Mainline421
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OK, "National Rail ticket office in GB" to be precise.
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Sligo to Todmorden SailRail
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Managed to convince Irish Ferries to post the ticket to a hotel in Sligo! Presumably this antiquated system is a sign of neglect: you’re really supposed to hop on Ryanair, or at least drive each side, aren’t you?
Anyway, I hope this thread helps someone in a similar situation in the future.
Anyway, I hope this thread helps someone in a similar situation in the future.
Absolutely, I would also expect passengership to be very low on SailRail so that is probably a reason.
I assume the idea is that people that need to go to Ireland with luggage can just get the Expressway/Eurolines coach to London (or Hannon Coaches/Citylink from Glasgow)
Most ferry operators see foot passengers as nuisance and would rather do full vehicle, this is why you have such limited Calais-Dover P&O foot passenger sailings for absolutely no reason.
Irish rail website says you can buy the ticket in Sligo station. Could work if bought as 2 singles in the future. The only place you use to be able to buy the NI version of the ticket was Stena Belfast & Great Victoria Station Travel centre (was in the bus station section, not sure abot the new station)
I think it's theoretically possible to buy it at Irish Rail stations but I've not heard of much luck over the years!
There is a reason. High throughput quick turnaround RoRo ports mean the linkspans are a long distance from the port entrance. Add in modern safety standards and foot passengers need bussing from a terminal onto the ferry and back again.
It is very very different from the 1960s and 1970s when the ferry was a alongside a pier, foot passenger numbers were very much larger and car+freight volumes relatively smaller.
RoRo routes generally take bikes happily, despite low volumes, because we self-load.
What makes bikes different from foot passengers? I never understood that, it's not like you can ride to the bridge, you have to walk aside from your bike.
I don't know why the buses can't just run up to the dock just before the ramps and let able foot passengers load themselves, without needing buses to get in the ship itself.
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Oh I get that it’s marginally more profitable to not bother with foot passengers, but I feel that our priorities are wrong as a society if that’s the case.
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Update on this: Irish Ferries have now decided that they cannot post tickets to hotels. I relented, and asked for a refund, and to reissue the ticket as Dublin Port to Todmorden, so that I can collect my ticket on arrival at Dublin Port. So the connection at Dublin would now be at my own risk.
Then a strange thing happened: they advised that they would refund me the difference in price between a Sligo to Tordmorden ticket, and a Dublin Port to Todmorden ticket, which they think is 27 Euros (I suspect that's wrong, as a flexible single from Sligo to Dublin is onlyu 17.39 Euros), but they are not proposing to change the ticket. So, upon collecting my tickets at Dublin Port, I should be given a train ticket from Sligo to Dublin, alongside the other tickets I need. In effect, I will have two tickets for the Sligo to Dublin leg, one non-CIV compliant in my possession, and one CIV compliant and not in my possession until Dublin.
This leads me to a question: would I have CIV protection for the Sligo to Todmorden journey, for a missed connection in Dublin due to a delay in the Sligo to Dublin leg, even though I would not have the physical ticket in my possession until reaching Dublin?
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poffle
Member
Irish Rail website claims that you can buy SailRail tickets from Sligo.
They recommend buying online from Irish Ferries but you've obviously hit a blank with that.
Their second option is to phone me Irish Rail.
It may be worth calling Irish Rail on
+35315756110 to ask if you can buy a ticket for collection at Sligo Station.
www.irishrail.ie
They recommend buying online from Irish Ferries but you've obviously hit a blank with that.
Their second option is to phone me Irish Rail.
It may be worth calling Irish Rail on
+35315756110 to ask if you can buy a ticket for collection at Sligo Station.
SailRail - Travel to the UK by Rail and Ferry
SailRail is an alliance of Iarnród Éireann, UK Train Operating Companies and Ferry Companies operating on the Irish Sea. The group offers through fares from Ireland to the UK as an attractive alternative to budget airline travel.
Thanks for this, but, as above, I may already have found a 'solution'. I also don't want to spend £s calling the RoI only to be told that IF are the agents for these tickets in the RoI (everything I've seen, including an email from Mark Smith suggests that this is the case).
Ive worked in Portsmouth International Port, the average number of footpassengers per sailing is something like 7. They have a 10 seater minibus/ ambulance for foot passengers and thats adequate for the majority of sailings/ arrivals, sometimes it makes 2 trips. There was probably a reasonable number of foot passengers until the early 2000s but for whatever reason that market doesnt seem to exist anymore.
If for any reason a large number of footpassengers are expected and for the cruise ships buses, coaches and ferries are hired in.
Update: Just to be sure, I contacted IE on Twitter and they advised me that they could sell me a SailRail from Sligo via phone. Called the number (incurring intenational charges) and the call handler had no idea what I was talking about and eventually cut me off. Again, just putting this info here, in case anyone is in a similar position.
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Anyway, any advice on this would be appreciated.
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How Long are you in Sligo for? Ive never been to Sligo but Ive twice sucessfully bought them at Galway the day before travel. In both cases I was staying on the Aran Islands and I didnt want to book the journey in case bad weather delayed the ferry.
In both cases Galway Ticket Office were very helpful and clearly knew what the tickets were. The first case they issued a ticket right through to Kent for me. On the second occasion they booked me a ticket to Dublin and then a ticket from Dublin Stenaline through to kent. The young guy who sold me the combo siad he had to get a book out to remind him how to issue the ticket and i think he had to phone somewhere for the ferry reservation. In both cases they took the details and asked me to come back in an hour. I think the through sailrail tickets are more or less the IE fare plus the sailrail ticket anyway. I'd allow plenty of time for passing through Dublin, I dont think there is a minimum connection time specified like there would be in Britain. I went to a pub then got a taxi out to the ferryport.
Staying overnight, but, see above, I already have a ticket, so that's not what I'm asking advice about. Thanks
The Translink Travel Centre never reopened following the pandemic, the Stena Line terminal is now the only place in Northern Ireland which can issue Rail and Sail tickets.
This fare is correct.
The add-on fares for Irish Rail travel have not changed in many, many years - since then there has been a national 20% fare reduction.
They will always be significantly more expensive than the maximum online fare for the same journey, and in many cases will be more expensive than a walk-up single or open return ticket.
Irish Rail's online fares are capped at 50% of the walk-up day return fare each way - whereas walk-up single and open return fares are around 90% and 130% respectively of the walk-up day return fare.
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