Bicycles, Tandems and Recumbent Trikes on Trains in Germany and Neighbouring Countries Part 3: Long Distance Daytime Services

Accompanied Bicycle, Tandem and Trike Transport on Long Distance Daytime German Trains
 

Rail services in Germany are divided into two groups: Long distance (Fernverkehr) - non subsidized and regional trains (Nahverkehr) - local services provided by an operator and subsidized by a regional transport authority but ultimately by the provincial government. The long distance services are there to make a profit. Both types of service cooperate. Your journey might involve travelling on both long distance and regional services.  Both types of service have in some cases the capacity to carry bicycles and even tandems and trikes.

Deutsche Bahn (DB) Long Distance Services  Deutsche Bahn operates by far the majority of long distance passenger trains in Germany (https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml). It is a state-owned operator that makes a profit on its long distance routes. Only a small proportion of these services offer bicycle transport. It appears to us that the ideal passenger is seen as someone who carries one credit card (rather than two) and MacBook Air. DB long distance services use two types of train: the high speed Inter City Express (ICE) and the slightly slower and cheaper InterCity/EuroCity  trains (IC/EC). One of the five ICE classes will take a limited number of "normal" bicycles (in a cubby hole) as do many of the IC/EC trains. In the German conditions of carriage we discovered a surprising sentence (translated into English): 

"Special types of bicycles (e.g. tandem, recumbent) are not permitted on all long-distance trains that carry bicycles for reasons of capacity. You can obtain further information from all DB sales outlets." 

Next time we are in Mannheim and the ticket hall on the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) is not over full, we will chat to the staff to see what this sentence actually means. We will report back here when we have more information. I have checked with the ADFC, the German cycling club, the partner of DB in matters cycle transport, but I have yet to have a reply and I am not holding my breath. 

Basically tandems and special designs (trikes, quads, trailers) are not normally transported by DB, but there is at least one deceitful exception. In the days when I used to commute by train to Frankfurt, I met a family who had a Hase Pino, a tandem which is a cross between a recumbent and an upright. I asked the mother about putting the tandem on an Inter City train and was assured that the wheelbase was short enough to fit the bike in a single bike slot. Railway employees had never noticed it was a tandem. The latest models are demountable and can be divided before transport. A number of other tandem models are sold with couplings allowing dismounting. Whether the divided bike then counts as luggage in the same way as a folding bike? We don't know.

Flix Train (https://www.flixtrain.de/) offers a limited number of daytime connections in both directions between:
Köln (Cologne) - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Essen - Dortmund - Bielefeld* - Hannover - Berlin Spandau - Berlin Hbf - Berlin Südkreuz
*At present trains only stop in Bielefeld when travelling towards Berlin. 
Köln (Cologne) - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Essen - Gelsenkirchen - Münster – Osnabrück - Hamburg

These trains are cheaper than the DB trains, but are slower than the high speed ICEs. With their tandem or trike the happy trike or tandem rider is not welcome on these trains. "Normal" bicycles are carried, but to quote the company's conditions of carriage: 

 

"Bicycles must be of a standard size, without additional attachments, and may not exceed 20 kg (45 lbs). We recommend that you book your bicycle slot early due to limited capacity." 

Changing trains in Hamburg, Germany

If you are travelling south from Hamburg by train rather than using the main railway station, Hamburg Hauptbahnhof consider using the Dammtor station just to the north. The Hauptbahnhof is very busy, whereas Dammtor is much quieter. Just check that your train does stop there before heading south using www.bahn.de. Especially if you are going to put a bicycle on the train Dammtor is much easier to use.

New Deutsche Bahn High Speed Trains

Amazing! Deutsche Bahn German Railways has fought against putting bicycles on ICEs, their high speed flagship trains since they were first introduced more than 20 years ago.  The fat controllers have changed their minds in a big way. The latest class, the ICE4, will take at least 8 bikes, probably in summer. It is a miracle. I hope that we can use them when the trains come into service in late 2017.

Train travel with bike in Germany

Long distance train travel with a bicycle in Germany normally means changing trains more often than you would do without a bike.  It can be stressful and hard work. Few long distance trains in Germany take bicycles because the "Fat Controllers" of Deutsche Bahn (DB) are worried about the time it takes for cyclists to remove their steeds from ICE - high speed trains and the space bicycles take up. Bicycles are not allowed on these fast trains, which make up the majority of long distance trains in Germany. Some slower long distance trains do take bicycles, as do regional trains. The latter are specified and subsidised by provincial governments who are interested in encouraging cycle touring, so most German regional trains take bikes. When you book your ticket with DB the route seems to be  planned so you travel the maximum distance on DB long distance trains. What this means is that unless you are lucky, a cross country journey will not be the most direct route, but involve hopping from regional to long distance trains and back again. Fortunately DB issues you with a detailed plan of where to change and from what platform. (http://www.bahn.de/i/view/DEU/en/index.shtml) However this list omits to tell you how to get from one platform to the next, usually within five to ten minutes. Obviously if you just have cross from one side of an island platform to the other, it is easy. OK you might have to run from one end of your train to the other end of your connecting train, but see this as a little morning exercise, provided free of charge. If you have to change, say, from platform 1 to platform 3 you will need to cross the lines, i.e. descend to an underpass or climb a bridge. In larger stations there are lifts/elevators, but these can be very narrow and cause long queues of impatient cyclists, pram pushers, wheelchair users. In smaller stations or if the queue is too long the only option to descend to the underpass is via a flight of steps. This can be difficult, if the train was full of other passengers hurrying to catch their connection and the cyclist is not a well trained weight lifter. A laden touring bike is difficult to carry down and up a flight of steps. There is a cure to the problem and German station designers only have to travel to Switzerland to experience this. Swiss railway stations have ramps to the platforms. They are simple and effective and they don't break down. Why few ramps in Germany? Too low tech or maybe they might take up space that could be used for yet another cafe, hamburger joint and  shop selling pots and pans. The next problem comes when the train arrives. You have two minutes to get yourself, bike and baggage on the train. Sometimes other cyclists are descending. Sometimes you need to carry the bike up a flight of steps resembling the Eiger North Wall. It pays to take your panniers off the bike and if you are not on your own, work as a team. Once you get on board, you need to find your bike slot where you might have to hang your bike from a hook or slot the front wheel over a lower hook. Fat MTB tyres can be a problem in both cases.


Although there are some stressful aspects to travel with trains, on the other hand you meet other cyclists who are very helpful in our experience. It is an all hands to the pump situation.  In our experience German Railway employees are also  helpful as well.

Bicycles on commuter trains in Germany during the rush hour.

Trains in Germany fall into two main groups: subsidised regional trains and non subsidised long distance trains. The majority of trains are run by Deutsche Bahn (DB). The company is required to run the long distance services at a profit. The InterCityExpress long distance trains (ICE), DB's high speed flagships do not take bicycles, apart from bagged folded folders. However we often travel with our bagged Bromptons on ICEs.  Some long distance trains: InterCity (IC/EC) and overnight sleeper trains (CityNightLine - CNL) have reservable bike spaces. A bike ticket costs 9€ per journey, even if you change trains underway. We recommend you to reserve bike slots three months in advance if you are travelling on these trains with a bike, because they are very popular with cyclists.
You can neither reserve seats nor bike slots on regional trains. Sometimes you pay to put your bike on the train. Sometimes it's free to transport a bike on the regional trains. It varies from region to region and which ticket you buy. It is worthwhile trying to avoid travelling on regional (commuter trains) with an accompanied bicycle during weekday rush hours (07:30 - 09:00 and 16:30 - 18:00). There are limits to the number of bicycles allowed on a train. Once this is exceeded you can be asked to leave the train with your bicycle. If the train is very full the conductor may stop you getting on the train with your bicycle. It is no use arguing because the conductor will keep the train in the station and call on the Bundespolizei (Federal Police) to remove you. Just get off the train and wait for the next one. Otherwise the train will be delayed for anything up to an hour . The other passengers on the train will not be happy. The reputation of cyclists will get a black mark and the reputation of your native country will go down the pan as well.

A winter excursion to Copenhagen Part I

Deutsche Bahn (DB) German Railways offer BahnCards - a range of reduced price cards giving substantial discounts on travel. One of the side benefits of buying a card is that you are offered a cheap trip to a specific destination from time to time. Recently we were offered a trip to Copenhagen and decided since this is probably the most cyclist-friendly city in the world, it would be a good place to exercise our Bromptons. In addition because we would be travelling on ICEs, we could check out the ease of travel with a folding bicycle on German high speed trains.

We took the midmorning ICE from Mannheim to Hamburg via Hanover which takes about four and a half hours to reach Hamburg. We had two seats in the middle of the open plan section of the first or second generation stock which was ideal, near to the luggage stand and with room between the seats to slip in a Brompton. We had 50 minutes or so to change trains in Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, but were rather surprised to see a very short ICE-TD with just four carriages arrive to take us to Copenhagen. Normally ICEs are nine or ten carriages long. However anything longer than four carriages would not fit on the ferry. Again the train was full, but there was room enough between seats to store the bikes. If we had needed we could stored them on luggage racks in the middle of the train.

The run from Hamburg to the German ferry port at Puttgarden is pleasant enough through Holstein. Passengers must leave the train once it arrives on the ship. The trip on ship was not so exciting. It was a pitch black November night and so we did not see anything. The ship's journey takes 45 minutes which is just enough time to eat a moderately expensive snack, or hit the duty free shop to buy chocolate, beer and spirits. Our Danish train conductor announced that due to urgent bridge repairs that we would transfer to a bus to Copenhagen in Nykobing. This went well and there was no problem popping the bikes and our bags in the lockers under the bus.

We arrived at the central station Københavns Hovedbanegård at about 20:30 on cold windy pitch night. The cycling facilities in Copenhagen are mind boggling, e.g. wide physically separate cycleways and green wave traffic lights for cyclists. We suspect that any British, American or even German cyclist cycling around Copenhagen would think they had popped their clogs and gone to heaven. However we are from the North of England, so any chance to complain should be taken: There are no town plans on display in the station and thus no cycle routes on display. We needed to go the south of the city to the Amager Youth Hostel. Fortunately drawing on many years of carrying out research for our cycle touring guide books, we had a city plan tucked in the back of a guide book and had googled and printed out the approach to the Youth Hostel. We peered out of various entrances, managed to orientate ourselves with the help of the lights of the Tivoli pleasure gardens and studied our maps. We worked out our route and moved out. It was Saturday night. Road traffic was fairly heavy. There are few signposts for cyclists, but we had no trouble getting out of the centre and across the Langebro bridge over the harbour canal. We turned off into a area of tenements still on a cycle track and then got lost. In the ensuing efforts to find our way we lost the guide book, but not the map. Finally we found our way past the university campus to the hostel. 

Changing trains in Hamburg

If you need to travel a long way with Deutsche Bahn German Railways you will more than probably need to change trains. Trains in Germany often work on the hub principle beloved of US airlines. If it is just a case of walking from one side of a platform to the other this is no problem, but if you need to get from one side of a major station to the other then it can be difficult.  One of the ideas that would help the progress of the human race would be a chart of actual change times at various railway stations. 

We changed trains in Hamburg Hauptbahnhof last night. Theoretically our train to Mannheim left 8 minutes after our train from Copenhagen arrived. Our train was four minutes late arriving, so we had four minutes to ascend to the connecting bridge, run over approximately eight platform widths, descend to the departure platform and get on our train, and all this with two folded Bromptons and two quite heavy hand held bags. In addition there were a number of folk with immense hard shell cases who were not sure that this was their train, so needed to stop on the stairs, at the bottom of the stairs and by the train door to enquire and reflect. We fell onto the train soaked in sweat and in urgent need of a beer. 

There is a way round this problem. When you use the German Railway timetable website: www.bahn.co.uk, you can adjust the Duration of Transfer when you set up your journey. Quarter of an hour or twenty minutes for changes is not a bad idea.

German Railways, yet again

Sorry about this but we saw a news item that struck us as important enough to publish a quickie blog about it: The ADFC the German cycling club has issued a map online that lets cyclists travelling through Germany find which long distance trains still take bicycles. There is a growing trend for Deutsche Bahn to replace ICs and ECs with ICE (Very High Speed Trains) that do not take bikes. If you then wish to travel with your bike on one of the routes where only ICEs run, then you will need to either have a folding bike or take to the regional trains, by far the majority of which take bikes. These are however much slower and long journeys can involve changing 6 or 7 times. Check the map at www.adfc.de/bahn. The map is in German, but is fairly obvious what it means. Click on "Netzkarte" and then you can see the words "Interaktive Entdeckerkarte". Below this there is a row of words: Täglich (Daily) Donnerstag (Thursday) Freitag (Friday) Samstag (Saturday) Sonntag (Sunday)Gesamtübersicht (Total). You can download various maps as pdf files. You will still need to check the German Railways website (www.bahn.co.uk) to find out the times of the trains.