Sail & Rail

[Traincustomer]

Transport for Wales Rail commenced today Sunday 14th October, 2018 (replacing Arriva Trains Wales).

SailRail section riddled with outdated info such as showing the pre-May 2017 Rosslare-Fishguard sailing schedule as being current, references to the HSS (withdrawn 2014) and mention of Stranraer port (closed nearly seven years ago).

Some of the content seems to have been transferred over from the ATW site.

[danm14]

Originally Posted by Traincustomer

Transport for Wales Rail commenced today Sunday 14th October, 2018 (replacing Arriva Trains Wales).

SailRail section riddled with outdated info such as showing the pre-May 2017 Rosslare-Fishguard sailing schedule as being current, references to the HSS (withdrawn 2014) and mention of Stranraer port (closed nearly seven years ago).

Some of the content seems to have been transferred over from the ATW site.

Considering to the best of my knowledge there's no obligation on KeolisAmey (TfW Rail) to continue to offer these tickets, I'm delighted they're at least attempting to publicise them.

As someone who travels by Sail and Rail due to a fear of flight (and therefore has little alternative other than separate full price boat and train tickets, or the inconveniently timed EuroLines bus) I was very concerned that the tickets would be abolished or made next-to-impossible to obtain when the franchise changed.

[Traincustomer]

I understand your concern. It would be very imprudent for any operator to suggest withdrawing these tickets as while the revenue is low on an individual basis revenue quickly stacks up over days and weeks.

Certainly the loss would be quite noticeable. For instance it is not unusual for the onboard spend of passengers on the ferries to equal or surpass the revenue from their fare (i.e. meals/shopping/Plus lounge/ cabin et cetera...)

On an aside WHSmiths in Holyhead terminal shut some months ago and the replacement facility (same unit) #EatDrinkShop remains open till approximately 01.30 nightly - useful for passengers going both ways.

[Traincustomer]

Rosslare - Fishguard

Allocations

The SailRail and foot passenger allocations are often sold out on Rosslare-Fishguard these days due to the usual ship, Stena Europe, being away in drydock. The smaller Stena Nordica is deputising. The Stena Europe is due to return Friday week, 26th July, 2019 on the 08.00 ex Rosslare.

Booking from UK

Booking SailRail online from the UK one needs to use the Advanced search on the Transport for Wales Rail site or access booking via the dedicated SailRail page as Rosslare Europort is not listed in the homepage booking facility.

Upstairs lounge at Rosslare

The foot passenger lounge upstairs in Europort previously open nearly all day is now only open from 2 hours before sailing time.




Dublin-Holyhead


Holyhead Terminal

The terminal in Holyhead is sometimes closed in the early hours – but this doesn’t affect passengers arriving around 00.45 on the train for the 02.30~ish sailings to Dublin. Also passengers arriving off the midnight ferry arrivals from Dublin will be allowed to remain in the terminal until their train. This seems to be due to instances of antisocial behaviour from the town over spilling into the terminal.

The comfortable former Dún Laoghaire HSS lounge upstairs in the terminal is still in frequent use for Dublin-bound passengers after check-in.


Ferrylink bus (Dublin)

Fares increased in the Spring. The adult single fare from the port to Connolly/Westmoreland St. is €3.50 single and €6 return (return valid almost a week; a return issued for instance today 15th on the 2pm bus from Westmoreland St. will expire 23.59hrs 21st). Tickets for the bus can also be bought online but there is a booking fee of 45c to do so which for low value fares negates any benefit of buying online unless one is stuck without either cash or a LeapCard.
The anomaly of no return Ferrylink bus service from either Heuston or Connolly to the port continues (return bus runs direct from Westmoreland Street to the port).

[Traincustomer]

After 22 years of serving the North Wales route Virgin Trains bow out this Saturday, 7th December, 2019, with Avanti West Coast taking over on Sunday.

Same trains and insofar as I'm aware the same staff and management team.



At ferry check-in there is a new requirement to give your date of birth. When I enquired I was informed it is to do with Brexit but further research indicates it is a new EU law coming into effect just before Christmas.

[Traincustomer]

The Ferrylink bus (Morton's) has been replaced with a service operated by Nolan's on behalf of the ferry operators to/from Connolly (the inbound extension to Heuston as operated by Morton's has been dropped though from my journeys I observed there would nearly always be several fellow passengers going through to Heuston).

The first bus ex Connolly at 06.45 (for 08.05 Ulysses & 08.15 Stena) is a tad early and misses the vast majority of inbound buses and trains (Ferrylink didn't depart Westmoreland Street till 07.15 and this half an hour makes a critical distance for those who have to make a public transport journey into the city)

Tickets must be purchased from the ferry operators and cannot be purchased onboard the bus. In the case of Stena Line ex Dublin journeys they can be bought over the phone (€3 add-on) when purchasing a SailRail (just have your booking reference/confirmation e-mail for the bus) and inbound to Dublin can be purchased from guest services onboard ship for £3.

Timetables:

https://www.stenaline.ie/routes/dubl...ad/dublin-port

https://www.nolancoaches.ie/wp-conte...-Timetable.pdf

https://www.nolancoaches.ie/wp-conte...-Timetable.pdf

Meanwhile at Rosslare the morning sailing to Fishguard has been advanced to 07.30 (previously 08.00) which means there is no public transport whatsoever reaching Europort in time for last check-in at 07.00.

In yet another passenger unfriendly move the walkway from the terminal to ship has been truncated resulting in the more cumbersome and often more time-consuming embarkation/disembarkation process via shuttle buses (open air collection of luggage and boarding buses)

PS:Hope everyone is doing ok.

[Eddie]

Since late 2019, a typical single Sail & Rail fare to London has risen from €47 to €59.

€6 of this increase seems to be the removal of a discount that applied if you booked more than a certain amount of time in advance (24 / 48 hours). I presume this was designed to increase revenue from the very limited number of passengers using the service during the pandemic.

€47 was brilliant value to get to any station in Britain as long as you had the time to spare for a 4 hour boat journey first. €59 less so. Let's hope they re-introduce the early booking discount soon.

[Traincustomer]

Good news is that a late night connecting bus was recently introduced off the 23.45 Stena Line arrival at Terminal 2 (20.30 ex Holyhead) plus there is a 00.40hrs bus departure from Connolly to Stena Line T2 to connect into the 02.15 sailing. Perhaps the paucity of taxis at night partly brought this about.

Passenger loadings not bad either with around ten inbound and two outbound the other night (the bus goes back to the port to park up anyway).

The fare of €3 single to/from Stena Line can now be paid onboard the bus but by card only - no cash is accepted.

For passengers travelling with Irish Ferries the bus is free.

It's still a pity there's no linkage to Heuston - granted there are connections at Connolly but when one is laden with luggage cramming into an often super busy Luas is not pleasant.

[Eddie]

Originally Posted by Eddie

Since late 2019, a typical single Sail & Rail fare to London has risen from €47 to €59.

€6 of this increase seems to be the removal of a discount that applied if you booked more than a certain amount of time in advance (24 / 48 hours). I presume this was designed to increase revenue from the very limited number of passengers using the service during the pandemic.

€47 was brilliant value to get to any station in Britain as long as you had the time to spare for a 4 hour boat journey first. €59 less so. Let's hope they re-introduce the early booking discount soon.

Good news - these fares have been reduced back down. Stena Line have updated their website and are quoting these new fares over the phone. London now €49 single as long as you're not travelling the same day. Irish Ferries don't seem to have updated their booking engine yet to take account of the reduction.

[Traincustomer]

Since the start of this month (October 2022) the city terminus has switched from Connolly to Georges Quay.

Unsure what prompted this change as it's less user-friendly than Connolly; many passengers are catching trains from Connolly or provincial buses from Busáras.

One step forwards and two steps back...

If Irish Rail, the bus company, Stena Line and Irish Ferries worked together towards a co-ordinated and promoted offering SailRail usage could be significantly grown from provincial towns.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Traincustomer

Since the start of this month (October 2022) the city terminus has switched from Connolly to Georges Quay.

Unsure what prompted this change as it's less user-friendly than Connolly; many passengers are catching trains from Connolly or provincial buses from Busáras.

One step forwards and two steps back...

If Irish Rail, the bus company, Stena Line and Irish Ferries worked together towards a co-ordinated and promoted offering SailRail usage could be significantly grown from provincial towns.

The bus stop at Connolly LUAS is already full - try watching how cross-city routes 14 and 15 get blocked there.

[Traincustomer]

There's a public consultation underway regarding improvements to Holyhead Railway Station:

We are carrying out a six-week options consultation for the proposed Holyhead station WelTAG Stage 2 scheme, which aims to transform the station into a local transport hub.

It closes on 22nd December, 2022.

Further info:
https://haveyoursay.tfw.wales/holyhead-station

In other news the 20:20 Avanti West Coast train from Bangor to Birmingham now commences in Holyhead at 19:49 (useful for passengers off the 14:45 ex Dublin Stena Line sailing)