Bikes on Trains, Belgium/Luxembourg

[Des of Anerley BC]

Information required. I am travelling in a group of 5 on a bike tour of the Mosel and Rhine. We are booked with bikes on Eurostar. What I want to know is about taking bikes on the trains from Brussels Midi station thru to Luxembourg. I understand that there is an express train on this route, which takes bikes. However as far as I can ascertain we must get bike tickets for Brussels to Belgium border, and a separate ticket from border to Luxembourg city station (although journey is on the same thru train).
Does anyone have experiences of this route with bikes?
Another query. Is there a separate dedicated space (goods van type?) for multiple bike carriage, or just a couple of spaces like most UK trains? If space is very restricted should we book bikes in advance?
Railway web sites that I have looked at not helpful, neither was an e-mail to Belgium railways!
Any advice would be appreciated.
Des of Anerley B.C

 

[mcr]

I've researched this route in the past but offer no first-hand experience of actually achieving it with a bike. However, I have recently travelled without bike on the route in question and the hourly trains are open-carriage inter-city types with no discernible guards van and only the lobbies for bikes and luggage (ie with 5 of you you'd need to spread your bikes along the train - if there were dedicated bike spaces I didn't see them). There are a couple of extra international trains using Swiss carriages daily on this route (the EC ones) and I've seen them at Brussels - they do have dedicated bike hangers in each carriage. In either case, you'll need to buy a bike ticket each at Brussels (about €5 IIRC).

It's probably too late if you've booked already, but for a mere £5-10 each extra return you could have booked 'any station in Belgium' tickets on Eurostar which effectively give you 24 hours of 'free' travel in the country and would take you to the Luxembourg border (at Arlon) on the same ticket. Incidentally, Arlon is only c35km from Luxembourg city so could be cycled if needs be. But you should be able to buy a through ticket via SNCB's international sales (I had a Eurostar through-ticket so had to by an international add-on at Luxembourg for the bit as far as Arlon.)

I travelled in the opposite direction on a Tuesday afternoon and there was loads of space. You'll have the advantage starting from Brussels in that the trains start from there so you can grab spaces early (I'm not sure that you can actually prebook bikes on Belgian railways).

Hope this helps, though bear in mind that things may have changed in the past year.

Incidentally, see my sig for my own tour in that area last year!

 

[Brains]

A bit late now, but the end of the Rhein is at Rotterdam.
I would have got the Harwich/hook of Holland overnight ferry,
Its a lot less hassle, probably cheaper, and you would arrive at the exact point where the river meets the sea.
(And you simply ride the bike onto and off the ferry)

I would then have used the bike friendly Dutch and German rail systems to get to the start (or get to the end depending on your direction)

 

[Des of Anerley BC]

It's probably too late if you've booked already, but for a mere £5-10 each extra return you could have booked 'any station in Belgium' tickets on Eurostar which effectively give you 24 hours of 'free' travel in the country and would take you to the Luxembourg border (at Arlon) on the same ticket. Incidentally, Arlon is only c35km from Luxembourg city so could be cycled if needs be..

Thank you for your reply. We have already bought thru tickets to "any station in Belgium", and as you point out will be transiting thru Arlon. The problems occur with the bikes. As I understand it, although we can book the pax thru to Arlon with Eurostar, we can only book bikes as far as Brussels. I think I am correct in saying that for us as passengers we only need to get extra tickets from Arlon to Luxembourg (although the journey is on the same thru train). However for the bikes we need 2 tickets, one to Arlon with Belgium railways, and another from Arlon to Luxembourg with the Luxembourg railway company.
From Luxembourg we are cycling on to Trier for our 1st overnight stay. We did consider cycling from Arlon but decided to play it safe, time wise, and entrain all the way to Luxembourg. However if Arlon/Lux is only 35k, perhaps we should take your suggestion on board.
I did contact Belgium railways for info on how many, and what type of bike spaces, there were, but the answer was non specific and did not answer the question.
Last year in Spain we (a part of 4) had problems with bikes. When we boarded a long distance train there were already 5 bikes on board and only allocated space for 4!

 

[Des of Anerley BC]

A bit late now, but the end of the Rhein is at Rotterdam.
I would have got the Harwich/hook of Holland overnight ferry,
Its a lot less hassle, probably cheaper, and you would arrive at the exact point where the river meets the sea.
(And you simply ride the bike onto and off the ferry)
I would then have used the bike friendly Dutch and German rail systems to get to the start (or get to the end depending on your direction)

Thanks for your suggestion. Perhaps something to consider for the future.
I do not know costs of Harwich/Hook ferry but Eurostar was £45 for each pax London/Belg border. Not too expensive compared to previous overnight ferries to Normandy and Brittany. However the bike fare of £30 each way on Eurostar is a rip off, a lot more expensive than my last time with bikes by air! However, lots of bad experiences with airports and bikes on planes, so never again!
Living in Greater London, getting to St Pancras is a lot quicker, cheaper, and easier than Harwich or any other port, so letting the train take the strain is a bonus!

 

[mcr]

Thank you for your reply. We have already bought thru tickets to "any station in Belgium", and as you point out will be transiting thru Arlon. The problems occur with the bikes. As I understand it, although we can book the pax thru to Arlon with Eurostar, we can only book bikes as far as Brussels. I think I am correct in saying that for us as passengers we only need to get extra tickets from Arlon to Luxembourg (although the journey is on the same thru train). However for the bikes we need 2 tickets, one to Arlon with Belgium railways, and another from Arlon to Luxembourg with the Luxembourg railway company.
From Luxembourg we are cycling on to Trier for our 1st overnight stay. We did consider cycling from Arlon but decided to play it safe, time wise, and entrain all the way to Luxembourg. However if Arlon/Lux is only 35k, perhaps we should take your suggestion on board.
I did contact Belgium railways for info on how many, and what type of bike spaces, there were, but the answer was non specific and did not answer the question.
Last year in Spain we (a part of 4) had problems with bikes. When we boarded a long distance train there were already 5 bikes on board and only allocated space for 4!

I can see your concern. However, I get the impression (and it is only that), that bike carriage in Belgium is a little less formalised than you may be used to elsewhere and it's customary to just turn up and go. (At the very worst, there's at least one train every hour on that route, if you had to spread yourselves out.) And as I said before, you're at the starting station of the route so have as much time as you need to find the right spaces.

As for the bike ticket, I found the following in the terms & conditions on the Belgian Rail website (Google-translated from French):

Transport bike / tandem cross-border traffic to Roosendaal, All Luxembourg Gare, Lille / Jeumont / Aulnoye is charged at international rates. A traveler who can not produce a valid ticket for transporting his bike / tandem to these destinations is regulated according to international rules.​

I read that as suggesting you need an international bike ticket rather than the normal Belgian Railways one to take any train to cross the border (in this case it covers you to any station in Luxembourg) for the full journey. Presumably, you can just ask for an International Bicycle Ticket (€12) at the Brussels Midi ticket office between trains (I can't find anything more on the website). Otherwise, you can easily get the SNCB single (€5) or day (€8) bike tickets in advance from the above website as pdfs (or even buy them on the train) if you decide to bike it from Arlon.

 

[andym]

I looked at the Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry, and the price of the joint train-ticket makes it very good value. The major problem is the departure times: there are two ferries a day: one overnight, and one that leaves at something like 10am. The 10am would be perfect if you want to hook up with a sleeper train - if you can get to Harwich in time. The overnight ferry would be a good bet if you are planning to get a short to medium-distance train.