Over a decade after it become commonplace in Europe, Irish Rail has finally in a small part joined the 21st century with the launch of Etickets.
How To Get An Eticket
As you undertake the booking when you reach the final stage you must select the option to download a QR ticket, the default is to collect at a ticket machine.
The booking confirmation email will include a link to the pdf file with the ticket.
Where Available
- For tickets purchased via IrishRail.ie All fare and ticket times which involve a rail journey commencing at an Irish Rail station
- Journeys into Northern Ireland are supported, including return tickets, but trips which originate from Northern Ireland can only be ticketed by Translink and cannot be purchased from Irish Rail.
Where Not Available
- Journeys which include the cross city Luas/Bus transfer between Dublin Heuston And Connolly.
- Journeys which originate from Northern Ireland
Flex and Semi Flex
You can now make alterations subject to the terms and conditions (Semi-Flex, Flex, First Class tickets). The previous restrictions no longer apply as your ticket is now digital.
Changes where possible must be made not later than 60 minutes before the train departs its point of origin.
Details
The QR code, actually an AZTEC code is based on UIC 918.3 specification which is in use across Europe as the industry standard. This provides for future interoperability with the ticketing systems used by other railways and for example Interrail passes.
Rail Users Ireland members were briefed on the trial by Irish Rail and travelled using the QR code tickets on the first day of live trials on 23 May 2023.
Revenue control staff have a scanning app which will validate the code, this app detects if the QR code has been scanned more than once on a specific train or elsewhere on the network to assist with identifying any fare evasion.
How To Use
At stations with turnstiles at least one and in most cases several turnstiles are fitted with a scanner unit, these are clearly marked.
Simply present the QR code either printed or displayed on your phone on top of the glass area of the reader. It will take a second or two for the reader to wake up and scan the ticket. The turnstile will then open as normal.
At stations with no turnstiles or where the turnstiles are open, proceed to the platform directly.
A separate QR code is issued for each passenger for each portion of the journey, so be sure you print out all the pages if you are relying on printing and not showing the code from your phone.
Sample Ticket
