Intercity journey experiences

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hungerford

I had a similar experience recently on the Enterprise. The ride was smooth throughout the North but when we crossed the border all sorts of vibration and lurching began. I think it's an issue with Irish Rail's track maintenance standards or something.

In that case, I think a lot of it is down to speed - service speeds in the north are much slower.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

In that case, I think a lot of it is down to speed - service speeds in the north are much slower.

General track condition in NI is at least as good as Irish Rail, apart from the Larne line east of Whitehead and the Derry/Londonderry line, west of Coleraine. On the whole both under and over bridges tend to have been more recently renewed, often for a higher axle-loading than on Irish Rail.

As for the riding of the Enterprise coaches, crossing the border is immediately obvious, especially in the southbound direction when most trains are travelling at 90mph. I think the issue is not so much the condition of the the track as the profile of the rail head which in the Republic follows a German standard while NIR follow a British standard.

[Charlie Hungerford]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

In that case, I think a lot of it is down to speed - service speeds in the north are much slower.

Not to any great extent - in fact, for most journeys, NIR's train services are quicker than road, which is something that Irish Rail cannot boast.

[markpb]

I'm on the 3pm Manulla to Heuston. None of the external displays (except the front) are working so no one knows which car their seats are reserved in. The overhead displays are off in my car and there's nothing on the end if car internal display (yet).

Also, I bought the last two online tickets for this train but most of it is extremely quiet (so far). There's definitely scope for allowing for seats to be sold online, even without seat reservations.

Edit: €1.60 for a can of coke! WTF.

Edit: power socket is dead and no sign of any IR staff (I walked the length of the train in search of one.)

Edit: there were no verbal announcements until Athlone. Internal displays havent showed anything but the carriage letter and distance to the next stop (which has been over 180km the entire time).

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by markpb

None of the external displays

That reminds me of the Mark 4s the other day. The displays are set quite high and have a large frame, making it difficult to make out the full height of the text, e.g. it is difficult to distinguish "Carriage E" from "Carriage F" because you can't see the bottom line of the dot matrix display.

[Thomas Ralph]

I had a rather wearisome trip to Cork on the 2100 last Friday. Rattling glass panels between seats 15/16 and 7/8 and the opposite side made it impossible to sleep.

[Sasha]

Markpb, onboard prices here, in Ireland, are lower or similar of those in European trains, in Scandinavian countries prices even more expensive. In German, Austrian, French trains can of coke would cost you around 2 euros.

[markpb]

Originally Posted by Sasha

Markpb, onboard prices here, in Ireland, are lower or similar of those in European trains, in Scandinavian countries prices even more expensive. In German, Austrian, French trains can of coke would cost you around 2 euros.

Perhaps that's true but it doesn't make it any less of a rip off. That's the last time I'm buying food on board.