Irish Rail is gearing up to revive its catering facilities on all Intercity locomotives by the culmination of this year. The catering offerings were brought to a halt network-wide in March 2020, due to the onset of Covid-19 and relevant governmental number restrictions for passengers, rendering the service financially untenable. Barry Kenny, the spokesperson for Irish Rail, asserted that a national tender for the cart service is in its concluding stages, conditional upon funding sanctioning by the National Transport Authority.
Kenny explained, post lifting of Covid curbs in spring 2022, they attempted to recommence with their catering supplier, but the vendor withdrew from the contract, attributing it to inflated costs and manpower challenges. “We encountered quadrupled quotes in the market. We weren’t equipped with funds to meet these costs, hence we chose to limit the services to Dublin-Cork, which came as a perk to Kerry and Limerick patrons, within our fund limit, meanwhile advancing with a countrywide contract”, he said.
In May last year, catering carts made a return on the Dublin-Cork path while the Dublin-Belfast railway has a separately contractualised service due to border-crossing geographical logistics. This year, Irish Rail foresees a groundbreaking figure of surpassing 50.1 million trips across the entire network of Intercity, Dart and regional trains, as per Kenny.
In response to queries about staff visibility and reachability, specifically on the Dublin to Westport route, Kenny confirmed, “Our Customer Service Officers are now present on all Intercity services, inclusive of the Westport line.” This provision came into effect in recent years, ensuring that assistance for all customer enquiries and concerns is always available onboard.
Regarding Irish Rail’s digital seat booking system, Kenny highlighted that it has seen a significant enhancement over the previous two years. “We evade selling or reserving the same seat twice; however, in case of last-minute mechanical glitches, a substitute train with reduced capacity might become necessary, leading to potential issues”, he informed.
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