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Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
- Del.Monte
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Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
It's been on a downward trajectory for decades but since out-sourcing and the move away from real trains to ICR buses on rails,,,but if this news item is correct: https://www.msn.com/en-ie/travel/news/i ... 475d960be9 it's the end.
'no more blah blah blah'
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Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
The blanket alcohol ban on trains is ridiculous.
There’s nothing like a Friday pint in the Galway Hooker and then getting a couple of carry outs for the train - we’ve lost a lot of simple pleasures the last couple of years, I don’t see why they can’t restrict it to the dodgy trains like they did pre-Covid.
There’s nothing like a Friday pint in the Galway Hooker and then getting a couple of carry outs for the train - we’ve lost a lot of simple pleasures the last couple of years, I don’t see why they can’t restrict it to the dodgy trains like they did pre-Covid.
“I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” - Voltaire
"I'll see you out there!!" - Roy Keane
"I'll see you out there!!" - Roy Keane
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
Have to say though, Plane Seeking, that the reek of burped Heineken and a rushed fag off your traveling companion on a crowded train ranks pretty highly in my least favourite experiences
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
- Del.Monte
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- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:11 pm
- Location: The Sunny South East
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
Ah for the good old days in the 1970s,,,expensive but at least the option was available.
'no more blah blah blah'
- Del.Monte
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- Location: The Sunny South East
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
I wonder if any of these railway refreshment rooms will be reopening under Barry Kenny's master plan?
'no more blah blah blah'
- Del.Monte
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- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:11 pm
- Location: The Sunny South East
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
https://irishrailways.blogspot.com/2009 ... ravel.html
From my "Irish Railways Now" blog - March 9th, 2009.
The blog is currently private for legal reasons.
Recent postings on the Rail Users Ireland message board triggered me off on another of my pet hates - CIE's rail catering or the lack of it. As long as I have been using trains - just over four decades - this has been a disaster. Sky high prices, poor quality food, badly motivated staff (remember all the sackings amongst catering crews caught fiddling the books in the 1980s) and now the dire outsourcing to Rail Gourmet.
For as long as I can remember passengers have resorted to bringing their own food with them which is surely an indictment of the service provided. CIE/Irish Rail have never seen the marketing possibilities of offering rail travel with cheap/cost price meals. Better still a rail ticket with your meal thrown in FREE - see the Norfolk Line advertisement here.
Of course Norfolk line is not in receipt of gigantic subsidies from the Irish taxpayer! Instead CIE/IE resorted to charging fewer and fewer passengers more and more for the meals on offer. Now the limited number of trains still offering full meal services no longer have proper distinctive dining cars - the rot set in here when the awful 'MacDonalds' type seating was removed from the MkIII dining cars and replaced with seating identical to the rest of the carriages. If they get away with it full dining facilities, even for 1st class passengers, will soon dispensed with to be replaced with the overpriced trolley service. This service will also be discontinued eventually - as night follows day! I will return to this subject shortly but for now I would welcome comments.
My predictions have come true faster than I had expected...
From my "Irish Railways Now" blog - March 9th, 2009.
The blog is currently private for legal reasons.
Recent postings on the Rail Users Ireland message board triggered me off on another of my pet hates - CIE's rail catering or the lack of it. As long as I have been using trains - just over four decades - this has been a disaster. Sky high prices, poor quality food, badly motivated staff (remember all the sackings amongst catering crews caught fiddling the books in the 1980s) and now the dire outsourcing to Rail Gourmet.
For as long as I can remember passengers have resorted to bringing their own food with them which is surely an indictment of the service provided. CIE/Irish Rail have never seen the marketing possibilities of offering rail travel with cheap/cost price meals. Better still a rail ticket with your meal thrown in FREE - see the Norfolk Line advertisement here.
Of course Norfolk line is not in receipt of gigantic subsidies from the Irish taxpayer! Instead CIE/IE resorted to charging fewer and fewer passengers more and more for the meals on offer. Now the limited number of trains still offering full meal services no longer have proper distinctive dining cars - the rot set in here when the awful 'MacDonalds' type seating was removed from the MkIII dining cars and replaced with seating identical to the rest of the carriages. If they get away with it full dining facilities, even for 1st class passengers, will soon dispensed with to be replaced with the overpriced trolley service. This service will also be discontinued eventually - as night follows day! I will return to this subject shortly but for now I would welcome comments.
My predictions have come true faster than I had expected...
'no more blah blah blah'
- Del.Monte
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- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:11 pm
- Location: The Sunny South East
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
A picture paints 1000 words...
Below, Irish Rail's most recent catering and even this joke of a service may not return until well into 2023.
Below, Irish Rail's most recent catering and even this joke of a service may not return until well into 2023.
'no more blah blah blah'
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Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
The trolley is back on Enterprise services going North - but bugger all for us culchies coming back down from the schmoke.
“I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” - Voltaire
"I'll see you out there!!" - Roy Keane
"I'll see you out there!!" - Roy Keane
- Del.Monte
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- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:11 pm
- Location: The Sunny South East
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
Different operator on the Enterprise. Rail Gourmet, or whatever they were called, were unable to keep their end of the contract up as Covid restrictions lifted. Anyway, the trolley service is a very poor substitute for proper dining cars and, indeed, proper trains. The catering should never have been outsourced but with the majority of trains on CIE/IE now operated by glorified sardine cans ......PlaneSpeeking wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:36 pm The trolley is back on Enterprise services going North - but bugger all for us culchies coming back down from the schmoke.
'no more blah blah blah'
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Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
100% agreed! How they have the brass neck to sell “first class” is beyond me!!Del.Monte wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:59 pm Different operator on the Enterprise. Rail Gourmet, or whatever they were called, were unable to keep their end of the contract up as Covid restrictions lifted. Anyway, the trolley service is a very poor substitute for proper dining cars and, indeed, proper trains. The catering should never have been outsourced but with the majority of trains on CIE/IE now operated by glorified sardine cans ......
“I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” - Voltaire
"I'll see you out there!!" - Roy Keane
"I'll see you out there!!" - Roy Keane
- Del.Monte
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- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:11 pm
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Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
According to the Indo catering is coming back in March on the Dublin/Cork route: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/d ... 42455.html
Got to love the photo which shows 1st class with passenger (obviously in wrong carriage) as her feet are on the seat - and she's wearing runners!
Got to love the photo which shows 1st class with passenger (obviously in wrong carriage) as her feet are on the seat - and she's wearing runners!
'no more blah blah blah'
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
She's got the camera ready to photograph the locomotive.
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
Looks like Jamie Lee Curtis is trying out the in-house facilities!!
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
Feet on chair? Check!
Taking the whole table? Check!
Bag on another seat? Check!
Eating a fashionable pastry? Check!
Random unrelated stuff on table? Check!
Typical modern advertising.
It's completely false as it's clean and not crowded....
Taking the whole table? Check!
Bag on another seat? Check!
Eating a fashionable pastry? Check!
Random unrelated stuff on table? Check!
Typical modern advertising.
It's completely false as it's clean and not crowded....
- Del.Monte
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- Posts: 4966
- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:11 pm
- Location: The Sunny South East
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
According to RTE some sort of catering offering is to return on Dublin/Cork services in April: https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0222/13581 ... -catering/
However, I would still pack the sandwiches and drinks if travelling long distance. Rail catering has been overpriced for as long as I'm travelling by train (late 1960's) and there's no reason to expect this to change anytime soon. Descriptions in some media reports about the return of the "beloved" trolley service beggar belief and would indicate that they were penned by somebody with no experience of travel on Iarnrod Eireann.
However, I would still pack the sandwiches and drinks if travelling long distance. Rail catering has been overpriced for as long as I'm travelling by train (late 1960's) and there's no reason to expect this to change anytime soon. Descriptions in some media reports about the return of the "beloved" trolley service beggar belief and would indicate that they were penned by somebody with no experience of travel on Iarnrod Eireann.
'no more blah blah blah'
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
Soft Drinks and Alcohol were the famous rip off down the years.
Get a transparent plastic cup for free.
And don't antagonize the trolley porter with a € 50 euro note.
Get a transparent plastic cup for free.
And don't antagonize the trolley porter with a € 50 euro note.
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Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
Remove the alcohol ban and treat us like adults!!!
I pay near 4,000 a year to travel - I should have a gargle after a long busy week!!
I pay near 4,000 a year to travel - I should have a gargle after a long busy week!!
“I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” - Voltaire
"I'll see you out there!!" - Roy Keane
"I'll see you out there!!" - Roy Keane
- Del.Monte
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- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:11 pm
- Location: The Sunny South East
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
So the bottom of the barrel has been scraped and found to be empty: "Cork-Dublin rail passengers to get access to onboard vending machines" https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41143600.html Really, CIE couldn't organise a proverbial piss-up in a brewery.
I noticed on my recent whirlwind trip to Dublin that the AMT Coffee outlets at Bray, Dun Laoghaire and Connolly (in the suburban subway) are all closed and have been for sometime. Surely this shows the folly of allowing important services to be controlled by a single entity - why not multiple independent operators?
I noticed on my recent whirlwind trip to Dublin that the AMT Coffee outlets at Bray, Dun Laoghaire and Connolly (in the suburban subway) are all closed and have been for sometime. Surely this shows the folly of allowing important services to be controlled by a single entity - why not multiple independent operators?
'no more blah blah blah'
- Del.Monte
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- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:11 pm
- Location: The Sunny South East
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
And just when you thought Irish Rail couldn't mess things up any further we have this:
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22258995/
Cashless catering - it's been tasteless and overpriced for years and now this.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22258995/
Cashless catering - it's been tasteless and overpriced for years and now this.
'no more blah blah blah'
Re: Rail catering staggers into oblivion....
Took an Aer Lingus flight to Faro recently and the catering was cashless too. Have to say the prices compared very favourably with those in the terminal and probably with Ryanair too, couldn't say the same about the price of the flight itself though.Del.Monte wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 12:42 pm And just when you thought Irish Rail couldn't mess things up any further we have this:
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22258995/
Cashless catering - it's been tasteless and overpriced for years and now this.
I'm not sure I buy into the argument about the older generation and technology, there's a certain element of truth in it but when I look around at my peers, there are none of us who I would say are completely computer illiterate, we may not be as fast or as up to date as the younger generation, but I'd say 90+% of us could pay for a cup of tea with a smartphone. Whether we'd have the means to do so is a different matter entirely.