1900 Dublin-Cork this evening, reserved C35 and C36. All straightforward at Heuston, and yellow t-shirts and signs at the entrance to C. She checked our reservations but we still found someone in one of the seats. We explained and she moved on (although how the occupant got on the coach I dunno). About five minutes later the system came to life and all the names appeared above the seats. Ours were ok but the Ã* (I fada) in my name (twice) became an O with an umlaut. Oh well.

Returning tomorrow evening on 1930 ex Cork so will let you know if it's as smooth from there.

You shouldn't really hit a situation where the electronic displays are switched off, it takes only seconds to load the list, they should be on before you board

19:30 ex Cork on Sunday is a Mk4 normally so you should be fine coming back

I have never seen the yellow t-shirt brigade, out of 6 attempts only twice has my name been above the seat

I have seen Ã* done right so the system can handle it

Indeed, the 1930 ex Cork was a Mk4 (seats C61/C62). Quite a lot of people waiting for it (being a Sunday night, full of students!*) but the ticket checker on the Cork platform simply directed non-reserved passengers further along. Names etc working fine on the inside, but at a guess only about half of the coach had reservations, so others piled in. I think a few people might have come on at intermediate stops with reservations, though, but didn't pick a fight with the person in their seats...

* interesting aside is that I think as the system becomes better-known, students will use it a good deal...it is not possible to buy a student ticket at the ticket machines (you have to use the ticket office!) but it is possible to buy one from the Web and get a seat reservation. Odd.

Got the 12:53 train from mallow to Heuston yesterday (sunday 12th Nov) The reserved seating was causing alot of hassle as the train was jammed.
In my carriage I counted four reserved seats with names over them which were vacant. Nobody was willing to sit in them until after the last stop (Thurles). This appeared to be the same in other carriages with alot of people standing up.

If people go to the bother of reserving their seat they should go to the bother of sitting their ass in that seat and not leave the people standing. train manager was very good and tried to find these people to seat them correctly. he also went about the train finding seats for non reserved ticket holders.

Other points to note about the MK4, The dining car is a joke. it is laid out badly with poor presentation of items for sale and no change for anything larger than €10 leaving alot of unhappy people (me included). The swaying on the train was rather violent at times particularly on the cork side of kildare station??
People complaining about lack of baggage storage space which I didnt see as a valid issue.
finally I really think it is time IE stopped serving drink on friday and sunday trains. Stag parties heading from dublin to cork have been a thorn in my side on these trains for years. I was subjected to this sh#t yesterday again with six drunken guys trying to insult any person that walked by while drinking the bar dry by the time we got to kildare.

Students can book (been there) and it works and its no charge. Of course if you push the system you can book a student ticket in first class something which even the booking office will find hard to do

its €60.50 student return in first to Cork vs €59 for a Adult return in standard, its €11 upgrade each way

can you book a chisler in first on the Dublin Cork?
( or a smallie from Cork to Dublin?)

Yes

If you have an existing standard class ticket or are travelling on a social welfare pass you can simply buy the upgrade to first, you must have both tickets with you and the standard class ticket must be valid. Bear in mind to Cork citygold services are €31 more each way over standard fare

Ticket Machines - Don't work for Chip & PIN Laser (AIB)
 

Just one gripe, and I have raised this with IE twice now to no avail.

My Chip & PIN AIB Laser/Maestro card will not read in their ticket machines for purchasing a ticket or for collecting a reserved ticket while my old non-chip and pin card did.

I assume there's some technical glitch as I've seen other AIB Laser/Masetro card holders also having their cards refused at the machines.

Is there any chance P11 could also raise this with IE ? I have done so myself already but it might help to hear it from the group too.

Bare in mind that there are a LOT of AIB current account holders, far more than credit card holder and that AIB is much more liberal about issuing these Laser/Maestro Debit Cards than they used to be. So, many students etc etc have access to a payment card for the first time. It seems stupid for IE not to take advantage of it as many more people could avail of their online booking and TVMs.

(Also, last time I tried, the LUAS machines also refused the card --- same manufactuer)

Same experience (both with IÉ and RPA machines). In the great Irish tradition, my response was not to complain, but to make a point of using a Mastercard instead of a debit card for any such transactions. Which doesn't solve the problem.

Thought I would relay an interesting nugget of information that I gathered over the weekend...

I was on the 1500 to Cork on Saturday 11th. I had reserved a seat, and the two lads in the yellow tops were waiting to guide me to my seat.

I told them that I'd got a number of trains to Limerick and Cork recently where my seat wasn't reserved. Going on the principle that the amount of customer service you get on our rail service is directly proportional to the compatibility of your needs as a customer to the work rosters of Iarnrod Eireann staff, I asked them whether there were particular trains they tended to check.

They said:Which kind of explains why Donal only sometimes gets his reserved seat and I never do.

IE, you've been claiming for two years that you can book a seat on trains to Limerick, and I've called you, I've emailed you, and you still can't do it and you still can't tell me why. Oh by the way, if you maybe followed what they do in loads of other countries and put little tickets above the seats (there are even little plastic holders for them on your Mk3 coaches!), you could send the men in the yellow tops round to put these in every train, and everybody could be confident of a reserved seat. That's what I thought you were going to do two years ago, and that's what I'm still waiting you to do.

I'm off to write a letter to Willie O'Dea to ask him to go for the Minister for Transport job, seems like it's the only way I'll ever be able to confidently reserve a seat on a Limerick train...

Thomas is one of the lucky ones he actually has held the fantom ticket card in his hand.

There is a 'problem' with the cards I'm told, never met the yellow t-shirt brigade

I've used the MK4 reservation system 8 times now and it has worked flawlessly all but once, where a networking error at heuston meant the train didn't receive the information.

The system puts up notices like "THIS SEAT IS RESERVED FROM LIMERICK JUNCTION TO HEUSTON" on seats that are booked from intermediate stops and it does genuinely seem to discourage people from sitting in them.
That coupled with the constant "Please do not occupy reserved seats" announcements.

The tags also switch off when a passenger reaches their destination e.g. a seat booked Heuston to Limerick Junction will be available again once the train reaches that stop.

I think MK4 should be 100% assigned seating though. There's really no reason that the ticket machines can't dispense a ticket with an automatically assigned seat number for those who don't book online. If a cinema can do it, surely a railway company can.

It seems though, once the staff are taken out of the equation i.e the system is totally automated, it generally works very well.

100% not workable with annual/monthly etc ticket holders and even a monthly return where you could come back any day - fine outbound but return?
Where do all these people get to sit?

Mk4 works since your name is above the seat and there is no hiding from it, when a Mk4 set is rostered the seat res works otherwise is dies. While the train can download the seating manifest itself by wifi the normal proceedure is to use a flash card. If it fails totally the train manager has a print out of the seating list thus it could be done manually since its only one coach

As of this week it appears all Dublin Cork services are Mk4 including the Fridays only so hopefully seat res is sorted and it means I've made my last Mk3 trip

Compulsory reservations are probably a step too far but in time the number of reservable seats will increase something like 40% in standard is the UK standard which is a decent starting point

Don't see how it'd be a big problem for monthly / annual etc ticket holder.

Just issue all of them with a magstripe card or Smart Card for an annual ticket and an allow them to create an account on the online reservations system:

You could either
a) Book online picking your seat at no extra charge, which would be a lot handier than arriving to a full train and having to fight for a seat. Just stick your annual ticket into a ticket collection machine and your boarding pass ticket would pop out with your seat reservation etc.

or b) If you're just arriving at a train without reserving, just stick your annual / monthly ticket (hard plastic magstripe card) into the ticket machine and it'll spit out a ticket with a seat number on it. Perhaps allowing you to pick a few seat options on the screen. Thus, you've a seat.

c) Present your annual ticket to the ticket desk person who can assign you a seat and issue a boarding ticket.


I really, can't see what the big deal about implementing a system like that would be. They have the machines, it's just a bit of software tweaking.

It's no different from airline boarding passes.

Also, it's not THAT inconvenient for annual ticket holders as you're only talking about doing this on serious intercity routes i.e. not just "long hop" commuters.

All IE intercity stock should have the ability to electronically reserve / assign a seat before long. So, with the exception of the enterprise, there really shouldn't be a big fuss about it on most routes.

I mean, many european coach (bus) operators issue seating numbers on intercity coaches !! It's *not* that big a deal.


For people just arriving at a train (without any annual etc tickets)

You can :
a) Go to ticket desk - purchase ticket.. they'll have a seating map on the screen and just assign you a seat.
b) Go to ticket machine - purchase ticket - simplified seating map or "automatic assignment" of seat.

You get a card with a seat number on it.

That's how it's done on many european routes. It's really quite easy and user friendly.
The technology's there! You might as well use it.

40-50% of seats would be a good start though.

I can see it being more popular than they thought, people are well used to booking flights online thesedays.

So can annual ticket holders just buy the upgrade to first?

Well its an option the system allows it, given IE's silence on the issue its the only option currently

Mark
Forgive me if this question has been answered already.
I regularly travel from Limk Junction to Heuston using Credit Union tickets which are great value and completely flexible.
Can I purchase an upgrade to first class when I board the train?
Also can seats be reserved only when you buy your tickets online?
Thanks

I am aware of no restriction on upgrades once you have a valid standard class ticket

The upgrade can be purchased on board from the ticket checker, you can book online, by phone (CIE travel Abbey Street) or indeed in person at most major stations, Connolly, Cork, Heuston, Galway, Limerick, Mallow, Thurles and others

Well good to see I'm not the only one with reservation problems (or maybe good is a bad choice of words).. well bad to see..

Just to let ye know that still have the same problem every Friday on the old 17.05 to Limerick/Ennis. And by the way someone asked before if this runs late because of the 17.00 Cork train, it has started again. Hence people having to change in Limerick for Ennis. I reckon they purposefully delay letting people on the train to use that as an excuse.

But a bit of hope in a gloomy situation. On the bank holiday weekend there was an army of yellow t-shirts on the platform with orders to hold the line in front of the top 3 carriages and only let people through with the correct papers, sorry i mean tickets. Worked a charm and got my reserved seat. As for the girl that didn't get on and was crying on the platform, the train was actually full as they had a clicker counting the numbers getting on (wow ie taking peoples safety into account).

Anyhows another friday rolls around and the train will be packed, with long cues probably getting longer beacuse nobody ever wants to have to get the 19.15 service. No room, no lights, no heating, breakdowns (still wating for my 1hr 30 refund - begining October). And they want to raise the price! Raise the service first.

Here is yet another werid one

This is the 7:00 Cork Dublin tomorrow
This is coach C, note its a Mk4 layout

There are 68 seats in a Mk4, note coach D has 70 seats (2 already booked so its 72)
Attachment 353
So coach C is a Mk4, coach D a MK3 love to see that work out since the seat res is going to go nuts on the train

Any snipers out there - Gleeson is on Seat C19 7.00 am train tomorrow.

Whos joining me out at the hatch?

Lock and load.

I'd hang out my bedroom window in Port to catch a glimpse but I think he's on the wrong side :(

That be a window seat facing Dublin on the Inchicore side :eek:

Seriously though I'd be in seat D 72W since it doesn't exist and then complain bitterly until I was moved to first but that requires the train to be full to standing

I might as well publish my guide on how to travel first for free when seat res goes wonky

'tis a pity all the seats around you are booked, surely once Irish Rail spot the name, it will be their policy to ensure that nothing bad happens within eyeshot of that seat. Those passengers will be the best treated on the whole netwok!

I can confirm my name is not on a internal hit list, in the last few months there has been a few incidents on train where my name is known to the staff, ie seat res, ticket not forgetting the train manager/ticket checker has a list of everyone booked and I wasn't the person who secured the first class seats on my last trip

BTW I'll be asleep in a bed in Dublin at 7am tomorrow

'a bed' - have you not decided which one? :D

(no more o/t Friday giddiness from me I promise)

Hi
I regularly use my AIB chip & pin card to purchase tickets without a problem. Maybe for once it's not actually a problem on their end, after all there's a first time for everything!

I was trying to convey not being asleep on the train, people always assume something

Its possible to have a lot of fun without buying a ticket on the IE site, haven't got the time to check every train but there are clearly a lot of avoidable errors

I'm one of the students to manage to book my ticket online, but due to my AIB Maestro card I cannot collect them at a machine so I have to go to the ticket office anyway. Same with LUAS it wont accept my Maestro card. (Tried last year and gave up)

Can you log a complaint about that with Iarnrod Eireann and RPA (www.luas.ie)

More the merrier!

What is the status of the passenger who wishes to get a seat reservation for the first leg of a return trip, but does not know when they are coming back?

I assume that normal 'return' tickets as sold by IÉ are what would be 'open returns' in the UK - that is to say, the price or T&Cs are not relevant to the second leg, apart from a one-month timeout.

So (as our example) we take the college student Ms. McGillyhooley. She's in Dublin during the term but is heading home (to...Limerick Junction, for example). So she wants to book an online ticket (remember that student-fare tickets can't be bought from a walk-up ticket machine - you can either buy online-collect from machine, else you are stuck with the booking office). She knows what train she will travel on this week, but has no idea when she's coming back in January.

However, the system (it seems) will require her to reserve a seat for the return leg, otherwise the booking cannot be completed.

My questions:

a) What does she do when she actually picks the train she wants to travel back to Dublin on - who does she ring and how much information is IÉ supplying on how to do this? (i.e. let's assume she picks a random train and time for the return but then wishes to change this when she gets sick of Mammy and Daddy some time around New Year's Eve)

b) if these are in fact open returns, why not have an option to purchase without making a seat reservation for the return leg - even if reservations are mandatory, give the passenger an opportunity (by telephone or indeed by the website once more) to make a reservation for leg 2 at a later date.

All IE tickets are deemed open, valid any train provided the outwards trip occurs on the valid from date and before or on the valid to date

There is no charge for a reservation on IE unlike in the UK where a nominal charge applies with nearly all operators

The online system will always issue the lowest fare for the given combination of trains

There is provision in the system to book one leg and a 'Ticket Only reservation' on the other where you can travel any train on the date printed

It appears a reservation is linked to a ticket sale and can't be added retrospectively, well you coul call Abbey Street 01 7034070

The bigger problem is that more often than not even with a reservation you don't get the seat you booked

Refund
 

Can you get a refund of a reserved ticket if you surrender it before the train is supposed to depart?

T & C's are as follows

Copy of the conditions of carriage
http://www.platform11.org/passenger_info/legal.php

Is this possible from the website? I've just checked it again and it doesn't seem possible to move to the next page without picking a specific train for both legs of the journey. Or do you mean that there is provision at a system level, but it's not actually available to the public?

The system has a ticket only reservation capabilty, problem is with Dublin Cork all trains have reservations, the ticket only reservation was a cop out when you had to travel on a train which did not have reservations

Right. So an intending passenger on (for example) Dublin to Cork who doesn't know when they are coming back should pick a random day/time-train for the return leg, then ring IÉ Abbey St for a new reservation before they travel, after they have chosen a return day/time-train. Correct?

If anyone from irishrail.ie is reading this, you could always put a note to this effect on the site. Would do no harm ;)

Thats more or less the case, if it works

It should be extremely easy to allow alterations online of course that would have to be done before the tickets are printed, the ticket issued has the outbound and return portions on the same ticket

Once the ticket is issued how do you get it back?

Filled out the paperwork at the customer service desk in Heuston. There was no mention of 50% so I guess I'll see what turns up in a few weeks.

thanks

kevin