[Article] Exchange rate for train fare criticised

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...257682033.html

Exchange rate for train fare criticised
DEAGLÁN DE BRÉADÚN Political Correspondent

NORTH-SOUTH LINKS: TRAIN PASSENGERS between Belfast and Dublin are being unfairly treated, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement was told at Leinster House yesterday.

Fianna Fáil Senator Cecilia Keaveney told the committee that the operators of the Enterprise train service were exploiting passengers who paid in euro, through imposing an exchange rate of 69 cent to the pound, whereas the market rate had been in or around 90 cent for a considerable time.

A spokeswoman for Translink, which operates the service from the Belfast end, said later: “Like many retailers, fluctuating exchange rates have caused problems with prices.”

She said Translink worked periodically with Iarnród Éireann to review fares. Efforts to contact Iarnród Eireann for a comment were unsuccessful.

Ms Keaveney told The Irish Times afterwards that Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey had confirmed the matter would be on the agenda for the next North-South ministerial meeting in early November.