Please book / travel early

[Colm Moore]

With a combination of the usual homeward rush before Christmas and the weather disrupting travel, the online ticket allocations on irishrail.ie have been sold out on a large number of train services over the next few days, especially on Thursday 23 December. While the online allocation may be sold out, tickets will normally be available at the booking office, although without the accompanying reservation. With aircraft, cars and buses subject to more disruption than trains, expect things to be a little busier than usual.

So, if you can please book as soon as possible and try to travel at a time that gives you some time if things go wrong. While Irish Rail have said they will make sure that people get to their destinations, some delays can be expected.

Please note that there are many alternations to timetables over the next two weeks, including the closure of the DART from Dun Laoghaire to Bray from 25 December - 3 January. There are no services on 25-26 December. Details can be found here: http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=13121

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/travel_alerts.asp?action=view&news_id=969

Booking Intercity travel for 23rd-24th December:

Customers are advised that there is expected to be heavy demand on Intercity services on Thursday 23rd December and Friday 24th December.

Customers intending to travel on Intercity service should note the following:

- Please book your travel on www.irishrail.ie if possible. We appreciate the online sales facility is extremely busy, so please be patient.

- If the online allocation of tickets is sold out, please book on an alternative service.

- If there are no online allocations available, please note that tickets will be sold at the train station, but that customers with bookings will be prioritised, with any remaining capacity made available for customers in stations.

- Please arrive at your station early, and allow time to reach the station, taking into account the difficult road and footpath conditions which exist.

- Please use all available ticket sales points at stations, including ticket office, and automatic ticket vending machines.

- On board the train, please respect seat reservation notices, and do not sit in a seat which has been reserved by another customer.

Thank you for your cooperation.