Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => The Dark Side => Topic started by: diapsaon0 on 14 February, 2023, 10:53:03 am
-
Just wondering if anyone has had experience of taking a trike on the railways? My ICE Adventure does fold, but it's still bulky - can I carry it as luggage?
-
Hahahhahahaha no. (DAHIKT)
In principle you could dismantle and bag it, at which point it becomes Luggage, and nobody cares. Except that it still weighs the same, and no longer has wheels, so it's basically impossible to carry. To say nothing of any actual luggage you may also have to deal with. If you thoroughly research the working timetable and pick a train that's going to have a nice long dwell time at a consistent platform, it might be possible to dismantle the trike next to the relevant train door and lug it on, but it's the sort of thing that makes the cost and stress of driving seem like a good idea.
Any arguments based on a) common sense or b) disability[1] will get you approximately nowhere. If you're thinking you could wheel it onto the train and then dismantle, it, see (a).
That said, we've had a bit more luck with the local commuter trains (back when they were London Midland), whose cycle provision was "put it where it will fit", during off-peak hours. Not attempted it since barakta went electric-assist though, as you have to remove the battery to lift the trike.
[1] If a non-electric cycle is designed or adapted for use by a disabled person, it becomes a Class I Invalid Carriage - legally equivalent to a manual wheelchair. While this means you can ride it on the pavement, for example, it doesn't help you with trains, because they have dimensional restrictions for wheelchairs that the ICE trike doesn't even vaguely come close to.
-
Typical lack of concern from our railways - despite all the political parties claiming to want to go green! I read too that Brittany Ferries want to charge a trike as a car!
Thanks for the info - I won't bother to challenge the jobsworths at our local railway station where they don't even have a lift - so I had to carry my bike + luggage over a steep footbridge each time I travelled. Won't bother to renew my senior railcard.
-
Don't think you would fare any better in a different country - "It ain't necessarily so" (G&I Gershwin). I have just been investigating local trains for a ride in Britanny and anything outside the size and shape of a standard up-wrong is not carried - no tandems, trikes, recumbents of any shape or form, cargobikes, trailers etc... At peak travel times the only bike allowed is a folded and bagged folder (so mine might be going cycle-camping again!) And in case you thought that week-ends and public holidays were outside peak hours, think again. The rules do change a bit between regions and even lines however.
https://g6i7g8i8.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TERVELO-Depliant-2021.pdf
Information does vary a little bit even at the SNCF so they do say that your tandem or trailer ("remorque" or "cariole" following usage made thereof) can travel if dismantled, folded up and put in bags - if you happen to have a tandem designed or adapted to do that! I wouldn't want to paint it all as gloom and doom, they are making some very serious efforts.
-
If the politicians are serious about reducing pollution, they need to take some action on this one - and fast!
-
I agree on the pollution point and yet look how much opposition they face for building a railway instead of another two or three lanes of motorway.
The British public are so fickle and inconsistent in their demands.
We found the trains in both Denmark and The Netherlands to be bike friendly when we were last in each of those countries. If cycling is part of your national ethos then the bicycle acquires the status of essential as oppose to quirky.
-
Hope things improve. I'd hoped that it was possible to book a trike on our trains - would be so much easier that driving in many cases.
-
Some brave and strong souls have taken HPV Gekko trikes on trains. These have a folding seat which stays on the trike and the folded trike can be rolled verticqlly in theory. I think you're are still subject to the whim of the guard, and only possible on the double open door commuter trains off-peak I'd expect.
-
My experience is 10 years old now but I did manage my ice sprint on trains in the UK - this was the Colchester to London line with a guard’s van.
-
My experience is 19 years old now but I did manage my ice sprint on trains in the UK - this was the Colchester to London line with a guard’s van.
Probably the most cycle-friendly service this side of Scotland, although presumably the new rolling stock have brought this in line with BRITISH standard rubbishness.
-
If the politicians are serious about reducing pollution, they need to take some action on this one - and fast!
They aren't, but they like to make the right noises.
~7 years ago I spoke with someone at Network rail who told me that trains are basically at capacity, so they increase rail fare to stop more people using the trains.
-
They have a problem with peak capacity but since there are no efforts to smooth demand across the day / week that’s what they will get. There are plenty of times in the day / week when trains are below 20% capacity.
Plus all they really need to do is have those fold down seats for peak capacity and let the space be used for bikes / trikes outside that window.
-
I read too that Brittany Ferries want to charge a trike as a car!
I saw this on the CTC forum, but I think it's been resolved.
-
I hope so - BF is my nearest ferry port.
-
I read too that Brittany Ferries want to charge a trike as a car!
In which case you’ll be able to have 4 “passengers” with you at no extra cost.
-
I've done it in the past.
Slow local trains tend to have doors wide enough to just wheel the trike in and a bike space by the loo where it can be parked.
It's then a question of will the platform staff/train guard let you get away with it when travelling off-peak.
Faster local/intercity trains tend to have door that are to narrow the wheel a trike through.
In which case it's fold the trike and put it in a soft bike bag.
Then it's not a trike but over sized/weight luggage.
But you now need to lift the trike/bag onto the train.
Not the easiest thing to do through a narrow intercity train door.
It help if you start the trip at a terminus as that gives you more time to bag/load the trike onto the train.
Luck ....... ;D
-
Thanks. I've had to cancel a gig on Sunday. Absolutely no way to do it and would be totally stuck if a train guard was difficult. I'll have a go one day when I've got plenty ofttimes and a backup.
-
My experience is 19 years old now but I did manage my ice sprint on trains in the UK - this was the Colchester to London line with a guard’s van.
Probably the most cycle-friendly service this side of Scotland, although presumably the new rolling stock have brought this in line with BRITISH standard rubbishness.
I can confirm there are no longer any guards' vans in E Anglia. The stopping trains don't need a reservation but in theory the Norwich-bound (fast) ones do, though I've generally managed without thus far.
Norwich trains are level with platform and you want coach D, and separate from the wheelchair space in coach C.
Other trains to sunny Ipswich aren't and are 2x5coaches (iirc) with there being bike spaces in one coach (I assume in each of the 5 coaches but never looked). Don't recall where the wheelchairs go though, soz.
Both trains are double doors.
No idea how you'd be greeted if arriving with a trike or anything lse non-standard.
-
If the politicians are serious about reducing pollution, they need to take some action on this one - and fast!
You'll be waiting a long time
-
They can't even handle unfolding upwrongs. Coming back from Cambridge North around 7pm in the summer (new guy in the office, pub, one beer) "Officious Twunt" of a guard wouldn't let me into the vestibule of a normal carriage (<20% full) and directed me to the back. Before I got there, he'd locked the doors and the train pulled away - utterly pointless jobsworthness
-
Book a wheelchair ticket and ride up the ramp into the train.
While a tricycle modified for a disabled person might qualify as a Class I Invalid Carriage, it would likely fall foul of the wheelchair size restrictions for carriage on trains.