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Unread 31-01-2009, 21:57   #1
Traincustomer
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Default SailRail tickets

Has anyone experiences they would like to relate vis a vis these useful tickets.
They are not the easiest to buy. Available from a small number of stations. Booking them through a travel agent is unrealistic as most agents nowadays charge an agency fee. Understandable but when the fee could be around half the ticket cost it doesn't make sense. The alternative is to ring the Dublin number to book but that forces one to use a credit card and not everyone has one or wishes to use it.The ferry companies (Stena and Irish Ferries) each have their own leaflet advertising the fares, zones and sample timings.
The traditional sea-rail package still has a lot to offer so why can't it be publicised and the booking made more accessible. Available from all staffed stations and in the future from TVMs.

For those not au fait with SailRail the tickets are "all in" i.e. one can buy a ticket from say Clonmel to Cardiff and same includes your ferry passage as well as trains on both sides of the Irish Sea.
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Unread 02-02-2009, 15:47   #2
Donal Quinn
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i've only used them once - just got the dart to dunlaoghaire and bought a ticket to carlisle (don't ask!) at the ferry terminal

not sure how much discount you get if buying from irish station - easiest way might be doing what i did
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Unread 02-02-2009, 23:07   #3
Mark Gleeson
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Call Irish Rail on 01 703 1884, europeanrail@irishrail.ie, or visit Dublin Connolly, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Sligo or Galway stations, there are others as well

Call Stena Line on 01 204 7777 quoting 'rail' or visit them in Dún Laoghaire

Call Irish Ferries on 0818 300 400 or sailrailirl@irishferries.com

Failing that Ryanair/Aer Lingus/Aer Arann/Fly Be/BMI/BA will get you there at least 6 hours faster. Birmingham is generally the best option (quiet airport, train station, rail ticket collection machine in the baggage collection hall) with either Ryanair or Aer Lingus, can get direct trains to most places from the airport or after a short trip to Birmingham New Street, or same thing to Manchester/Gatwick/Stanstead/Heathrow book with trainline.com which will accept Irish addresses and has favorable reports on this forum

Of course it would be lovely to get the TVM system to be able to handle these tickets but in reality there are major problems with routine tickets currently which need fixing, trouble enough getting a few miles down the road let alone half way across the Irish Sea.
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Unread 03-02-2009, 09:43   #4
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I agree with everything Mark said except trainline.com, which has been known to charge booking fees in excess of the cost of the ticket. I tend to use the NXEC website.
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Unread 04-02-2009, 18:47   #5
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I once bought a SailRail from Liverpool back to Dublin and it was printed on one of the standard small tickets - so guess it's integrated into the passenger ticketing system there.

Recently I priced a journey to the UK for myself and a family member and despite "cheap" air fares when I factored in coach to Dublin Airport plus train from the UK airport to final destination it was around double the SailRail cost.

I know the sea option is not everyone's cup of tea but for some destinations e.g. North Wales/Merseyside it is just as quick (City Centre to City Centre) and some parts of the UK don't lend themselves to going by air e.g. I was aghast a few years ago to hear that people had travelled to Aberystwyth in Mid Wales by going by air to Birmingham and then a few hours of a rail journey there. The journey could have been completed probably quicker by sea to Holyhead and local bus.

While respecting individual choice I feel the sea option is sometimes frowned upon by many as a "no go" - granted it's slower but it has benefits of a more relaxing journey and no constraints (within reason) with regard to luggage.

I have found the following website useful for obtaining times for Éire - UK journeys: www.nationalrail.co.uk You can also book tickets on it but I haven’t tried this to date. Interestingly in its journey planner you can also input stations in Ireland.

www.britrail.com is another site with useful info
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Unread 04-02-2009, 19:36   #6
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You can't buy anything via www.nationalrail.co.uk, it refers you to the train company and no it doesn't work with Arriva or thetrainline.com

www.bahn.ie will do cross europe without much trouble but again it won't book tickets

Guy I work with just 'to see England' went the long way to London via Holyhead last year, booking 48 hours ahead Aer Lingus would have got him to Heathrow for the same money 12 hours faster, travel costs tube/bus more or less the same on both options
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Unread 04-02-2009, 19:55   #7
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I wasn't aware of that - never followed through to book beyond checking a fare the odd time. Agree with you about Bahn - got one of their european timetable cds in 2007 and find it an invaluable reference.
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Unread 04-02-2009, 21:56   #8
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I hate flying. Specifically, I hate all the fannying around in particular at Dublin Airport and there is a special place in Hell for Terminal One Heathrow and all its miserable baggage handling. We are rapidly getting to the stage where we will have to strip naked to get through security and/or be in place two hours plus in advance of flights. The vaunted time advantage starts looking threadbare when all the extra time factors city centre to city centre get factored in.

This is my choice as a rational consumer. If I need to get to London for a weekend, I fly. Anything not much longer than that, I get the boat and the train. However, there are problems which have been inflicted by Stena Line, Irish Rail and the railways in Britain that reduce the potential ability of the combined service to really be an effective transport solution. Five and a half hours Dublin to London if the will was there, which it isn't right now.

Now, in flight obsessed Ireland, getting the boat and train takes effort. Not the journey, but the booking side. It hasn't been helped by Stena's apparent spat with the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Authority, where the HSS has taken an extended break since Christmas and on its return it will only sail once daily at 1.30pm.

Irish Rail have closed the public office in Dublin, and the only way to get SailRail tickets through them is to ring. Like the good old 1980s, you get a handwritten paper ticket which obviously can't go through ticket barriers on either side of the Irish Sea. I am going to contact SailRail in the UK and attempt to get a ticket through them when I'm due to travel overland from Dublin to Berlin in April, meeting my brother in London.
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Unread 05-02-2009, 17:24   #9
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I agree with you fully - things have deteriorated markedly with the duo of the new UK rail timetable since December and the HSS sailing schedule amendment. There is no longer the overnight connection ex Holyhead circa 2am. Also a lot more connections involve Holyhead to Chester, Chester to Crewe, Crewe on to Euston.Weekdays (Mon to Fri) there are four direct Virgin Trains services Holyhead to Euston and vice versa - averaging 3hrs 45mins end to end. Very good if they link up with the ferries.

There needs to be, I feel, more co-operation on this issue between the rail and ferry companies. Also as you say with barriers now at many stations - it is more covenient for all if the SailRail tickets can be issued on standard ticket cards.

The internet is great so are sales lines where one can book with a credit card. But a variety of ways of booking ticket products needs to be offered. The new plus the traditional. To my mind it's less than helpful to assume everyone will book by one particular method and provide no alternatives.
I say that in general for all travel modes.

Eurostar now has the facility to book a through ticket from Bangor (but not Holyhead) to certain destinations in Europe.

Short haul aviation to the extent that exists between our island and Great Britain is not sustainable. Better rail-ferry integration needs to be achieved Éire-Britain.

Last edited by Traincustomer : 06-02-2009 at 15:34. Reason: amendment
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Unread 05-02-2009, 17:43   #10
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Folks its all good complaining but foot passenger traffic is a tiny fraction of what it was decades ago (as in before Ryanair broke the duopoly) capacity by air has at least tripled since while prices have reduced in real terms by anything up to a factor of 10

Stena Line has cut back as a result of high fuel prices and reduced demand

Tickets are available from a wide number of sources, in fact we are under estimating the number of stations which can issue the tickets. The timetables and fares are advertised in the published timetable as well. It most certainly needs to be more effectively promoted

The ticket barrier issue, is not a problem all the Irish Rail gates are staffed, any gate I've seen on the mainline network in the UK is staffed as well

Air travel is unsustainable where an alternative option exists, EU will not OK a PSO if there is a direct train service taking less than 3 hours. Dublin London is one of the busiest air routes in the world, the sea option is 8 hours at least, even with perfect connections its 7 hours

Where the rail option wins is something like Waterford to south Wales or Dublin to north Wales where there is not alternative really

Last edited by Mark Gleeson : 05-02-2009 at 17:49.
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Unread 05-02-2009, 21:16   #11
Ronald Binge
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But here's the catch with flying.

Dublin City Centre - Dublin Airport - say 45 minutes.
Check in Dublin - Allow an hour and a half.
Flight Dublin - Heathrow: An hour and a quarter.
Heathrow collecting bags: Allow another 45 minutes. Minimum, in my experience.
Heathrow to London Underground: Another 15 minutes.
Underground to central London - say an hour.

Adding all this time up comes to five and a half hours.

Not so attractive then, is it?
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Unread 05-02-2009, 22:08   #12
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Or, if travelling off-peak with no luggage

Dublin City Centre - Dublin Airport - 25 minutes
Check in Dublin - 1 hour
Flight Dublin - Heathrow: 55 minutes
Heathrow collecting bags: Zero.
Heathrow to Heathrow Express: Another 15 minutes.
Heathrow Express to central London: 25 minutes.

That's under three hours, and those numbers aren't pie in the sky; I've done the lot.
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Unread 05-02-2009, 22:12   #13
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Done that in both directions, online check in is your friend
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Unread 09-02-2009, 17:08   #14
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My girl-friend and I went Sail-Rail with Stena from Dún Laoghaire to London Euston just before New Years.

While flying may be supposedly 'quick' I detest most of the aspects of flying: either waiting around for hours before or worrying about missing your flight if you leave at the last minnute, the strip searches, fighting for a seat on Ryanair, and carrying all of my stuff on my back to avoid paying for checked baggage. About the only thing I enjoy about flying is looking out the window, and for that you need good weather (which you can't predict when you buy your ticket) and it doubles the importance of joining the Ryanair seat scrum.

I had been prepared to trade the extra time it would take for relaxation and comfort. I really hoped that Sail-Rail would provide a civilised alternative to the chaos of short-haul low-cost airlines, but in my case it failed to live up to its potential.

Booking over the telephone was easy, even though I found it rather odd to be buying something over the phone while speaking to someone rather than clicking a mouse. I booked a week in advance, but I suppose I could have also bought my ticket at the HSS terminal.

We got to Dún Laoghaire about an hour before departure, since we were told that check-in would close 30 minutes prior to departure, but for no apparent reason Stena didn't check anyone in until about 15 minutes before scheduled departure, meaning that we couldn't proceed to the departures lounge. The result was a massive queue in the foyer of the ferry terminal with few seats and no information. We still had to check in our suitcase (and consequently collect it from the tiny baggage reclaim facility in Holyhead), but there was at least no additional charge.

The ferry was slightly late departing and then slightly late arriving - nothing too bad, only about 20 minutes. But coupled with the long stressful wait for our suitcase, and an unnecessarily thorough and understaffed passport control (Common Travel Area, what Common Travel Area?) we found ourselves running for our Virgin train from Holyhead to Euston. There was no information provided on the status of the train: e.g. like if they had told us that the train would wait for ferry passengers (or not). It turned out that the train had been cancelled, but of course no-one told us this while we were stressing in the baggage reclaim area.

Finding out that the train was actually cancelled (and what to do about it) was an ordeal, involving me ringing up the National Rail hotline and then relaying what I had found out to other passengers. Little or no information was gained from station staff, who worked for Ariva and adopted the attitude that this was a Virgin problem and nothing to do with them.

About an hour later people were being put onto buses to Chester to make rail connections there. We opted to wait for the next train (dep. approx 2h30 after the ferry arrived), along with most of the other foot-passengers (because there were too few buses anyway) and what showed up was a tiny 3 car DMU inadequate for all the ferry passengers, so there were lots of people standing all the way to Chester.

That (Ariva) train was late into Chester too (because of the over-crowding) and we had to run to catch the Virgin train to London. The Virgin train actually waited for us, but again, we didn't know that was the case as no announcements had been made, nor had we been told which platform our connecting train was leaving from.

This train was packed between Chester and Crewe, but it thinned out considerably between Crewe and London and we were able to watch a film on my laptop as there was a socket beside the seat.

We got into London at about 8.30pm, having left Dún Laoghaire at about 11am. Thankfully we had booked a flight back to Ireland rather than a return train & ferry.

I e-mailed Stena afterwards to see if I could get either a refund or an apology for the delays, but so far I have even failed to receive a reply. The ticket was only €44, so I couldn't be bothered spending time following it up. At least with Iarnród Éireann I have been successful every time I have looked for a 50% refund when their trains are over an hour late.

The major problems associated with my experience were all to do with a lack of information being provided to the passenger. I can accept that the first train breaking down was just bad luck, but all I wanted to do was relax while getting to my destination and that wasn't possible.
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Unread 17-02-2009, 22:45   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cavanrailbus View Post
Has anyone experiences they would like to relate vis a vis these useful tickets.
http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showth...ight=sail+rail
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Unread 25-02-2009, 16:33   #16
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Default Upturn in passengers choosing SailRail travel to Britain

I came across the following news item (of 12th Feb this year) on the Irish Ferries website. I have removed one or two lines to comply with the non-advertising rule of this forum. The full text is available at http://www.irishferries.com/news090212a.asp

"Irish Ferries has recorded a noticeable upturn in the volume of passengers choosing Sail/Rail travel to Britain, a development which the company attributes to the numerous restrictions, hidden charges and delays being imposed on air travellers.

Under their Sail/Rail arrangement, passengers travel city to city from Dublin to some 2,400 rail stations located throughout Britain, crossing from Dublin to Holyhead with up to four sailings daily.

Commenting, Irish Ferries Head of Passenger Sales, Declan Mescall said “with Sail/Rail, the fare you see is what you get, free of any hidden taxes or added extras. Passengers travel by luxurious cruise or fast ferry and onwards to their destination by modern, comfortable mainline trains. In an era of hassle and congestion, it has got to be the stress-free way to travel”.

A further news item in relation to SailRail but from a Great Britain perspective is at:

http://www.irishferries.com/news090212.asp

Last edited by Traincustomer : 25-02-2009 at 16:41. Reason: to add date of news item and minor info
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Unread 31-08-2009, 15:26   #17
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Does anyone know if it is still possible to buy these tickets in Connolly Station? I have been trying to ring Irish Rail european travel but getting no response despite holding for 10 minutes on a couple of occasions.

Thanks.
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Unread 31-08-2009, 16:21   #18
Colm Moore
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I understand its at the corner of Amiens Street and Sherrif Street - a black door up some steps.
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Unread 31-08-2009, 16:33   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by plant43 View Post
Does anyone know if it is still possible to buy these tickets in Connolly Station? I have been trying to ring Irish Rail european travel but getting no response despite holding for 10 minutes on a couple of occasions.

Thanks.
Its not too long ago that i bought sailrail tickets for manchester in the ticket office in connolly (the old type ticket slips) nearly sure you still can!
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Unread 01-09-2009, 10:46   #20
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thanks. Just bought the tickets in Connolly. Heading Dublin-Southampton next week.
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