Confused about Eurostar luggage policy

ram038

I have read on this forum that if bagging a bike for travel on Eurostar the maximum dimensions are 120cm x 90cm however on the eurostar website it says
"The luggage allowance on board Eurostar is 2 medium-sized cases (85cm at their longest length), and one piece of hand luggage per passenger"

Can anyone say for sure that i could get my touring bike on the train in a 120x90 bag.

Failing that would I ever see my bike again if I book it on eurostar to be sent in one piece to meet me in Paris to get my connection on a TGV to Grenoble, 42 minute between arriving in Paris and departing for Grenoble. I need to then arrange to get the bike on the TGV. OOh my head hurts trying to figure the best way to do this.

Bodhbh

Bike is 20 quid each way afaik, if there's limits on the dimensions I've never seen them check nor do they ask you bag it or otherwise dismantle it. They do make you remove panniers although.

Unless you mean taking it to pieces such that it'll get on with the regular allowance and save 20 quid?

If you rummage around the Eurostar website you'll find the rules and a number to baggage handling at St. P who have always been pretty helpful to me.

Bodhbh

http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/t ... cycles.jsp

On that getting the connection, last time I took a bike it was on the platform waiting for me as I got off the train. Previous time I think it took 5-10mins to appear, but aye it could be a bit stressful if there were any delays.

Butterd2

I'm going from Ebbsfleet to Aix-en-provence at the end of the month, I was just planning on bagging it up and walking onto the train. Are they likely to be policing this?

ram038

should be alright as my friend says he went to Flanders last year with bike in bag and did not encounter any problems from eurostar staff, his bag was standard 120 x 90 cm.

psmiffy

I paid the £20 to put my intact bike in the luggage - have to pay baggage handling company seperate to the ticket - most of the time you can get it to travel on the same train as you - very early trains are the exception (??? before 0830) trotted off the train in Paris - bike was in the luggage place - turn right off the plarforms, right again and about 100m on the left - loaded it up and off - no hassle

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=151774&v=3d

tebbit

I used the Eurostar last year with no real problems, I paid the 20 quid and they had the bike for me on the platform at GDN, handed them my ticket they gave me the bike, the lads at St Pancras again were helpful in the luggage department. The only fly in the ointment was a toss3r when I went to pick my train ticket up, who said you can't take the bike on the train, you need to book it into the luggage, got his supervisor involved etc. I explained to the supervisor that I had booked my luggage ticket and he gave me the directions to the office, besides the one idiot it was a painless experience.

I think I got the work experience lad on the desk, besides that I really enjoyed the Eurostar trip, the real down side was I was living in Paris at the time and the one weekend of the year my bloody brother decides to get married was the weekend of the Tour-de-France finishing in Paris, sodding typical.

Butterd2

Having just returned from my trip I can confirm that the Eurostar, the TGV and SNCF are all fine with bagged up bikes, some easier to find space on that others but no problems at all.

andymiller

As someone said, there's no great problem carrying bikes and other largish bags on Eurostar and TGV. The major problem is that the luggage racks at the end of the carriage fill up with small bags which should go in the overhead racks. Try to get there early so you are one of the first aboard.

I can see the arguments for simply paying the £10, but it's not a solution if you have an onward connection.

AndyF16

just to add my 2p worth, me and a mate went London-Lille and returned Brussels-London early in September with fully assembled MTB/hybrids for a short 5 day tour, and the staff in London and Lille were all great, and in Brussels could not have been more helpful, just brilliant.

One niggle was the policy of having to have a booking reference BEFORE you can make a reservation for your bike(s) - if you want the cheapest fares these are non changeable, so you have a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation; book your ticket and they may then not have bike spaces on that train, but you can't then change your ticket without paying again or for a huge upgrade.

The Eurodispatch people in London were helpful in telling me over the phone that there were bike spaces on the trains I wanted, so I then booked tickets and called them back within 5 minutes, but it's not an ideal system really - anyone had the same problem?

psmiffy

The time I used the Eurostar I got a really good deal on the ticket when I booked in advance - First Class for a third of the standard fare - did not hurt me to pay a few extra quid for the bike as luggage

Radioactiveman

I Used eurostar a couple of years ago for P to L and was able to leave my bike intact, they have special transport racks that hang it up by the front wheel

andymiller

It is irritating that you can't book tickets online. But you could reserve your seat online and then ring the call centre before you actually commit to buying. Obviously this only works in office hours.

unCivilServant

Hmm, my understanding is that Eurostar have the same rules as French national trains, ie 120x90, for which the luggage racks are designed. The '85cm rule' sounds more like Spanish trains :shock: : I nearly got my bagged bike chucked off the Paris-Madrid sleeper a few years ago for not realising quite how small luggage had to be for Spanish trains nor that this applied to the international sleeper.

"One niggle was the policy of having to have a booking reference BEFORE you can make a reservation for your bike(s) - if you want the cheapest fares these are non changeable, so you have a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation"

A situation we have domestically as well, with the sole exception (CMIIW) of East Coast trains.

andymiller

unCivilServant wrote:

Hmm, my understanding is that Eurostar have the same rules as French national trains, ie 120x90, for which the luggage racks are designed. The '85cm rule' sounds more like Spanish trains :shock: : I nearly got my bagged bike chucked off the Paris-Madrid sleeper a few years ago for not realising quite how small luggage had to be for Spanish trains nor that this applied to the international sleeper.

That isn't in fact the rule on Spanish trains:

http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/info/index.html

For anyone who would like to take a bike in a bag on a train I would recommend the Ground Effect Tardis which fits perfectly in the luggage racks of Eurostar, TGV, and Spanish and Italian equivalents and sits in the space above the door on sleeper trains.

However, I would make the general point that while train companies try to get customers to turn up with dinky little bags that will fit in the spaces the train designers designed for luggage, they are these rules are widely ignored: there is absolutely no reason for cyclists to fret about them, the train staff will help you find a place for your bag somewhere.

unCivilServant

andymiller wrote:

unCivilServant wrote:

Hmm, my understanding is that Eurostar have the same rules as French national trains, ie 120x90, for which the luggage racks are designed. The '85cm rule' sounds more like Spanish trains :shock: : I nearly got my bagged bike chucked off the Paris-Madrid sleeper a few years ago for not realising quite how small luggage had to be for Spanish trains nor that this applied to the international sleeper.

That isn't in fact the rule on Spanish trains:

http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/info/index.html

OK, so Spain's rules are worse :x than I remembered. 85 or 70cm, it's still a far cry from 120...(and would mean even a largeish rucksack is likely to exceed the limits*)

*How kind of RENFE to provide packing lists on the RH side of that page. I don't normally wear heeled shoes, but as a female will now be sure to pack some if I take a suitcase on one of their trains

andymiller wrote:

However, I would make the general point that while train companies try to get customers to turn up with dinky little bags that will fit in the spaces the train designers designed for luggage, they are these rules are widely ignored: there is absolutely no reason for cyclists to fret about them, the train staff will help you find a place for your bag somewhere.

I think that depends. If you turn up to a train (even a crowded one) with a bagged bike within the CoC limits, there should be no problem. If you turn up to a train that doesn't take unbagged bikes with a 'package' way over the limit then--especially if it's crowded--they are quite likely to (and reasonably so) have a go at you.

As I said above, my turning up for the Elipsos not quite knowing how stringent its rules were meant the guard/conductor initially flatly refused to let me take the bike on. The only reasons he didn't ultimately kick it/me off (forget about "help" to find somewhere for it) were that fortuitously 1) I happened to have a top bunk 2) everyone in the cabin was fairly short and 3) after a fraught round of multi-lingual pleading and arguing with him and the other passengers.**
So while it's true that a bike bag will get your bike on in *many* circumstances it's not officially allowed, it certainly shouldn't be assumed to be a universal solution.

**I made the return journey by dismantling the bike into the smallest bits possible, wrapping them innocuously and sneaking them on...Even then someone noticed it was a bike, thankfully this time it was 'congratulations on the ingenuity' rather than 'you can't take that on' 8)

andymiller

I didn't want to complicate the discussion by getting onto the rules about night trains - it is, or at least was, about the rules for Eurostar.

I think it's important to stress (for the benefit of people who are thinking about travelling by train) the diferences between night trains and day trains. Taking a bike in a bag on a day train (setting aside Spain) is pretty straightforward.

It's better to have a bag that fits in the luggage rack (hence my recommendation about the Ground Effect Tardis), but otherwise train staff are generally helpful (OK I've not turned up with a tandem or trike in a bag so I've never tested the limits of their helpfulness).

Night trains are different and very much a special case.

(There is space to carry bikes in a special compartment on French and German, and of course good old ScotRail sleepers - so if you use these you can safely ignore the rest of this).

The space in the 6-berth couchette carriages is very limited, so there are restrictions on carrying bikes on these trains to Italy and Spain. And setting aside the train company rules, there's the question of basic practicalities: if you turn up with very big luggage then you run the risk of making yourself unpopular with your carriage-mates. You could maybe, just maybe get away with one bike in a bag - either putting it above the door or behind the ladder, but don't even think about two.

The reason Uncivilservant had problems in Spain is not because he breached the size limits (although that obviously didn't help) but because the Spanish rules are that you are only allowed to carry bikes (in bags) if you occupy the whole sleeping compartment. Fortunately the conductor was either understanding, pragmatic or simply didn't want the aggro - or his multi-lingual pleading was so effective.

Either way, you can't generalise from this to Eurostar, TGVs etc which is what this discussion was about.

Here's a quick summary of the little I know about rules for carrying bikes on night trains:

- UK. Bike carriage facilities on ScotRail Caledonian Sleepers. I don't know if there are any restrictions on taking bikes into the compartments, but they are pretty small;

- France. Bike carriage facilities on sleeper trains (cost 10 euros I think). No ban on carrying bikes in bags (SFAIK) but subject to space in the compartment - or the lack of it;

- Spain (and sleeper trains to and from Spain). Bikes not allowed unless you occupy the whole compartment. You can get to Irún on an SNCF sleeper train;

- Italy. Bikes not allowed on the Artesia Sleeper trains between France and Italy. I don't know about sleeper trains within Italy;

- Germany (and Austria) there's a bike compartment on the City Night Line trains from Paris. Cost 15€. don't know about rules for bikes in bags or sleepers within/between Germany and Austria.

unCivilServant

andymiller wrote:

The reason Uncivilservant had problems in Spain is not because he breached the size limits (although that obviously didn't help) but because the Spanish rules are that you are only allowed to carry bikes (in bags) if you occupy the whole sleeping compartment. Fortunately the conductor was either understanding, pragmatic or simply didn't want the aggro - or his multi-lingual pleading was so effective.

Either way, you can't generalise from this to Eurostar, TGVs etc which is what this discussion was about.

Oi, less of the he! (note bit about the heeled shoes earlier...)

To be fair, the mention of Spanish trains only came about in trying to make sense of where the '85cm limit' quoted in the OP might have (but turned out not to) come from if not Eurostar.

I haven't carried bikes outside the UK on day trains other than bagged on Eurostar & TGV and unbagged in Norway (although have been flatly refused carriage on a Croatia-Slovenia one); so if someone does have lots of experience in this, fair enough.

But in trying to avoid generalising, it's reasonable to not want anyone being too complacent to the extent of thinking they will be fine for all trips in all situations. This was the mistake I made: RENFE had presumably always had the 'whole compartment' rule, but at the time (2006) the Seat 61 website didn't mention it and I'd assumed that what was OK for Eurostar/TGV (ie luggage with no special arrangements) would be OK universally. In some cases, doing the worrying/thinking before you make the booking is absolutely the right thing to do.

andymiller

You had problems on a Spanish sleeper train ie nothing whatsoever to do with Eurostar. A warning for anyine planning to take a sleeper - especially in Spain, but otherwise a bit of a red herring.

I've probably (I'd have to sit down and count) travelled on Eurostar more than 20 times carrying either a bike bag or a snowboard bag (and my big snowbaord bag is taller and wider than I am). I've never had a problem. I've never heard of anyone having a problem. No one on this thread (including uncivilservant himself) has had a problem. OK that doesn't guarantee that you won't have a problem if you turn up with an absolutely huge bag or two minutes before departure or whatever, but there is absolutely no reason to be put off using Eurostar.

craigenty

42 minutes to get from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon will be nerve racking too!

As soon as you get off the train, get your bike and leg it down stairs and find the RER-D line. I think it's two stops down the line and takes about 10 minutes.