smart cards\barriers coming to cork?

[jacko]

Irish Rail annual taxsaver passes(Cobh, Midleton etc) were until now, laminated photo cards.

For 2012 they have introduced smart cards for tagging on and off - can we assume that barriers are coming to Cork and other intermediate stations ?

[Thomas Ralph]

Can't see it happening other than possibly in Kent Station; nowhere to put barriers in any of the other suburban stations except Midleton, but that's unstaffed.

[Mark Gleeson]

Its not planned to have smart cards in Cork currently but long term it will happen.

The single smart card does allow for easier revenue checking to confirm a pass is not stolen plus they can be issued automatically greatly simplifying the process

If you are cheeky you can try to top up the card in Dublin and it might work on the DART as well...

[comcor]

You don't really have to have barriers for a smart card system, just a tag-on/tag-off point.

Kent Station may have some problems fitting in barriers. It wouldn't be a huge issue for the Cobh or Midleton lines, but because of the numbers onboard, you'd need to provide a decent number of barriers to avoid delays when a Dublin train is leaving or even moreso when it arrives.