The biggest problem that Irish Rail have is an inability to provide uniformity of service.
If you pay €61 for a standard intercity fare you should be able to guarantee a level of service regardless of time of day.
Most of these variations are coming down to Network Catering and their inability to operate a simple catering service.
1) Snack car not properly stocked (regularly) - vital items missing
2) Trolley service randomly withdrawn for no reason.
3) Rude staff / questionable hygeine standards (particularly on older fleet e.g. warm sandwiches)
4) Closing the catering service down well before the end of the journey. i.e. it tends to close at Kildare or even PORTLAOIS en route to Dublin and at or before Mallow en route to Cork. I have no idea why this is the case!
Also, why do some trains have full restaurant service while others have very poor snack car service? Again.. total lack of uniformity.
Network Catering should be a cash cow. If it were contracted out to someone else, they could definitely run it at a healthy profit. Particularly, on a busy line like Cork.
I have to say that in my experience of the CDE, the seat booking has worked each time without fail. Perhaps I've just been very lucky.
However, if it does fail, they really need to have people on board checking tickets and making sure seats are filled correctly. It's only 2 or 3 coaches. Not that difficult to organise really.
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