Eurostar clarifies its bike carriage system

Eurostar report, Aug 2013

I did exactly what bobinski above questions:

Booked bike onto Eurostar
Booked bike onto Lyria (Paris -> Geneva)

But you really do have to book all in advance.

Worked like a charm! It all relies on the bike booking number so make a good note of it when you book the bike. You basically have to book by phone as you need to reserve a seat, then book a bike place, then go back and confirm your seat (3 calls).

Eurostar: unnerving but it worked fine. Picked my bike off the platform both times, the hard part was finding the drop off points (both 10 minutes walk from check in so leave plenty of time).

SNCF Lyria: You sit in the same carriage as the bike - it's a little 2nd class carriage on the back of the main engine. A bit tatty compared to the rest of the train, but I was not quibbling.

So,just so i have this right. If i book my bike on a Eurostar in a bag no bigger than 120 by 90cm it should travel with me to Paris? I then need to change stations to get a tgv to Geneva. Do i need to book this on the train too? I didn't last year from Paris to Bourg st maurice.

What a hassle, were there that many bicycles going around to cause this much of a problem? I love taking trains because it is stress free travel (well, once you get to the station). The more they tinker and take away the benefits, the more I'm staying away. Capital Cycles

Maybe it's because I never used the old system, but I found the new one really straightforward when I used it earlier this year.

Book the bike in advance so it goes on the same train as you. Stick it in a bike box, drop it off, pick it up. I went Kings X to Brussels and back, the whole thing was pretty easy, to be honest.

Just booked a return trip to Swiss Alps on Eurostar and Lyria. Could book Lyria all at once via phone (not online of course) but Eurostar. I had to get a code from europerail phone guy, then confirm the bike booking on Eurostar number then call europerail back to confirm and pay. All a bit strange. Will probably be fine but it feels very unreliable.

Thanks for the article though it explains why it's not Eurostar directly who are doing it.

I am def. taking my second-best not carbon bike!

Train companies could easily add bike carriages like they used too but they probably wouldn't be allowed to get away with charging people, it's a racket it seems.

Whilst I often take a bike on the train, i feel some of the criticism is a bit misplaced. The trains in the UK people are complaining about have to be configured for maximum seating. If they ripped the seats out of half a carriage to put in bike and luggage space, there would uproar from the commuters who use the trains- those trains that go to Inverness are also used for commuting into London, often with people standing on them as it is. There's no space at the stations to take longer trains.

Eurostar too often has times when their massively long trains fill up. Putting in extra bike carriage space wouldn't see them get extra trade, it would take away seats they can sell.

This whole business just echoes the UK state of affairs;
Chaos.
Different operators have different attitudes.
Some will, some won't, some will but only at certain times, others will, but only on certain trains, restrictions on numbers but you can't pre-book etc, etc, etc.
The CTC has been trying for years, without much success, to get the train companies to change, but it's like talking to a brick wall in most cases.
Let's face it, if you ride a bike, it's only because you are "too poor to afford a car" (that's why you are on a train in the first place) and therefore being poor and thus low class, you aren't important.

No, of course that's not true, but they think it is.

Useful article.

A friend and I travelled out from London on 18/06 to Paris. Two days prior to this, we put our two bikes in one bike bag, plus two wheels and booked it in with EuroDespatch - as the large x-ray machine wasn't in operation, they looked in the bag - and wanted to charge us for 2 bikes, but at the last minute they took pity on us and only charged us for one piece of luggage. Our onward journey was from Gard de Lyon to Grenoble, so we carried the bike bag and all our other luggage via the RER train (cheaper than a taxi, but you have to carry heavy stuff and negotiate ticket wide barriers. Some TGV's take complete bikes, some don't so this is why we bagged em. The onward TGV had plenty of luggage rack space on the top-deck for a bike bag - no problem (the lower deck luggage space isn't really suitable).

However, on the 18/6 when we travelled out, we did spot two people with carry on bags containing dissasembled full size bikes - the bags didn't look less then 85cm wide to me, but I can't be sure, and they said this is what they always do, and have not had a problem.

It is useful to hear how people have fared using the new arrangements, and I'd point out that the notes on how the arrangements are actually working with front line staff are very much what can be achieved by pragmatic and friendly informal communication.

There are several factors here which have created this tangle. First the registered baggage is handled by a separate operation to Eurostar - with the London concession operated by Eurodespatch, who have been the key agents for delivery of the original cyclist friendly 'guaranteed on your train' service. The Paris concession has recently changed to Geoparts, whose counter is a long hike from the check-in at Gare du Nord, The Brussels concession is actually run by SNCB and also delivers for Thalys (and possibly Fyra) high speed services. Because this is not a Eurostar service there will have to be a charge - but negotiation has delivered a reasonable £10/€15 fee.

Second, the absence of a registered baggage concession on he seasonal services to Avignon & Provence etc means that the 120 x 90 bagged bike size will be accepted on these trains, but equally assembled bikes cannot be carried. Most Railteam (high speed rail operators) services accept 120 x 90 although some like RENFE do this only as an exception for cycles, a pity this does not seem possible in this instance, but I am told that passengers with baggage are filling the available space to the extent that restrictions are having to be applied.

Third is the way that Eurostar sits in a sort of limbo, as it is not a UK domestic operator and their baggage sizes do not align with those set by National Rail for UK TOC's. Neither do they plug seamlessly in to the train services which head off beyond Paris and Brussels, so that many journeys need to be booked as separate chunks through separate systems, even for those who are not trying to take a bike with them. The Lille interchange for example is managed by SNCF and thus the detail here has to involve further parties working in another country, a further challenge in securing agreements.

I am keen to get a measure of the potential audience for travelling out to big events like Le Marmotte, and other branches of cycling like large triathalons, and d/h MTB holidays. When we had a hiatus with Easyjet and hydraulic brake systems on d/h MTB it was evident that there was a major holiday business worth several £m's where UK cyclists travelled out to ride the snow-less ski runs in the summer.

I believe that just as the UK domestic rail operators have not fully grasped the extent of cycle traffic already travelling outside peak times. Typically I can count 10% of the passengers on trains I'm using who are travelling with bikes, often 8-12 bikes on a train heading out of London where a group may be having a train assisted Sunday ride. Famously one group were 70% of the fare paying passengers on one Sunday service, and I've know of some trains where 100% of those travelling have been taking bikes with them.

But for this, folks I'm going to ask for your experiences of trans-europe travel by rail, and the times you would like to do this but had to fly or drive. I may need to work with a few folk who are better with sorting out a robust survey of market potential - users, events, honeypot destinations etc. Then we can look at what could be done.

I'm meeting a long distance coach operator next week to discuss how we can guarantee space in the luggage hold/trailer for a bike in a bag (they already accept them but only if there is space to fit the bike in when it turns up). It would be great if I can offer some predictions on potential use. There are regular overnight coaches - Eurostar does not offer an overnight train - to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, and so an alternative option to by-pass the current problem. Remember too that DB (German Railways) got a licence to run trains from London last month, but due to problems with their train order, they are not planning to start regular services before 2016 (or 2015 at the earliest), other operators have also hinted that they want slots to run direct trains to London.

Pass your notes back to me via roadcc or cycling [at] CTC.org.uk and we'll review the campaign memoirs of the cycling battallions

I carried my bike onto the Eurostar train with me a couple of months ago - an Airnimal Joey with drop bars in a lightweight shoulder bag. The 24" wheels make it probably the largest folding bike that will easily fit within the 85cm max dimension rule. I had to change stations in Paris, but that was no problem because in under 10 minutes I had the bike reassembled and was riding through the city. I have the Airnimal setup with the exact same riding position (bars, saddle, and pedal positions) as on my other bikes, and it's only a couple kg heavier, so I think it's a great option.

To be honest, the folded Airnimal was 90 cm in one dimension, but no-one said anything as I walked through with the bag on my shoulder, and if they had done then another 5 minutes would have broken it down enough to get all dimensions under the 85 cm limit.

Hear hear Os. Not tried Eurostar but the lack of a clear policy (and an on-line bike booking system) allowing for the mood on the day of any member of staff to get in the way cost myself and a friend recently on a train journey from Inverness to the top. 4 official spaces on a train which is easily over demanded is ludicrous. Do the companies not understand they are losing out on custom ie. money?

Its like "nudge politics" but the opposite way round.

Dissuasion through irritation?

I really don't understand why train companies make it so difficult for cyclists. To me a train and bicycle make a perfect fit together, yet it never seems to be that easy.
It's not just Eurostar, who I admit have never used, but even coming back from Norwich or Oxford you can only take 6 bikes and that's if there is no pre booking.
Then on the slower trains its two per carriage so if busy you could be waiting for hours before you're able to get on.
Such a shame as the trains in Europe seem to work much better.

We have had a few customers suffering when visiting us because their bikes have been put on different trains. Well worth making sure when you make the booking.

My bike needed a new paint job after I entrusted it to these people, and to get the money I had to threaten legal action. Following the contemptuous level of customer service I got from Eurostar, I'm not joking when I say I will swim the Channel before I use them again.