Dublin to Carrickfergus

[Starmill]

Hello everyone!

I am arriving at Dublin Airport in a couple of weeks on a weekday morning in a small group, and staying in Carrickfergus (the convenient Premier Inn) that night. I would like to try the Enterprise service, which I have never done before. We will probably have at least a few hours free to wander around the city before heading to Northern Ireland.

I was wondering if anyone can clarify or offer advice for buying tickets please. irishrail.ie offers some flexible fares for €19.99 (standard) to Belfast Lanyon Place, are these available to buy walk-up, or quota controlled? I have not been able to find any way of booking Dublin to Carrickfergus, does this exist please? I note that the journey in the other direction can be booked at translink.co.uk. I can see there is a semi-flexible fare that is just one euro cheaper, and a fixed one just one euro cheaper than that - these do not seem much worth bothering with for such a small saving! I am not too fussed about having reserved seating, but if we do get the 1650 departure from Dublin Conolly would there be a risk of finding it full? How is the onboard catering on the route? I have heard stories that it can be a bit poorly stocked, would you get food before boarding?

Thanks a lot everyone

 

[swt class 450]

The ticket you found online can only be purchased online in advance. It is not a walk on fare. Irish Rail do sell many cheaper tickets online (many of which are fully flexible and allow you to travel on any train service on the day). But unfortunately you can not purchase it at the station on the day

Walk on prices for Enterprise (bought at a ticket office or ticket machine or from the Guard onboard) between Dublin Connolly and Belfast Lanyon Place (or vice versa) are as follows:

• Day Single - 30.00GBP/38.00EUR
• Day Return - 35.00GBP/40.00EUR
• Open Return - 45.00GBP/55.00EUR

First Class is also available but not really worth it as Standard Class is just as comfortable. You don't get anything complimentary either. First Class and Standard Class passengers both have to pay for all meals and other food and drinks onboard.

Through fares to or from NI stations (other than Belfast Lanyon Place or Portadown or Newry stations) are only available to buy online in the Southbound direction (from Translink) but are not available online in the Northbound direction (from Irish Rail). However the ticket office at Dublin Connolly (or any station in the ROI) will be able to sell a through ticket to any NI station (including Carrickfergus). So purchasing your ticket on the day in the ROI may be the best option for you.

Alternatively you could just buy two separate tickets instead. Tickets for trains within Northern Ireland can not be bought online. They can only be bought onboard from the Guard or from a ticket office. So you will need to purchase your Belfast Lanyon Place to Carrickfergus ticket on the day (you can even just simply purchase it from the Guard onboard the Translink train if you don't have time to go out to the ticket office when changing trains). This ticket will cost:

• Day Single (at anytime) - 4.60GBP
• Day Return (after 09:30) - 4.70GBP
• Day Return (before 09:30) - 7.10GBP

Fares in NI are very cheap compared to England/Scotland/Wales so buying two separate tickets shouldn't cost too much more.

I find that the Enterprise service is very nice. The trains are very comfortable. Personally i think the catering is a lot better than what we get in England/Scotland/Wales with quite good quality food and drinks. The prices are typical expensive train prices though so it might be worth bringing something with you if you want to save money. The journey is only just over two hours so you could eat before or after as well.

Although do be aware that recently it has been very common for Irish Rail and Translink to put their other 3000/4000/22000/29000 trains on their Enterprise services. It seems to happen at least once a week (and sometimes more often). So there is always a small chance that it won't be a normal Enterprise set. When this happens there is no catering at all (normally not even a trolley) and no first class and seat reservations do not apply.

Hope this information helps with your questions.

 

[berneyarms]

The 16:50 ex-Connolly is the busiest train of the day - it would be one of the situations where it would be worth paying the Enterprise Plus (1st Class) supplement of EUR 20 if you haven’t booked a standard class ticket online (booking online comes with an automatic seat reservation).

Enterprise plus is pleasant - you’ve at seat service and wider seats.

Best advice I’d give is book the Dublin-Belfast return online at www.irishrail.ie and then buy Belfast-Carrickfergus in Belfast Lanyon Place.

More info here including menus.
http://www.irishrail.ie/enterprise

http://www.irishrail.ie/travel-information/rail-onboard-catering#corporatecatering

 

[reb0118]

Belfast Lanyon Place?

 

[swt class 450]

Belfast Lanyon Place is just the new name for Belfast Central station. It got renamed a few months ago. I am not too sure why they decided to rename it.

 

[si404]

Belfast Lanyon Place is just the new name for Belfast Central station. It got renamed a few months ago. I am not too sure why they decided to rename it.

Because, for some reason, the businesses around there felt that 'Lanyon Place' is better marketing for the ongoing redevelopment than 'Central' (though as Lanyon Place is just a road in 'The Waterfront' development, Belfast Waterfront would have worked), and so they got it changed when the station was being redone.

Plus Great Victoria Street slightly is more central and it might have confused people as to which was the better station to alight at for the city centre. I believe it was tradition to, on arrival at Belfast Central for the first time, ask "why is it called this when it is so far from the centre?".

 

[Mutant Lemming]

if you intend to do any further travelling by bus or rail you could order an iLink card for specific days and particular zones you are travelling in.

http://www.translink.co.uk/Find-The-Right-Ticket/travel-cards/ilink/

https://secure.translink.co.uk/Buy-Online/Desktop/iLink-Travel-Card/Step-2/

unfortunately I don't believe they are valid on Enterprise services and the with the non-Enterprise service from Newry being very limited the first practical stop to change to NIR services is Portadown. Doing so would save about Euro 5 on the Belfast fare. The trains from Portadown go to Great Victoria Street which is more central than Lanyon Place (Central) but would slow your particular journey as you are heading on to Carrickfergus.

 

[Flying Snail]

if you intend to do any further travelling by bus or rail you could order an iLink card for specific days and particular zones you are travelling in.

http://www.translink.co.uk/Find-The-Right-Ticket/travel-cards/ilink/

https://secure.translink.co.uk/Buy-Online/Desktop/iLink-Travel-Card/Step-2/

unfortunately I don't believe they are valid on Enterprise services and the with the non-Enterprise service from Newry being very limited the first practical stop to change to NIR services is Portadown. Doing so would save about Euro 5 on the Belfast fare. The trains from Portadown go to Great Victoria Street which is more central than Lanyon Place (Central) but would slow your particular journey as you are heading on to Carrickfergus.

There are no extra restrictions on Enterprise, internal NIR or IE tickets are valid for any journeys within the ticket limits. AFAIR the only scheduled Translink services that a zone 4 iLink card is not valid on would be the X1/2/5 Belfast/Newry-Dublin and X3 Derry-Dublin coach services as they only carry cross-border traffic.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Looking at the IE site It's only 50 cents less from Dublin to Newry than to Portadown anyway - with an iLink card to cover Newry to Carrickfergus costing £10 it would be 5,50 euros less for Dublin - Newry than Dublin - Belfast fare and then the £4.60 Belfast - Carrick fare so no difference apart from the flexibility of the iLink card for any other bus and rail journeys.

 

[sheff1]

Looking at the IE site It's only 50 cents less from Dublin to Newry than to Portadown anyway - with an iLink card to cover Newry to Carrickfergus costing £10

Not sure where you are getting the iLink prices from. Newry is in Zone 4 for which the normal price is £16. Portadown is in Zone 3 which is £13.50.

Regarding the on board catering, the only time I use it is for breakfast which I find good value. At other times I can do without, as the journey time is basically the same as Sheffield to London.

 

[berneyarms]

The catering is excellent with quite a wide selection available 7 days a week.

The only scenario where it is isn’t available is where there is an Enterprise set failure and it has to be substituted by an IE 29000 or NIR 3000/4000 set, which is much less often than people think.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Not sure where you are getting the iLink prices from. Newry is in Zone 4 for which the normal price is £16. Portadown is in Zone 3 which is £13.50.

.

Apologies - I got a bit muddled on those. Which is why it's always best to check the site

http://www.translink.co.uk/Find-The-Right-Ticket/travel-cards/ilink/

 

[Starmill]

Thank you to all for your many comments - very useful (to everyone, and especially to @user1234 ).

I've just booked two flexible Dublin to Belfast singles for ease and speed through the Irish Rail website at an approximate GBP price of £17.40 per person which seems perfectly good to me!! Seats reserved on the 1650.

I'll just pay cash for a single to Carrickfergus. I think the following day though, starting from Carrickfergus an all NI day ticket would be very useful. Are they available for sale on the day?

 

[berneyarms]

Yes they are - just get an iLink card and you can load whichever ticket you wish to buy.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Yes they are - just get an iLink card and you can load whichever ticket you wish to buy.

Are they no longer zone specific cards ? The last one I got at Aldergrove was a zone 3 card and if I later wanted more or less zones I would have had to get another card relevant to the zones I wanted.

 

[swt class 450]

No worries. Happy to help with information.

Yes you can get a day ticket giving unlimited travel on all trains and buses in Northern Ireland (or whatever zones you picked - zone 4 covers all of Northern Ireland - but the other zones 1 / 2 / 3 / NW cover smaller areas) for one day. However they are only available on the iLink smartcard (which is indeed available on the day from a ticket office or in advance online).

You can purchase your first iLink smartcard from any Translink ticket office at any staffed railway station (it costs £1.00 for the smartcard although it is free if you purchase it online). Once you have your smartcard you can keep topping it up with day tickets (or weekly or monthly tickets) from any ticket office or onboard any train from the Guard or onboard any bus from the bus driver.

Note that there are five different cards available and each card is for one of the zonal areas only (so for example Z4 cards can not then be topped up with Z1 tickets or Z1 cards can not then be topped up with Z4 tickets etc). So if you want a day ticket for a different zone then you need to purchase a new smartcard.

These are five different cards available:

• Zone 1 (including Z1) - £5.00 day
• Zone 2 (including Z1/Z2) - £10.00 day
• Zone 3 (including Z1/Z2/Z3) - £13.50 day
• Zone 4 (including Z1/Z2/Z3/Z4/NW) - £16.00 day
• Zone NW (including the Zone NW only) - £13.50 day

A zone map is available here - http://www.translink.co.uk/Documents/Images/Pages/Miscellaneous/ilink/iLink zone gazett.pdf - to download on this link.

More information about them is available here - http://www.translink.co.uk/Find-The-Right-Ticket/travel-cards/ilink/ - to view on this link.

Finally note that on Sundays you can buy a day ticket giving unlimited travel on all trains (but not buses) in Northern Ireland for just £7.50 which can be bought from any ticket office or from the Guard onboard the train. This is an ordinary papet ticket rather than an iLink smartcard and is only available on Sundays only.

Hope this information helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

No worries. Happy to help with information.

Yes you can get a day ticket giving unlimited travel on all trains and buses in Northern Ireland (or whatever zones you picked - zone 4 covers all of Northern Ireland - but the other zones 1 / 2 / 3 / NW cover smaller areas) for one day. However they are only available on the iLink smartcard (which is indeed available on the day from a ticket office or in advance online).

You can purchase your first iLink smartcard from any Translink ticket office at any staffed railway station (it costs £1.00 for the smartcard although it is free if you purchase it online). Once you have your smartcard you can keep topping it up with day tickets (or weekly or monthly tickets) from any ticket office or onboard any train from the Guard or onboard any bus from the bus driver.

Note that there are five different cards available and each card is for one of the zonal areas only (so for example Z4 cards can not then be topped up with Z1 tickets or Z1 cards can not then be topped up with Z4 tickets etc). So if you want a day ticket for a different zone then you need to purchase a new smartcard.

These are five different cards available:

• Zone 1 (including Z1) - £5.00 day
• Zone 2 (including Z1/Z2) - £10.00 day
• Zone 3 (including Z1/Z2/Z3) - £13.50 day
• Zone 4 (including Z1/Z2/Z3/Z4/NW) - £16.00 day
• Zone NW (including the Zone NW only) - £13.50 day

A zone map is available here - http://www.translink.co.uk/Documents/Images/Pages/Miscellaneous/ilink/iLink zone gazett.pdf - to download on this link.

More information about them is available here - http://www.translink.co.uk/Find-The-Right-Ticket/travel-cards/ilink/ - to view on this link.

Finally note that on Sundays you can buy a day ticket giving unlimited travel on all trains (but not buses) in Northern Ireland for just £7.50 which can be bought from any ticket office or from the Guard onboard the train. This is an ordinary papet ticket rather than an iLink smartcard and is only available on Sundays only.

Hope this information helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for confirming there has been no change. The zonal inflexibility of the ILink card was what I thought to be one of it's main drawbacks. Would be like having to buy different oystercards based on what zones you wanted. With Translink being the sole transport provider it should really be easy for them to have a more flexible system.