[18/09/2011] All Ireland Football Final Kerry V Dublin @ Croke Park

[dowlingm]

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All Ireland Football Final Dublin V Kerry Sunday 18th September-Updated 13th Sept. 15.00 Hrs. by Corporate Communications In connection with the All Ireland Football Final, Dublin V Kerry, on Sunday 18th September in Croke Park, the following special services will operate:

Saturday 17th September

13.10 Killarney to Dublin Heuston
14.30 Tralee to Mallow. Customers can then transfer to 16.08 service from Mallow to Dublin Heuston.
Please note the 13.30 Cork to Dublin Heuston service is deferred to 13.45.

Sunday 18th September
06.45 Killarney to Mallow. Customers can then transfer to 07.40 service from Mallow to Heuston.
07.15 Tralee to Mallow is extended to Dublin Heuston
07.00 Tralee to Dublin Heuston.
18.50 Dublin Heuston to Tralee.
Please note the 18.00 Dublin Heuston to Cork is deferred to 18.15.

Further Intercity service details to follow.

Commuter Services
11.55 Drogheda to Dublin Connolly
19.20 Dublin Connolly to Drogheda
11.10 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
12.10 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
12.50 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
14.10 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
17.18 Dublin Connolly to Maynooth
17.30 Dublin Connolly to Maynooth

11.05, 12.05, 13.05, 14.05 and 15.05 will additionally call at Coolmine, Castleknock, Phoenix Park, Ashtown, Broombridge, Drumcondra and Connolly Station.

17.10 and 18.10 Connolly to M3 Parkway will additionally call at Drumcondra, Broombridge, Ashtown, Phoenix Park, Castleknock, Coolmine and M3 Parkway.

Due to expected heavy loadings before and after the match, DART, Belfast Enterprise, Sligo and Rosslare Intercity, Maynooth and Northern Commuter services may be delayed by 15 - 25 minutes from 11.00 to 19.00 hrs.

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...reaking56.html

Train fares tripled for match
TIM O'BRIEN

Thousands of football supporters travelling by rail to Sunday's All-Ireland final in Croke Park will be paying more than three times the fares available at other times, and could pay up to nine times the standard match ticket prices.

Iarnród Éireann said it will not be applying the usual internet based discounts to tickets for supporters travelling to and from Dublin for Sunday's senior football final.

A spokeswoman said "this is a very busy weekend so we wouldn't be offering many discounted fares on the web".

Cheapest available one way tickets on two special match trains on Saturday and one on Sunday morning, are priced at €37, when booked online. A return ticket is €72. But Iarnród Éireann web fares for previous weekends and weekend immediately after the match were advertised as low as €10 one way.

There is not much joy on the ticket price front either, with black market ticket trade remaining brisk - despite warnings from the GAA.

A pair of premium seats monitored by The Irish Times were sold on eBay on Tuesday for €1,060 while a similar pair were being sold on needaticket.ie for €1,600. That is almost nine times the €90 most expensive price from official GAA ticket outlets. Some websites were offering to raffle match tickets at €10 per raffle ticket. None of the sites revealed how many raffle tickets would be issued.

The GAA has warned that where it is aware of a ticket being sold in this way it may cancel the ticket and issue a replacement. This would leave holders of such tickets without access to Croke Park.

But if Kerry supporters are being asked to pay through the nose, it would appear that those noses are not out of joint.

Kerry GAA county committee chairman Jerome Conway said supporters would be "more anxious about getting a train ticket than getting a ticket for Croke Park". He said in the past match ticket holders had been left without a train ticket and "no way of getting to Dublin". This year he said Iarnród Éireann had laid on a lot of extra capacity and supporters were relieved. He said the price at €72 was the standard five day return which he frequently paid as someone who travelled regularly.

A spokesman for the county board said there was a "tremendously positive air in Kerry since Killarney won the National Tidy Towns award". He said people "need something to bring joy and put a spring in their step" and supporters "would have that little bit of pride that we have got to an all-Ireland final as well".

Indeed it certainly looks as if thousands of Kerry people will be heading to Dublin with tickets for the three special match trains selling out rapidly.

Strangely, Irish Rail has confirmed there will be just one special match train making the return journey. The company spokeswoman said it was likely many supporters would return on later days.

I can get the Irish Times for free on the internet. It costs about €2 in the shop. Does the shop keeper increase the price by infinite per cent?

[Mark Gleeson]

What has happened is a number of discounted booking office options have been withdrawn. These offers all had a condition to say not available on days of GAA events

Online there is no change to the fares, the discounted 37 euro single is still available. The discounted 10 euro fares have sold out.

Discounted fares are not offered on extra trains.

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

I can get the Irish Times for free on the internet. It costs about €2 in the shop. Does the shop keeper increase the price by infinite per cent?

We're almost at the end of the piece before we see the GAA nob say he was perfectly happy with the situation.

Is there any chance of IE using one or more Mk4 sets rather than 6 x 22 for these services to max out capacity?

[Mark Gleeson]

There is a Mk4 set involved in a Mallow Dublin service and several 6 car ICR's

There are numerous extra trains, even on the Saturday to help move people. Its interesting how they can magic trains up for this but still leave Dublin Sligo stuck on 29k's on Sunday

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Its interesting how they can magic trains up for this but still leave Dublin Sligo stuck on 29k's on Sunday

Shouldn't have turned their noses up at Mark 3s that time!

[dowlingm]

I read elsewhere all the announced specials did not run - allegedly the demand was not there...

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/...w&news_id=1202

All Ireland Football Final Dublin V Kerry Sunday 18th September-Updated 14th Sept. 17.00 Hrs. by Corporate Communications

In connection with the All Ireland Football Final, Dublin V Kerry, on Sunday 18th September in Croke Park, the following special services will operate:


Saturday 17th September

13.10 Killarney to Dublin Heuston

14.30 Tralee to Mallow. Customers can then transfer to 16.08 service from Mallow to Dublin Heuston.

Please note the 13.30 Cork to Dublin Heuston service is deferred to 13.45.


Sunday 18th September

06.45 Killarney to Mallow. Customers can then transfer to 07.40 service from Mallow to Heuston.

07.15 Tralee to Mallow is extended to Dublin Heuston
07.00 Tralee to Dublin Heuston.

18.50 Dublin Heuston to Tralee.
19.25 Dublin Heuston to Killarney.

Click here to book the above services now, as well as regular services. http://www.irishrail.ie/your_journey/timetables.asp


Other Special Trains:

08.15 Tralee to Mallow
09.36 Mallow to Dublin Heuston

08.30 Killarney to Dublin Heuston

08.50 Mallow to Cork

09.05 Killarney to Dublin Heuston

20.00 Dublin Heuston to Mallow
22.15 Mallow to Tralee

20.40 Mallow to Tralee


Commuter Special Services

11.55 Drogheda to Dublin Connolly
19.20 Dublin Connolly to Drogheda

11.10 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
12.10 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
12.50 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
14.10 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
17.18 Dublin Connolly to Maynooth
17.30 Dublin Connolly to Maynooth

11.05, 12.05, 13.05, 14.05 and 15.05 will additionally call at Coolmine, Castleknock, Phoenix Park, Ashtown, Broombridge, Drumcondra and Connolly Station.

17.10 and 18.10 Connolly to M3 Parkway will additionally call at Drumcondra, Broombridge, Ashtown, Phoenix Park, Castleknock, Coolmine and M3 Parkway.

Due to expected heavy loadings before and after the match, DART, Belfast Enterprise, Sligo and Rosslare Intercity, Maynooth and Northern Commuter services may be delayed by 15 - 25 minutes from 11.00 to 19.00 hrs.

[Inniskeen]

Are the "other trains" for real - they don't appear to be bookable