The price of a single train journey from Newry to Belfast on the Enterprise service remains more than double the price of a ticket from Dundalk - despite Translink’s claims that it has worked with Irish Rail to more closely align fares.
The Irish News revealed in November a single ticket from Newry to the new £340m Grand Central Station currently stands at £14.50, while a single ticket from Dundalk to Belfast was €8.19 (£6.85), a difference of more than 111%.
The blame for the inflated price for shorter journeys for those in the north has been placed by infrastructure minister John O’Dowd on greater levels of subsidies being provided to Irish Rail by the Dublin government.
Translink has said it has since worked with Irish Rail “to more closely align fares”, and described its Enterprise service as “cost-effective”.
“Since the opening of Belfast Grand Central Station and the start of the hourly Enterprise service, we have experienced a 50% increase in Enterprise passenger figures,” a spokesperson said.
“The Enterprise service is operated jointly by Translink and Irish Rail and we have worked with Irish Rail to more closely align fares.
“Passengers can purchase flexible, semi flexible and low price web fares from both Translink and Irish Rail. The cost of a flexible web fare day return is £16.99 from Translink and €17.50 from Irish Rail.
“These fare types offer the opportunity to reserve a seat on a majority of services and are available up to 90 minutes prior to departure times.”
Although Translink says day return tickets for the Enterprise can be found for £16.99, when booking on its website a day return from Newry to Belfast currently costs £23.
A motion brought by the SDLP’s Justin McNulty in the Assembly in November last year calling for a unified fare structure between Irish Rail and Translink on ticket prices, which was passed.
“MLAs spoke with a clear voice when my motion on all-island rail fares was passed in the Assembly in November,” Mr McNulty said.
“It’s clearly unacceptable that passengers travelling from the South can avail of much lower prices than those in the North when making similar journeys.
“I welcome the new hourly Enterprise service, and acknowledge that a flexible online fare is available, but this fails to recognise that this ticket does not meet the needs of everyone who travels on the service, such as those with limited internet access or who purchase their tickets at stations before travelling.
“My motion had a clear call for Executive Ministers to work together to align rail fares and was backed by MLAs.
“They need to get on with delivering this so that commuters living a few miles from each other on either side of the border are not expected to pay wildly different fares for train services.”
