Dear Mr. Cooper,

We acknowledge receipt of your request for information which we will
review initially under the Freedom of Information Act.

Please be advised that the Act allows us up to 20 working days (excluding
statutory holidays) to process a valid request for information. We may be
in touch with you should we require any further clarification.

If no clarifications are required, you should expect to receive a response
on or before 17 December 2018.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

FOI/DPA Team

Translink

show quoted sections

Dear Mr. Cooper,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information requests (our ref: FOI766) which
was received on 15 November 2018.

We must apologise for slightly exceeding the deadline to respond to you –
this is the result of a busy period our staff are experiencing at present.
Your requests and our responses are outlined below:

…in regards to these two Irish Rail trains which enter Northern Ireland:

• 06:30 Newry - Dublin Connolly 08:19 (calls at: Newry, Dundalk, Drogheda,
Laytown, Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush & Lusk, Donabate, Malahide, Dublin
Connolly).

• 17:13 Dublin Pearse - Newry 19:12 (calls at: Dublin Pearse, Tara Street,
Dublin Connolly, Donabate, Rush & Lusk, Skerries, Balbriggan, Gormanstown,
Laytown, Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry).

I wanted to ask the following questions to get some clarification:

These eight questions are in regards to both the Southbound journey and
the Northbound journey:

1. Whilst in Northern Ireland are these trains considered to be Translink
trains or Irish Rail trains or a joint operation (like your Enterprise
trains)?

These services are operated by Irish Rail and are always operated by Irish
Rail rolling stock.

2. Where does this train stay overnight (ie is it kept in Newry or does it
go empty to and from the Republic Of Ireland)?

This request relates to Irish Rail operated services and can be directed
to them via [1]http://www.irishrail.ie/. As this information is reasonably
accessible to you by another means, Translink is not obliged to provide it
to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

3. Do these trains have a Guard onboard whilst in Northern Ireland or do
they run DOO (Driver Only Operation)?

Driver Only Operation is not permitted on the NI Railways network.
Accordingly, these trains will have a guard onboard.

4. If yes to Q3 then is the Guard a Translink employee or an Irish Rail
employee (and also regardless of the answer to Q3 is the Driver a
Translink employee or an Irish Rail employee)?

The Guard on board is not a Translink employee.

5. If yes to Q3 then is Guard responsible for opening and closing the
doors and despatching the train (just like other trains in Northern
Ireland)?

This request relates to Irish Rail operated services and can be directed
to them via [2]http://www.irishrail.ie/. As this information is reasonably
accessible to you by another means, Translink is not obliged to provide it
to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

6. If yes to Q3 then does the Guard have a ticket machine and sell tickets
onboard?

This request relates to Irish Rail operated services and can be directed
to them via [3]http://www.irishrail.ie/. As this information is reasonably
accessible to you by another means, Translink is not obliged to provide it
to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

7. If yes to Q3 then does the Guard only stay on between Newry and Dundalk
(and vice versa) or do they travel to and from Dublin?

This request relates to Irish Rail operated services and can be directed
to them via [4]http://www.irishrail.ie/. As this information is reasonably
accessible to you by another means, Translink is not obliged to provide it
to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

8. Are Irish Rail issued "Trekker" four day rover tickets and "Explorer"
five day rover tickets and "Taxsaver" annual full network wide season
tickets valid onboard these two trains to and from Newry in Northern
Ireland?

This request relates to Irish Rail operated services and can be directed
to them via [5]http://www.irishrail.ie/. As this information is reasonably
accessible to you by another means, Translink is not obliged to provide it
to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

These four questions are mainly in regards to the Southbound journey:

9. If a passenger boards in Northern Ireland without a ticket then are
they able to purchase one onboard this train (this could happen for
example if a passenger boarded at Poyntzpass or Scarva and the Guard
didn't walk round to sell tickets and they then change on to this train at
Newry towards Dublin or any of the other intermediate stations in the
Republic Of Ireland)?

This request relates to Irish Rail operated services and can be directed
to them via [6]http://www.irishrail.ie/. As this information is reasonably
accessible to you by another means, Translink is not obliged to provide it
to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

10. If a passenger boards in Northern Ireland and a Ticket Inspector (RPI)
boards and checks tickets whilst the train is in the Republic Of Ireland
is the passenger subject to Translink ticketing rules and penalty fare
rules or Irish Rail ticketing rules and penalty fare rules?

This request relates to rail services and operations in the Republic of
Ireland and can be directed to Irish Rail via [7]http://www.irishrail.ie/.
As this information is reasonably accessible to you by another means,
Translink is not obliged to provide it to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

11. If a passenger boards in Northern Ireland and the passenger alights at
a station in the Republic Of Ireland and approaches the ticket barriers
without a ticket is the passenger subject to Translink ticketing rules and
penalty fare rules or Irish Rail ticketing rules and penalty fare rules?

This request relates to rail services and operations in the Republic of
Ireland and can be directed to Irish Rail via [8]http://www.irishrail.ie/.
As this information is reasonably accessible to you by another means,
Translink is not obliged to provide it to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

12. If a passenger boards in Northern Ireland and the passenger is able to
purchase a ticket either onboard whilst the train is in the Republic Of
Ireland or once they alight at a station in the Republic Of Ireland then
are they entitled to pay in GBP or do they have to pay in EUR?

This request relates to rail services and operations in the Republic of
Ireland and can be directed to Irish Rail via [9]http://www.irishrail.ie/.
As this information is reasonably accessible to you by another means,
Translink is not obliged to provide it to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

These four questions are mainly in regards to the Northbound journey:

13. If a passenger boards in the Republic Of Ireland without a ticket then
are they able to purchase one onboard this train (this could happen for
example if a passenger boarded at an unstaffed station and the ticket
machine wasn't working or didn't sell their required ticket type so they
couldn't get a ticket so they board without a ticket)?

This request relates to Irish Rail operated services and can be directed
to them via [10]http://www.irishrail.ie/. As this information is
reasonably accessible to you by another means, Translink is not obliged to
provide it to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

14. If a passenger boards in the Republic Of Ireland and a Ticket
Inspector (RPI) boards and checks tickets whilst the train is in Northern
Ireland is the passenger subject to Irish Rail ticketing rules and penalty
fare rules or Translink ticketing rules and penalty fare rules?

This request relates to Irish Rail operated services and can be directed
to them via [11]http://www.irishrail.ie/. As this information is
reasonably accessible to you by another means, Translink is not obliged to
provide it to you (Section 21 FOIA refers).

15. If a passenger boards in the Republic Of Ireland and the passenger
alights at a station in Northern Ireland and approaches the ticket
barriers without a ticket is the passenger subject to Irish Rail ticketing
rules and penalty fare rules or Translink ticketing rules and penalty fare
rules?

The passenger would be expected to purchase a ticket.

16. If a passenger boards in the Republic Of Ireland and the passenger is
able to purchase a ticket either onboard whilst the train is in Northern
Ireland or once they alight at a station in Northern Ireland then are they
entitled to pay in EUR or do they have to pay in GBP?

Passengers in Newry can pay in EUR or GBP.

Review Procedure

We trust this answers your request, however, if you are not satisfied with
this response you may request a review by writing to the Translink General
Counsel and Company Secretary, who has overall responsibility for Freedom
of Information and Data Protection issues within this organisation.
Correspondence should be addressed to the above-mentioned at: Translink,
22 Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7LX or by email to
[12][NITHCo / Translink request email].

If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to the Information Commissioner who will make an independent
judgement. The address of the Information Commissioner is: Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. The address of the Information
Commissioner’s Office for Northern Ireland is: 3rd floor, 14 Cromac Place,
Gasworks, Belfast, BT7 2JB.

Yours sincerely,

The FOI/DPA Team

[13][email address]

show quoted sections