FAQ - Eurostar and Bikes (and other trains)

One of our concerns for our trip in July was whether we would be able to carry our hard bike cases onto the Eurostar train (between London and Lille). In reviewing the Eurostar website, there was some conflicting information - because while on the one hand it mentioned that you didn't need to check baggage, just carry it onto the train - yet on the other hand, it mentioned that "you *should* use our registered baggage service" if you were travelling with bicycles or had too much/too heavy luggage. We wanted no part of the registered baggage service, because we were going to be taking a connecting train from Lille to Arras, so having our bikes arrive in Lille within 24 hours wasn't really helpful if we were already in Arras.

The Eurostar help pages listed that "A bicycle can be carried on Eurostar provided it can be folded or dismantled to fit into a bicycle bag. It can then be carried as part of a passenger's baggage and stowed in an appropriate area in the carriage where passengers are seated." So, this was a bit more helpful - it seemed to suggest that as long as your bike was dismantled and you could carry it on yourself it wouldn't be a problem. But, we weren't sure if they were going to differentiate between a soft bike bag and our hard bike cases.

We also saw this on the help pages: "Your luggage must be no more than two metres in length. Although there is no weight limit, you must be able to lift it into the storage racks provided". So, again we figured we were good, as our cases were just under 2m high and we were able to carry them ourselves.

Yet, on the other hand, when I tried to search on the web for other people's experiences, most of what I found was people using the registered baggage service. So, I even called Eurostar to check, and was told that as long as the bike was dismantled and in a case/bag we could carry it on.

I was a bit nervous checking in at Waterloo station, hoping that we wouldn't be told arbitrarily that our cases were too large and had to be checked in. Other than them not fitting into the x-ray machine of the lineup we were in and having to move over a few lines, we had no problems checking in or going through security. We made sure though to be near the gate entrance right at the time that boarding was due to start, so that we could be among the first to load our cases into the baggage section on our carriage - they stuck out at least 6-8 inches into the aisle, but no Eurostar employees seemed to care in the slightest.

We developed a routine of getting the cases on and off the trains - Ed would take his on board, then I'd hand mine up to him then get on myself (we had our luggage in backpacks/travel packs which made life a lot easier, to have our hands free for the bike cases). Getting off, basically Ed would hand everything off to me on the platform, including the backpacks, and then we'd get organized on the platform rather than trying to put on our packs on the train and manoeuvre the cases off the train while wearing the packs. This worked for the Eurostar, the regional TER train from Lille to Arras, and a few days later the TGV from Arras to Paris - Gare du Nord.

Once in Lille, we had to leave the Lille-Europe station and walk across a bridge to the Lille-Flandres station, where we waited for the regional TER train to Arras. Our excitement for that part of the trip was the lady who vomited in the station, and then later relieved herself in our train car ... most passengers then vacated that car, particularly when the urine puddle made its way down the car. We didn't want to move our cases, but the conductor finally convinced us that our cases would be safe unattended and that we could sit further down in the next car.

A few days later, taking the TGV from Arras to Paris, there was already a lot of baggage in the designated area - but there was an empty table and bench seat across so we stacked our cases there. Again, no train employee seemed to care where they were.

As a side note, we had taken our cases on the Underground from Heathrow Airport to Earls Court Station then walked to our hotel, pushing/pulling the cases. Our hotel was probably a bit closer to the next station (Gloucester Road) but it wasn't fully accessible. Even with wheelchair accessible stations (ie. no stairs which would have been nearly impossible with the cases), there were still long corridors to pull/push the cases and it was a tiring ordeal. So, we got our concierge to book us a van to Waterloo Station when we left and it was quite reasonable. At Paris- Gare du Nord, the taxi line was way too long (and we probably would have needed 2 taxis unless we were lucky enough that a minivan showed up when it was our turn), so we hired a "limo" van - expensive, but worth avoiding the hassle of hauling the cases through the Paris Metro system (and our closest station wasn't accessible anyway). We were lucky when we eventually got back to Paris that an Australian we met on our bus tour had a rental van and drove us to our next hotel. Then we took the Air France shuttle bus, which was quite convenient from our hotel, to the airport when we finally left France.

Anyway, maybe detailing our experiences here will help someone else in future, because I couldn't find a lot of information online about bikes in cases and trains before we went. (I should add - we did all our train travel at off-peak hours, generally between 10 am and 3 pm, so that probably made things easier as well).