Eurostar South of France Trains Bike Policy

[jamesgilbert]

There are some direct TGVs between Paris and Grenoble that accept undismantled bikes (for a 10 euro fee of course), but not all of them do - the double-decker TGVs don't have room for wheel-on bikes.

It is now very easy to find out which routes accept bikes and even book the tickets online, just use https://www.captaintrain.com

[Cycling UK Publicity]

Hi aooleary,

CTC met with Eurostar yesterday, and during the general discussion raised your query. As you've already found it, they're not going to budge on this issue, but for what appear reasonable reasons.

It's partially down to the length of the journey, which means they need to carry more food etc for the passengers which bites into their registered luggage facilities, but mainly is due to security and off-loading concerns. According to Eurostar, at the moment there simply is neither the infrastructure in place to ensure adequate security checking at their south of France destinations nor the staffing to ensure adequate unloading.

This isn't something that only affects those wishing to travel with their cycles, but everyone who needs to use their registered luggage service which is only available between:
- London and Paris
- London and Brussels
- London and Lille

Further details here:
http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-in ... e-services

There was no indication that this would be changing in the near future unfortunately.

While not good news, hopefully this explains the Eurostar position a bit more clearly.

All the best,

CTC

[robgul]

Hi aooleary,

CTC met with Eurostar yesterday, and during the general discussion raised your query. As you've already found it, they're not going to budge on this issue, but for what appear reasonable reasons.

It's partially down to the length of the journey, which means they need to carry more food etc for the passengers which bites into their registered luggage facilities, but mainly is due to security and off-loading concerns. According to Eurostar, at the moment there simply is neither the infrastructure in place to ensure adequate security checking at their south of France destinations nor the staffing to ensure adequate unloading.

This isn't something that only affects those wishing to travel with their cycles, but everyone who needs to use their registered luggage service which is only available between:
- London and Paris
- London and Brussels
- London and Lille

Further details here:
http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-in ... e-services

There was no indication that this would be changing in the near future unfortunately.

While not good news, hopefully this explains the Eurostar position a bit more clearly.

All the best,

CTC

Having used the Eurostar services to the S of France, sans bike, quite a few times the reasoning is fair and logical as far as "security" is concerned ...

.... on the outbound journey there is the usual checking in and security stuff at St Pancras, Ebbsfleet or Ashford - but at the stops en route Lyon, Avignon and ending in Marseille the platforms are open (i.e. you just get off the train and that's it - no barriers, or checks etc - there is no secure unloading)

... on the inbound journey you get on in France at an open platform (the seat allocations are checked at the carriage doors but that's about it) no security or control - that's all dealt with at Lille where everyone and their luggage has to leave the train and go through UK immigration and security (takes between 75 and 90 minutes) and get back on the same train.

That does make the "UK - Lille - change to TGV" method the obvious for both directions when with a bike (whilst Eurostar still take bikes . . . ) The return, even without a bike, is much more efficient to get a TGV to Lille and then get on a Eurostar (from Brussels) to the UK. The other downside of the S of France return journey is that the trains get into London pretty late - certainly too late, for example, for us to get home to Stratford-upon-Avon the same night.

Rob

Rob