Poor connection from the Wi-Fi to the internet from Portlaoise to Portarlington.

Very rough ride east of Portarlington.

Arrived at 17:09, at platform 7, about 11 minutes early. There seemed to have been some faffing about between Cherry Orchard and Heuston, so we could have arrived a few minutes earlier.

Not a lot of luggage trolleys (the hazards of getting books as Christmas presents), with me taking the last from the rack at the concourse end of the platform - having a second rack would be useful. Removing the trolley was modestly problematic - it claimed to take 50c or €1 coins, but only the 50c worked. I couldn't find a trolley rack at the front entrance, so I just abandoned it (considerately), forgetting that I didn't get my 50c back! :)

Positives:
* On time / early.
* I got a seat.
* Two opportunities to use the snack trolley, pleasant cashier.
* Wi-Fi for most of the trip

Negatives:
* €37 single is three times the Bus Éireann fare.
* We seem to have left early.
* 'Yoofs' stealing (temporarily) my sandwich and occupying my seat, but they got off at Mallow.
* Some football fans were modestly boisterous, but such is human nature.
* Vibration, lurching and track noise excessive at times. Wobble not so bad.
* Cold when the doors were open. This was worst at Limerick Junction due to the open platforms.
* While there was a RailGourmet cleaner on board, the saloon are was quite messy when we got to Heuston.
* Announcements do need to be rationalised.

Train host might have more time for better saloon cleaning that Railgourmet staff. This is absolute joke that serving food person has to pick up litter

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Have traveled between Dublin-Cork a lot over the last few weeks. The line between Mallow-Cork it seems to be heavly speed restricted and the train shakes and moves a lot. Are they any plans to replace the track to increase speed? Once you leave Mallow the journey is great apart from the 10 min crawl into Limerick J waiting for the Cork bound train to pass.

On Sunday the 19.30 arrived in Heuston 16 minutes early.

Feet On Seats
 

How much more can be done to ensure passengers refrain from putting their feet on seats?

Yes there is a clear message text on the information screen on the 22Ks but would it not be an idea to update the announcer of stations etc, to include the statement, passengers are asked not to put their feet on seats - just like do not occupy pre-booked seats, although that is not adhered to either.

Luggage also, train jam packed people have the bags and belongings on seats which will not allow passengers to sit...

:mad:

The utility of the station information announcement is lost if they jam it up with loads of rules in addition to the needed information. As it is is overly long with two languages, please do not occupy seats and courtesy messages.

My pet hate is chewing-gum under the tables or on the seats. Once or twice a year I end up with chewing-gum on my bag or trousers after it gets melted by my laptop power supply. Considerably more bothersome than a bit of dirt left on a seat by shoes.

But people in general know that they shouldn't put bags on seats or tables, feet on seats, chewing gum under tables, play music on their phones, shout, dance on tables, smoke in the toilets, etc. It isn't lack of knowledge that is the problem, it is simple lack of concern for others and no amount of announcements will do anything about that. The only thing that will make a difference is to have people go about enforcing the rules with fines if necessary.

No no no, the PA system never shuts up as it is. Adding more to it will turn people off the train, I have learned more Irish by traveling with Irish Rail than my 12 years in school!

Also with passengers bags on seats, God gave use mouths for a reason....

BTW I like to seek these people out and sit beside them just to annoy them.

''please do not put feet on seats'' announced now on the 22Ks -

And a 'please mind the gap'

My noise-cancelling headphones just get more and more indispensable.

More seriously, there is a bug in the announcements on the 22ks on the M3 Parkway route. The Irish for Hansfield is instead a horrible, ear piercing electronic noise. i.e it goes "This is the xx:xx train to M3 Parkway, serving ... Caislean Cnucha, Cuil Mhin, Cluain Sailleach, bzZZZZZZZZZZZztssshZTtttt, Dun Buinee..."