[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by 5111

The wife and I plan to travel from Belfast to Dublin via train on Saturday March 10. We were hoping to go fairly early so that we would have more time in Dublin. However, as I look online, many of the fares are already sold out.

From Belfast, what you may find is that only part of the train (possibly only one carriage out of seven) is reservable, the rest are available on a fist-come, first-serve basis. It may claim to be booked out on-line, but there may still be plenty of seats available on the train. However, note the rugby match that day, which is likely to see the 0800, 1035 & 1235 services busy.

Here are my only train options that I can find:

2:10-4:10 route for £17.98 for two (WebFare) or £56.00 (Standard class)
or
8:00-10:00, 10:35-12:35, 2:10-4:10 routes are all available in First Class for £88 for two

When you say "route", we would normally say "departure", "service" or "train". There is only one train route from Belfast to Dublin.

Here is part of the problem: when we booked our flight, the only option was with 1 layover in Newark and it is only 1 hour. Most of the time, flights are on time, but with only an hour, I am somewhat concerned about missing the connection and therefore arriving late. If that is the case, I would probably lose my pre-booked train tickets. No big deal with £18, but £88 is kind of a big deal. Or am I worried for nothing?

Are you travelling Home-Newark-Belfast-Dublin or the other way around? If you are only arriving in Ireland that day, do consider just buying at the station.

I know that buying WebFare is much cheaper than buying in person, but is First Class that way? Should I just wait until we arrive in Belfast to buy the tickets if we are going first class? Will it be sold out?

The prices for 'Standard' (£56 for 2) and '1st Plus' (£88 for 2) appear to be the full prices that one would pay at the station.

I know that there are other options like buses, but we have never been on a train so we are leaning towards that if possible.

Depending on how much time you have in Dublin, a DART trip from Howth to Greystones is worthwhile from a sightseeing point of view - bring your camera.

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

Due to the Six Nations Rugby match between Ireland and Scotland on Saturday the 10th of March trains leaving Belfast at 1035 and 1235 will be be particularly busy. You should have no difficulty buying either standard or first-plus tickets at Belfast for any other services up to about 10 minutes before departure. No need to pre-book.

On such a day, I wouldn't be leaving it until 10 minutes before departure to buy tickets.

Originally Posted by 5111

Why do all the travel blogs say to buy the tickets online to save money if you can't unless you are in the UK, or is this just because the trip originates in NI?

If those blogs are specific to Northern Ireland, then they are unthinking / naive / wrong - on-line purchases / the booking system for Northern Ireland Railways (the Belfast-Dublin 'Enterprise' is a joint service with Irish Rail) is unsophisticated and depends on posting out the tickets. With Irish Rail operated stations (and I imagine most operators in Britain and elsewhere in Europe), on-line bookings can be collected from most stations.

Bus timetable: http://www.translink.co.uk/Timetable...-200-Outbound/ hourly from 0600 and fares: http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/...Dublin/#centre