"Booking in"?
 

This morning I arrived in Heuston at about 7:05 for my 8:05 to Westport and did the usual of collecting my ticket, picking up a Times and getting something to eat before wandering down Platform 4 at about 20 past. Gates were open, train was on the platform, doors open. 2 Iarnród Éireann staff members were walking down the platform well ahead of me aswell. I got to the "A Coach" and was about to take my seat when one of the staff members banged on the window and pointed to the back of the carriage where he insisted I leave the train and wait in the main area until I was "Booked in" as he said. Could he not stamp my ticket himself and not cause the hastle of having to go back up to the main area until the staff member arrived to check the tickets at about 7:40? The words Customer Service or lack there of was very prominent in my mind at the time as he wasn't exactly polite but nothing too much on the other end of the scale either.

There is no sign that I could see around that you were not allowed to go down the platform if the gates are open and your train is waiting, if they were closed thats pretty clear your not supposed to go on but when its wide open I think thats an invitation to board.

Given the gate was open, train doors open and the electronic board says its your train you have done nothing wrong

There is a werid set of proceedures in Heuston

The person who checks the tickets is normally the ticketchecker on the train so you have to wait for him/her to show up. This also means no one is on the train to assist you with your seat reservations

The gate should be closed until that time the ticket checker is available, it would of course help if IE issued a notice to say that the gates would open no earlier than 30 minutes before departure or such like

Best solution of course is to have a Heuston member of staff check the tickets thus avoiding the common boarding delays

There was no shortage of drivers and ticket checkers on this mornings train! About 4 in total sitting in the "A coach" for the journey (Some boarded and left in Newbridge/Clara/Athlone) The guy that told me to go back to the main area did travel as far as Athlone, but he didn't check the tickets at the gate in the end.

So far I have never seen any indication that my seat has been reserved over that particular seat, are those little holders with seat numbers there for just decoration?

In theory you should see a card in that slot with your name, reservation number and the trains details. I've seen the card above seats but its rare, we have a photo of one of them somewhere as well

This problem has been brought to the attention of the manager in charge in the usual informal way. There appears to be a problem somewhere in the system somewhere. The issue of seat reservations on a number of fronts will be brought up with relevent people in IE shortly

Can I assume 8:05 Dublin Westport, Coach A had no reservation cards anywhere? IE have given commitments to the DoT about seat reservations and it persistently doesn't work as you expect

I didn't see any cards, then again I go for the 8:05 as you are nearly guarnteed to have the table and 4 seats to yourself and only a handful of people on the train, unlike the 12:40 or 17:50 (Love the non-stop to Athlone on that one) when its a lot busier.

Come to think of it, I've never seen any cards on the trains and I may have seen them about. I did not travel much over the summer so I only saw the "helpers" a few times so I cant say if the cards were there when the helpers were about.

You can even get a whole carriage for yourself!
The heat wasn't working in the last 2 carriages of this train a week or 2 ago and everyone on the train managed to push up into the other few carriages. Everyone got at least 4 seats to themselves.:)
Should really be a shuttle to Westport off a Galway train or vice versa!

Well if we get any more services in the new timetables I wouldn't mind sharing with Galway on extra ones, both sides benefit.