Bikes on trains

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishrail.ie/your_journey...nformation.asp

Bicycle Information

On Intercity services Iarnród Éireann can carry a minimum of three bicycles: Dublin’s Heuston to/From Ballina, Westport, Galway, Limerick, Ennis, Tralee, Cork, and Waterford. Dublin Connolly to/from Belfast and Sligo. Bicycles are only accepted on a first come first serve basis. Charges below:


Fares 2009 ~ Bicycles
Distance Examples Fare Zone Single Return
Dublin -
up to 56km Kildare/ Drogheda A-E €2.50 €5.00
up to 108km Gorey/ Muine Bheag/ Tullamore/ Ballybrophy F-H €4.00 €8.00
up to 137km Templemore/ Athlone/ Longford/ Kilkenny/ Enniscorthy J-K €5.50 €10.50
over 137km Cork/ Limerick/ Tralee/ Galway/ Mayo/ Sligo/ Waterford L-U €8.00 €16.00

DART or Commuter trains bicycles cannot be carried unless folded and suitably covered.

Bicycle Hire

Do you want to enjoy the best the Irish Countryside has to offer after stepping off the train? If so the various bicycle hire companies below can offer you the freedom at your own pace - rent a bicycle. With their extensive local knowledge, they are on hand to help answer any questions you may have regarding cycling in Ireland. Furthermore they will provide you up to 10% off bicycle hire for Iarnród Éireann customers whether you are interested in renting for an hour, a day or a week. So what are you waiting for saddle up!

[markpb]

Originally Posted by Victor

On Intercity services Iarnród Éireann can carry a minimum of three bicycles:

A minimum? Surely they mean a maximum.

[Colm Moore]

Well, for intercity its either 3 on a 22000 (6 on a 2x3-car train) or a nominal 6 on a Mk3, Mk4 or Enterprise. I think 2700s are the only other trains with specific provision for bikes.

All trains can carry folding bikes as normal luggage.

[Colm Moore]

Official website: www.dublinbikes.ie

Useful colour-coded map showing bike availibility: www.dubsonwheels.com

[Colm Moore]

http://cuffestreet.blogspot.com/

There's been a good take up of the Cycle to Work scheme by Irish Rail employees. 230 applications have been made from the 4,500 staff who work for Irish Rail. That's a 5% take-up rate, which is pretty impressive, given that so many of their staff live a short walk from rail stations. I went on to discuss the bikes on trains issue. I've been in endless correspondence with the company on this one. With the elimination of "guard's vans" it's been difficult in recent years to get your bike onto trains. Mr. Fearn says however that all inter-city trains are once again taking bikes. There's space for three on three carriage sets, and six on six-car trains. I raised the cost of travelling with a bike which can be as much as €8 on a single journey. Mr. Fearn pointed out that the three bike places involved the elimination of four seats, and that the spaces have to pay for themselves. One bit of good news is that from June it will be possible to pre-book space for bikes on the Irish Rail web-site, which is welcome news. Hopefully the website will provide better information on this topic, and API so that people can build better timetable or realtime info apps as @Ciaran_Lee suggested to me on Twitte . I still believe more needs to be done for cyclists. In Holland, 40% of train journeys involve a cycle to or from the station. A simple improvement would be to provide better cycle parking at stations. There are improvements underway at Connolly, but almost all other stations could benefit from improved cycle parking. Cllr. Mark Deary asked me to mention the need for secure bike-parking at Dundalk Station, and Mr. Fearn said he would investigate this. The Government's Smarter Travel document recommends that bikes should be taken off-peak on suburban rail, and Mr. Fearn said he will introduce a pilot scheme on the Maynooth and Drogheda services shortly. I urged him to implement this recommendation on the DART as soon as possible.

[Padna]

Not sure what Mark Dearey is on about. There is a bike parking area at Dundalk Station. I guess how "secure" it is depends on the quality of your lock!

[tigger1962]

I regularly parked my bike in dundalk station. I admit I was afraid of it being stolen the first few times but its as secure as anywhere else in Dundalk. It would be nice though to have a slightly more secure location say where only commuters have access..