RAIL ROW

[Derek Wheeler]

From the Kildare Post.

RAIL ROW
By Laura Coates

Commuters are running the risk of a court appearance if they take a train journey promoted by Irish Rail on its internet site.

Rail lobby group Platform 11 has rediculed the situation facing rail users where an extra fare is demanded off Sallins commuters who take an evening train to get home quicker.
Members have since conducted an experiment to show that they can legitimately take the controversial evening journey from Dublin to Sallins, via Newbridge.
Commuters can use the Irish Rail internet booking engine to book a place on the 19.05 hrs train to Galway, with a change at Newbridge and a return journey to sallins by Arrow. The option is also featured in the online timetable. This journey is scheduled to take 48 minutes. The next direct train to Sallins after the Galway train's departure is at 20.05 hrs and does not arrive in the Kildare town until nearly half an hour later. A commuter taking the earlier option saves a wait of an hour on the platform in Heuston and gets home over 40 minutes earlier.
However, Irish Rail's conditions of travel state a ticket is valid for use only between the stations shown on the ticket. Two members of the commuter rail lobby group successfully booked this journey online and were allowed onto the train after showing the itinerary they printed off the internet.
"They're still operating off a rule book that's donkeys years old", said Platform 11 spokesperson Derek Wheeler, one of those who took the experimental journey. "They have to sort it out, definetly not call the gardai or charge people."