Sir, – Catherine Murphy (February 2nd) reports that Irish Rail staff refused to intervene when asked to secure her reserved seat on a train by getting a "an oaf or lout" to vacate it. Has she considered recourse to the small claims court? I am not a legal professional but it seems to me that Irish Rail is breaking its contract of sale of the train ticket if it is not taking reasonable steps to make her seat available.
A few successful claims brought by the public might persuade Irish Rail staff to do their jobs. – Yours, etc,
DONAL McGRATH,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – I am pleased that the "reserved seat" system on Irish Rail works so well for Kieran  Baker on the Galway to Dublin line (February 2nd). It is rather hit or miss on the Tralee to Dublin line.
Recently I and quite a few others found ourselves trying to claim our reserved seats from passengers already seated in them. This led to a certain amount of chaos as those willing to surrender “their” seats couldn’t get into the aisle to get their luggage off the overhead racks because we, the “reserved”, were standing in the aisle with our luggage, and all because the signage system was not working and there were no notes on the seats either.
I have also been caught in a seat reserved by somebody else because the said signage was not working.
Twice I have found my seat in first class as the make-up of the train had been altered. The first time I was told that I had to move out; the second time I wasn’t found out and I stayed where I was.
I understand that this malfunctioning system will be replaced this year, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN LOUGHEED,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.