Lurgan - Blackrock

[chris]

Needed to make this journey over Christmas and decided to be a pain and do it on one ticket.

I knew in advance the NIR handheld ticket machines can only issue to main stations in the south, so I asked for a student return to Dun Laoghaire, and got one when I showed the conductor how to issue it.

I definitely saved a fair bit of money using this option, return to Connolly is £21 and I managed it in £22.50 approx.

I got away with it, ticket validators were turned off in Blackrock when I arrived, and on the way back, the guy in the ticket office didn't look at the start destination when I showed him I had a northern ticket.

So did I do anything wrong officially?

[I appreciate this has Northern elements, but I'd like it answered before you lock the thread if you have to]

[Mark Gleeson]

Perfectly correct, NIR can issue any ticket to any destination on IE

Not all tickets Irish Rail issue can cope with the turnstiles either.

The NIR system knows only a subset of the stations, those which the fares increase afterwards, so you are not losing money by asking for Blackrock and getting Dún Laoghaire (which NIR once served directly)

Irish Rail can issue a ticket to any station on NIR, its no problem at all once the member of staff can turn up the station code. Ticket vending machines in Connolly have the full NIR station list. Through ticketing online in both directions is hopefully coming

[Thomas Ralph]

Yup, nothing wrong with this. You're entitled to travel short of your destination or start beyond your ticket origin as long as you don't do so with the intention of paying less than you should (e.g. while a ticket from Waterford-Heuston is valid between Limerick Junction and Heuston, you can't use that ticket to start a journey at Limerick Junction, as the fare is higher).

Irish Rail can issue a ticket to any station on NIR, its no problem at all once the member of staff can turn up the station code.

...and, in some cases, the fare, depending on how the ticket machine is feeling.