From Templemore platform

Seduced as I was by a reasonable fare versus the escalating costs of diesel and the thorny carbon footprint issue I decided today that the train was the way to travel and it was about time to test out the relatively new online reservation service from Irish Rail..  After researching routes and times I decided on Templemore as a starting and finishing point in order to get me to Birr from Cork for a nights frenetic networking courtesy of the local County Enterprise Boards.

Acquiring a booking is a pretty user friendly experience. I missed only something telling me how the tickets would be delivered and assumed til a relatively late stage in the process that I would get a Ryanair type e-ticket. When asked for my full address I began to be concerned and sure enough they still like to deliver your tickets by snail mail. As my trip was booked only a few hours in advance I opted to collect tickets at Templemore. A link invited me to check the ticket office opening times. Aha! Been caught on that one already so I carefully checked.

Templemore is a nice station with two bridges, lots of wheeelchair access, pretty strong 3G signal and a smashing ticket office man – but absolutely no chance of issuing a ticket from an internet booking. Why? That smashing ticket office man has not been trained in the system, not even trained to log on to the shiny new computer in his office. He is despondent but after a little while he cheers up when I suggest that as I am changing at Thurles I could pick it up there instead.

So here I am about to get on a train with a piece of paper that says on no account does it qualify as a railway ticket on my way to meet Annie in the Thurles ticket office. How risque! Perhaps I will be prosecuted before I get rescued by Annie.

And probably all because training is the HR department and systems are the IT department. Folks please get your act together, one with out the other is about as much use as a chocolate teapot!