and Strasbourg being two major examples.

Still going to cost money, you know...

MarkoP11 · 13-07-2005 10:51am

MG wrote:

CIE have not been allowed to follow a Ryanair strategy because they have been starved of investment for years and are unable to develop capacity. In the circumstances they took the logical step where demand outstripped supply and increased prices.

IE do not set the fares, they apply through the Dept of Enterprise if they want a fare increase. IE rarely get what they want. This is the upper price, only the turn up and go single and return (child and adult) are controlled so IE are free to deploy a Ryanair yield management style system provided the fares do not exceed the upper limit. They had tried it out but without the capacity it makes little sense

Student prices are uncontrolled and have increased by a greater extent than normal fares

MG · 13-07-2005 11:11am

The point is that there is always pressure on the government and IE to keep subventions low. In a situation where demand is greater than supply (and there is no ability to increase supply) the incentive to increase prices is always greater than yield management-type systems. As you say, IE would like to actually increase these further than they are allowed. The governments historical unwillingness or inability to invest in the railways and simultaneous need to keep subsidies low lead to price increases. A double whammy on IE restricted in their ability to change away from a higher price model and unable to get higher prices under the current model.

Zaph0d · 13-07-2005 11:14am

Calina wrote:

To be able to make money running a train service much as Ryanair does flying planes, a company is going to have to have an awful lot of sources of ancillary revenue. Such as agreements with car hire companies and hotel booking companies and they are going to have to sell a lot of car hire and a lot of hotel rooms to get anything like enough commission to subsidise their train fares. Also, they will be selling a lot overpriced food on their trains.

Did you wonder how Irish Rail managed to lose €1.3m last year on its catering division? The business model involves selling pints to Irish people locked into a box. How in Christ's name could this not result in a profit?

Blaming the staff for stealing the takings won't do when companies like Ryanair can extract profits from unsupervised airborne staff selling food.

Zaph0d · 13-07-2005 11:21am

MarkoP11 wrote:

...so IE are free to deploy a Ryanair yield management style system provided the fares do not exceed the upper limit. They had tried it out but without the capacity it makes little sense

Are off-peak trains always full? surely not?

Calina · 13-07-2005 11:32am

Zaph0d wrote:

Did you wonder how Irish Rail managed to lose €1.3m last year on its catering division? The business model involves selling pints to Irish people locked into a box. How in Christ's name could this not result in a profit?

Blaming the staff for stealing the takings won't do when companies like Ryanair can extract profits from unsupervised airborne staff selling food.

Well, personally I wouldn't start by automatically blaming the staff for stealing the takings, first off. Without actually having a look at the catering accounts specifically, I wouldn't even pretend to guess, but that's just me.

Secondly, has it occurred to you that maybe - just maybe - not everyone wants to get hammered on a train? That there are more convivial places to do it? Personally, after an aeroplane, it's the last place I want to go drinking.

If I was forced to make a guess, I'd be looking at two things 1) the range of items on offer and 2) the level of stock on board. It doesn't have to be all alcohol related. Also, if you'll look back at some of my earlier posts you might have noticed alternative sales channels for food on trains namely vending machines?

johnnyc · 13-07-2005 11:54am

Calina wrote:

I'd normally go along with this except that as far as I recall, the Kerry line is a single track which may make it difficult to implement on that line from a timetabling and signalling point of view.

The point is no matter what we do, however we decide to organise it, it's going to cost money to implement and johnnyc doesn't appear to be able to understand this.

Calina i do understand what you are saying but i recon irish rail could become more competitive by remvoing train stations that dont deal with enough commuting traffic for example banteer is only 5 minutes up the road from mallow, rathmore is only 15 mins up the road from killarney so they dont have a massive customer base what is the fuss about. If irish rail want to become competive it should update its car parks it also should have a bus terminal to deal with customers from outside the main train stations?

Zaph0d · 13-07-2005 12:30pm

Calina wrote:

The point is no matter what we do, however we decide to organise it, it's going to cost money to implement and johnnyc doesn't appear to be able to understand this.

Many improvements don't cost money just imagination and courage or political support. In a world where the politicians put the needs of passengers ahead of the short term interests of the rail staff, the catering division would be disbanded and outsourced or the manager fired and the division restructured. We choose politicians who perpetuate this system so we can only blame ourselves.

The other option would be to provide a larger subsidy to the loss making catering division at the expense of taxpayers.

Have you ever noticed all the office workers buying their lunches from vending machines? I haven't. Tayto for main course, skittles for dessert. And you can't sell a bottle of beer at 200% profit from a vending machine due to age restrictions.

Calina · 13-07-2005 12:35pm

johnnyc wrote:

Calina i do understand what you are saying but i recon irish rail could become more competitive by remvoing train stations that dont deal with enough commuting traffic for example banteer is only 5 minutes up the road from mallow, rathmore is only 15 mins up the road from killarney so they dont have a massive customer base what is the fuss about. If irish rail want to become competive it should update its car parks it also should have a bus terminal to deal with customers from outside the main train stations?

Yes, but you have signally failed to prove it as an idea. I'm sorry, all I'm seeing here is piecemeal un-thought out ideas. Nor am I actually seeing any evidence that you understand what I'm saying. Please tell me WHY you think closing Banteer and Rathmore would make Iarnrod Eireann more competitive. I agree with you that the whole carparking at railway stations needs to be improved where possible - but I'm absolutely not with you that Iarnrod Eireann need to charge. It's counterproductive to getting people onto the train system which is important on environmental grounds. In any case, you've failed to even describe HOW it would make IE more competitive.

Additionally, it would be useful if the main railway stations had bus terminals connected. Unfortunately, there isn't much room for that in Cork or at Heuston. Busaras is straight across the road from Connolly Station so I guess you have your wish there.

Rathmore has a massive customer base. At the weekend, people travel sixty miles from the end of West Cork to pick up the train there. I'm starting to think that you passed through Banteer on one occasion and counted the people who got off the train there and assumed it was the same every time. Of course, I could be wrong, but it's not like you've given me any reason to think otherwise.

Closing two stations on the Kerry line is unlikely to increase competitiveness for Irish Rail. You might as well make an argument for closing Farranfore because God help us all, Farranfore actually has an airport, so what do they want with a train station. But hell, maybe people get the train from Banteer to Farranfore to pick up planes to London. I don't know, but I know it's what I'd do if I lived in Banteer or Rathmore rather than dragging my ass to Cork or Shannon if it was possible. They wouldn't be able to do that if you closed Banteer or Rathmore railway station.

But above all else, you've signally failed to prove that your plans would result in Iarnrod Eireann requiring lower subsidies, and making greater profits. A number of people have pointed out to you that what you have suggested has led to a major deterioration in the rail services in the UK, along with a five fold increase in required government subsidisation. Given the population of the UK, and the size of the network, that's almost criminal. All the best run and operating train services in the world are heavily subsidised, unionised and functioning. You have failed to come up with a single example of one that isn't, and actually claim not to able to. That hugely weakens your position.

Most of your ideas are examples of tinkering, and unfortunately, tinkering is what has Iarnrod Eireann in the state it's in. Very few people have the guts to sit up and suggest that a lot of things need to be done to get us a viable train service. Things which cost a lot of money.

You don't appear to be able to look at a large scale picture. For example, some people have talked about the electrification of the train service. Yes, it needs to be done, for the obvious reason that the oil is going to run out - face it - and therefore alternative sources of power will be required. At least alternative sources of electrical supply are being looked at at the moment. But it's not anyone's top priority at the moment. We need to get more long haul travel on to the rail system for environmental reasons - but to do that, we have to put a lot of money into public transport - not just the train system because if you have a look at a rail route map of Ireland, currently, there are huge swathes of the country which are not served by rail lines.

We could do with highspeed lines between Cork and Dublin and Belfast and Dublin but they will cost an absolute fortune and will not show a return on investment for years and years and years. Even if we could get them past planning in this country - not very likely to be a quick operation - they will still take years and years to build. Given the country's inability to accept that things we need will cost money and may not show a return on that investment for years, and our inability to viably manage large scale projects apart from a handful of roads out of a massive roadbuilding programme, I think the odds of it happening are analagous to a snowball's chance in hell. I know someone suggested that as Iarnrod Eireann already owned the lines the planning side of things would be easier. I don't agree because for highspeed rail to be a goer, it really needs dedicated lines that it doesn't share with local traffic. Kildare to Dublin is a case in point. We need new lines for a highspeed service there.

My view is this. We have no hope of getting a first class train service without making huge capital investment and recognising that while it will cost money directly, it will have other indirect benefits on an environmental and social level.

If, by the way, you wanted to run a Ryanair model, the result would be Tralee Dublin would actually be something like, oh, Rathmore to Cherry Orchard.

Helpful.

Calina · 13-07-2005 12:41pm

Zaph0d wrote:

Have you ever noticed all the office workers buying their lunches from vending machines? I haven't. Tayto for main course, skittles for dessert. And you can't sell a bottle of beer at 200% profit from a vending machine due to age restrictions.

I haven't seen anyone buying lunch on a train for ages. Something to do with the lack of options on board.

You're hung up on selling beer on trains - personally I think alcohol should be banned from trains and aeroplanes but that's just me having had to deal with a few too many drunken louts on both and it's an argument for another day.

Either it is inherently unprofitable to sell catering on board a train or it isn't not. If it is profitable then mostly I find that when things aren't making profits it's a lack of management vision issue, not a staff issue.

johnnyc · 13-07-2005 12:51pm

Calina my business model would involve reducing the number of staff by two ways close train stations such as rathmore and banteer because they haven't a large customer base and also by using the net. Eventually we will be booking tickets through the net for trains.

I would relocated the farranfore train station and place it closer to the airport. Killarney train station and mallow should have a bigger car park which would deal with the demand from west cork and mid cork.

I actually agree with u that we should have a high speed lines from dublin-cork, dublin-belfast and galway. This is why i have mention a goverment agency to deal with the configuration of the railways. I honestly believe if we had a goverment agency their we would see faster change within the country. This body would be made up of people lets say from the irish rail companies and managers of other bodies outside of this country who have experience of high speed trains.

MarkoP11 · 13-07-2005 1:09pm

Zaph0d wrote:

Are off-peak trains always full? surely not?

But you have to come back, IE tried this on off peak trains, but with the classic 3 trains a day on many lines there is little choice but to travel at the peak times, that will be addressed starting from December when Sligo goes from 3 to 5 trains a day, extra services have been added to Galway and Waterford over the last few years

shltter · 13-07-2005 6:16pm

johnnyc wrote:

Theres none because they are all run by socialist states where competition is a bad word for trade unions(france).If a company which could use the ryanair type model and charge a resonable fare such as 15euro return dublin-galway they would make massive in-roads into irish rails profits.All i am saying is that theres too many stations which are not economically viable come on the main line from dublin-tralee only 5 people got off on banteer. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out if you closed banteer and updated the car park facailites in mallow irish rail could charge for car parking(make more of a profit).

France is a socialist state when did that happen has anyone told Chiraq what are the other socialist states is berlusconni a socialist.I suppose Bertie is a socialist as well along with comrade harney :rolleyes:

what you are suggesting was tried by the tories in the UK and it has been an unmitigated disaster from a passenger safety point of view from the taxpayers point of view where the subsidy to the now private operators has increased 5 fold

there is no ryanair style rail operator in the UK fares have risen the unions are actually stronger than ever they were under BR. Employees have little loyalty to the company they are currently employed by

the ryanair model can not be just transfered tp different modes of transport just because you want it to

there is little or no spare capacity on irish rail to offload at cheaper prices

johnnyc · 14-07-2005 8:49am

shltter wrote:

France is a socialist state when did that happen has anyone told Chiraq what are the other socialist states is berlusconni a socialist.I suppose Bertie is a socialist as well along with comrade harney :rolleyes:

what you are suggesting was tried by the tories in the UK and it has been an unmitigated disaster from a passenger safety point of view from the taxpayers point of view where the subsidy to the now private operators has increased 5 fold

there is no ryanair style rail operator in the UK fares have risen the unions are actually stronger than ever they were under BR. Employees have little loyalty to the company they are currently employed by

the ryanair model can not be just transfered tp different modes of transport just because you want it to

there is little or no spare capacity on irish rail to offload at cheaper prices

shltter france is run by socialist parties even chirac party is made up of socialist. So in other words france is run by trade unions @ the moment. You can take the same look @ schroder social democratic party. No what i am suggesting is some goverment control especially with the railways and signals unlike the uk (railtrack). The goverment would deal also with the different company parties (irish rail , a ryanair type company etc) making sure they are delievering real goals to the irish consumer. i believe in investment when theres proper competition not when theres a Monopoly?

MG · 14-07-2005 9:03am

johnnyc wrote:

shltter france is run by socialist parties even chirac party is made up of socialist. So in other words france is run by trade unions @ the moment. You can take the same look @ schroder social democratic party. No what i am suggesting is some goverment control especially with the railways and signals unlike the uk (railtrack). The goverment would deal also with the different company parties (irish rail , a ryanair type company etc) making sure they are delievering real goals to the irish consumer. i believe in investment when theres proper competition not when theres a Monopoly?

Damn those German socialists! Aldi and Lidl should be thrown out of the country for spreading socialist idealogy. Don't they know that we, the Irish, invented competition? :rolleyes:

OK, enough barstool economics - I'm just waiting to hear "it's all about bums on seats". Anyone who has been to France and Germany would know that in most consumer areas competition is fierce in these countries and far more competitive that Ireland. We lag way behind these countries in deregulating industries. And their public services are better to boot. Possibly the only area where we are more liberal economically is in employment legislation which is far less restrictive here.

shltter · 14-07-2005 2:41pm

johnnyc wrote:

shltter france is run by socialist parties even chirac party is made up of socialist. So in other words france is run by trade unions @ the moment. You can take the same look @ schroder social democratic party. No what i am suggesting is some goverment control especially with the railways and signals unlike the uk (railtrack). The goverment would deal also with the different company parties (irish rail , a ryanair type company etc) making sure they are delievering real goals to the irish consumer. i believe in investment when theres proper competition not when theres a Monopoly?

well you have proven to me that you know as much about politics as you do about public transport

so you are suggesting exactly the system that is in the UK except you want the infrastructure to remain under government control

railtrack no longer exists it was replaced by a not for profit company network rail

it has been an absolute disaster there is no competition if you have to travel from A to B you cannot decide who you want to travel with you just have to use the operator on that part of the network

In 5 or 7 years the license for that section will come up and other companies may apply for the license

experience in the UK is that there is very little competition for alot of the licenses and the companies applying for the contract just look for more and more subsidies to continue to operate the trains
Also unlike the previous state owned operator who just soldiered on when they did not get the money that they sought private companies will not accept that this has led to a five fold increase in subsidies since privatisation

so anyways would you invest in the new infrastructure monopoly

johnnyc · 14-07-2005 2:58pm

the probs started when the the goverment gave control to railtrack back in thatcher era. then the blair goverment just took control over the railways from railtrack about 2-3years ago after all the railway accidents. If you read my post i would have goverment control of the tracks and have slots for the different rail companies!

Zaph0d · 14-07-2005 3:02pm

Virgin Rail London-Birmingham (a much shorter journey than Dublin-Cork)
"Saver Single" ticket £33.90 STG , which is much the same as the fare on Dublin-Cork

This is in the liberal-economic UK.

You really need to find a working alternative in another country before you advocate a different system.

MarkoP11 · 14-07-2005 3:20pm

Zaph0d wrote:

Virgin Rail London-Birmingham (a much shorter journey than Dublin-Cork)
"Saver Single" ticket £33.90 STG , which is much the same as the fare on Dublin-Cork

Walking into Manchester station (180miles vs 166) at 7am and ask for a open return to London, you are looking at paying through the nose, buy 14 days in advance and watch the price plummet but avaibility is limited

Calina · 14-07-2005 3:28pm

johnnyc wrote:

If you read my post i would have goverment control of the tracks and have slots for the different rail companies!

Yes, and in practice, this would work how? See, nothing you have suggested has given me any indication as to how the consumers would be benefitted - some of your plans have already been criticised for being of net disadvantage to current users of the train system without bring any net advantages to the system. It has already been pointed out to you that your privatisation/rail franchising plans have far too much in common with the fiasco that is rail in the UK to be credible and personally, I doubt your government body would have any teeth to enforce SLAs since you appear to be completely against government intervention in business as a matter of principle.

Also, if you knew anything at all about the politics of France, you would not be calling Jacques Chirac and his ilk leftwing.

John R · 14-07-2005 3:49pm

The UK is the perfect example of how privitisation and fragmentation does not give any more consumer choice or competition.

For the vast majority of journeys there is no choice of operator. The cost base of operations incresed by a vast amount with the splitting up of BR into different companies all with their own management structure and the vast network of accountants needed to keep track of the maze of different revenues, charges and disputes that arise constantly.

I can think of only one inter-city journey across the whole network where a passenger has a choice of two reasonably similar services from different companies namely London to Glasgow and they take completely different routes. For every line, there is one operator for each service, there are certain lines where two or more will serve certain stations but the overall journeys will be different. For at least 90% of all journeys made there is no passenger choice over what operator to use.

The whole idea of a competing company running ryanair style on a few profitable point to points as well as an existing operator is gibberish, it would not be cheaper for anyone involved. You cannot just go into a shop and buy a few trains and slap them on a line and off you go.

MarkoP11 · 14-07-2005 4:08pm

John R wrote:

You cannot just go into a shop and buy a few trains and slap them on a line and off you go.

Off the self is available in Europe but as the UK has shown open access has been hit and miss, many companies have tried and failed to even gets slots allocated, some even brought trains and where refused

The only route where this would be possible would be Dublin Belfast since it crosses a international border. The network is just too small to get in different operators, its hard to imagine that costs would go down, the only thing that will drive down ticket prices is economies of scale, bums on seats

Calina · 14-07-2005 4:10pm

MarkoP11 wrote:

The only route where this would be possible would be Dublin Belfast since it crosses a international border.

Not sure I follow the logic here...can you explain further why the existance of a border across the Dublin Belfast line makes is possible when it's not possible on Dublin Cork?

MarkoP11 · 14-07-2005 4:35pm

Calina wrote:

Not sure I follow the logic here...can you explain further why the existance of a border across the Dublin Belfast line makes is possible when it's not possible on Dublin Cork?

Open access EU rules only apply to international services

Calina · 14-07-2005 4:55pm

MarkoP11 wrote:

Open access EU rules only apply to international services

Okay point taken. Open access within Ireland would not be impossible were the political will there to impose it and or legislate for it.

cdebru · 14-07-2005 6:31pm

Calina wrote:

Okay point taken. Open access within Ireland would not be impossible were the political will there to impose it and or legislate for it.

it would be difficult though especially on the single track lines even on the belfast line with the dart there is little or no capacity for more trains

Metrobest · 14-07-2005 9:21pm

The point is, Ireland has an opportunity to avoid the mistakes made in Britain. This would mean allowing one company operate the nationally-important intercity routes to Cork, Galway and Belfast. Comparisons with the UK are spurious - for a start, theirs is a much more complex network, in a far more populated country. How could there be confusion if Connex, for example, operated all intercity routes while IE was allowed mismanage the "stoptrains"?

The reality is, trains to Cork, Galway and Belfast are too expensive and do not give value for money to the taxpayers and consumers: they are slow (Cork line is slowerthan ten years ago!), prone to poor punctuality, shabby and provide terrible customer service. I believe one private operator could do a better job: more efficient trains, better timetables, fewer staff, cheaper tickets, better catering, more comfort - AND MORE PASSENGERS on trains!!!

I'm sure Irish Rail luvvies are going to come on and talk about IE's "improvements" in this, that and the other; but here's the bottom line: the standard is far below the norms you expect in other EU countries, many of which are poorer than Ireland. And it's not about how much money you pump into the network, or the size of the subsidy. I do not accept that rail travel needs a state subsidy: the profitable routes should be able to fund the public service ones. For example, ten years ago the Dutch NS was propped up by a huge subsidy; following a radical restructuring, it turned a profit. Recent cost-cutting measures include a 50c surcharge if you choose not to buy a ticket from the user-friendly, efficient ticket machines that are scattered all over the large stations. That gives the staff more time to look after customers who need their help.

As a semi-state monopoly in its current form, Irish Rail has no incentive to deliver value to taxpayers. In fact, its main incentive is to maintain its overgenerous subsidies by all means neccessary, so that it can protect its workers' "jobs for life", even when those jobs are wasteful and without function.

Victor · 14-07-2005 11:20pm

To throw a cat among the pigeons.

MarkoP11 wrote:

Open access EU rules only apply to international services

How about Belfast-Cork? Although it would probably not compete very well against Aer Arann.

SeanW · 15-07-2005 3:01am

Trust me, I'm no fan of IE management.

My personal opinion is that IE staff are pretty good, and their PW department and maintenance effectively kept the railways alive with next to nothing from the government.

Where Irish Rail is let down is by its grotesquely incompetent management.

Their fares and ticketing policies are nothing short incoherent, and more or less everything they've purchased since the breakup of CIE has been a complete disaster. 201 locomotives that don't dont do HEP properly, the DeDietrich crap coaches that suck the life out of said 201s, break down, go on fire, jostle like crazy, the 2700 crap that break down, break up and generally fall to bits, all for no reason, the 2900s that jostle, rock, roll and generally shake your f***ing guts out of place, the fact that IE just extended their ****ing contract and got 36 more of these, their choice to deploy Commuter railcars on Intercity lines and spin a web of lies to any receptive local media, the Evel Knievel sized canyon between some platforms and the floor levels of their "modern" DMUs ... What's more their catering is widely regarded as a being a complete disaster - AND it seems to be getting worse as the fares climb from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Am I 5 miles up Irish Rail's ****? No bloody way. But I have yet to see what breaking Ireland's rail network up into bite-sized chunks is going to do for anyone.

Crazy price for Student Rail tickets

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