What happens if you miss a connection on a ticket with a reserved seat?
 

What happens if you miss a connection on an online booking?

Can you just get on the subsequent train? Or do you have to waste time at the booking office, possibly causing you to miss the next train too?

I know that connecting trains usually wait, but there are some journeys where this doesn't happen. This is especially true for journeys that include a Heuston-Connolly connection.

Properly you are supposed to get your ticket endorsed by a staff member. This can be the booking office, but can also be the train host, ticket checker, or information booth as applicable.

If you fail to make a connection on a reservation, you may travel on the next service at no extra cost.

You may be entitled to a full or partial refund if you are delayed by 1 hour or more as a result of the missed connection.

This only applies if it is as a result of a delayed/cancelled train service. If you hung around to get lunch in Heuston and missed the train, Irish Rail will want a supplement paid unless the ticket is full fare anyway.

In theory as Tomas has pointed out you should get the ticket endorsed but that is not required, but can be helpful if you wish to later claim a refund

It actually looks like there is fairly negligible possibility of this happening as they allow massively long connections.

For example

14:20 Dep Cork (Kent)
16:55 Arr Dublin Heuston
17:11 Dep Dublin Heuston
17:56 Arr Dublin Connolly
19:00 Dep Dublin Connolly
21:15 Arr Belfast Central

That's 2h 5 mins connection time

I daresay you could take the 15:20 from Cork, arrive in Heuston for 17:55 and walk across to Connolly, with enough time to spare to make that Belfast train.

While I know they have to have connections that people have a chance of making, adding an extra hour onto the journey isn't going to encourage anyone to take the train.

Even with a 15:20 departure, you'd be looking at 5h 55m for that journey, as opposed to about 4h 30m by car. Making it look like 6h 55m makes it an even worse option.