Trains in Germany

[rich p]

I've mentioned this somewhere before but I've just checked on the possibilty of taking a loaded bike on a train from Bamberg to Munich and it would appear from bahn.de that the train would be an ICE. Apparently they do not allow bikes at all.

Does anyone know any more? Could I use regional trains with changes?

 

[TheDoctor]

IIRC there is an option to select trains with bike spaces.
Seat61 claims you can use the journey planner at http://bahn.hafas.de with 'carriage of bicycles required' box ticked.

 

[Andy in Sig]

You're right. ICEs don't take bikes but all the other German trains do, including ICs and ECs. You'll probably be able to do the journey with an IRE (inter-regional express) or slower IR trains. It definitely won't be a problem. The only other thing to remember is that the faster the train, the more likely it is compulsory to reserve a space for the bike.

I've just had a look at the Bahn website and for that journey there always seems to be an ICE train involved. You have to remember that this is because the website is programmed to always throw up the fastest routes. If I were in your position I would be very relaxed about wandering into Bamberg station and while buying my ticket, pointing out that I had my bike with me (Ich habe mein Fahrrad dabei). Ideally nip into the station the day before you travel, just in case a reservation for the bike is necessary.

Hasn't the Bahn got an office in the UK which you can ring?

 

[mcr]

If you want to find trains that don't require advance reservation, do as TheDoc says, but also check the 'only local transport' option, which means only the regional services will show up (in increasing order of slowness: IR/RE/RB/S). There's an hourly service with one or two changes (eg in Nuremberg or Augsburg) that takes about 3hrs 40mins. Watch out when you're typing in places names to add an 'e' when there's an umlaut (eg Muenchen) and it'll bring up the right selection. Any journey after 9am weekdays (or any hour at weekends) qualifies for the €21 Bayern-Ticket (unlimited local travel in Bavaria for a day; €28 for 2-5 people), but I'm not sure if that includes a bike ticket too (usually a few euros more - check the ticket machine at the station). Have fun - I shall be that way myself in the next few days, but training it rather than cycling on this occasion (hence my nerdish researches into DeutscheBahn...)

Matthew

PS As a follow-on from Andy's advice, note that they charge a couple of euros more per ticket if you get it from the manned ticket office as opposed to online or at the machine

 

[Andy in Sig]

Fair point. However, doing battle with those machines can be a complete bastard. I recently pedalled down to Radolfzell on Lake Konstanz and as the ticket office was shut, I had to use the machine. It took me about a quarter of an hour to work out how to get a bike ticket out of the damned thing and believe me, it was not a language problem.

 

[andym]

The bahn.co.uk website does indeed have an option to select trains that carry bikes. Click on 'Further search options' below the form for entering timetable enquiries. When the new page appears click 'bicycle carriage required'. Selecting regional/local trains only might get you the same results but the bikes option is most straightforward. If you type in 'muni' it recognises that you want 'Munich (München)' so no worries about umlauts.

You could always call their call centre 0871 880 8066- it costs 8p a minute. Having witnessed previous rounds of rich p vs Europe's railway systems this might be the least painful option [he said tongue in cheek].

The answer by the way is that there are shedloads of trains via Nürnberg. Looking at times for tomorrow for example there's a train leavin Bamberg at 10:35 change at Nürnberg and gets into Munich Hbf at 14:17. Other options with more changes are available.

 

[rich p]

Yup, thanks men. Even I seem to have cracked this one with your invaluable assistance!

 

[vernon]

Ringing the call centre is fruitful but the transaction takes ages owing to the waiting for a free member of staff and then dealing with the transaction itself.

From being placed in the call waiting queue to close of transaction took me thirty five minutes including 15 minutes waiting time.

 

[andym]

Ringing the call centre is fruitful but the transaction takes ages owing to the waiting for a free member of staff and then dealing with the transaction itself.

From being placed in the call waiting queue to close of transaction took me thirty five minutes including 15 minutes waiting time.

Not good.

I've dealt with their centre in Italy (by email and phone) and they were quick and efficient. I don't know whether this is a particular problem with the UK centre or you were just calling at a bad time.

 

[vernon]

Not good.

I've dealt with their centre in Italy (by email and phone) and they were quick and efficient. I don't know whether this is a particular problem with the UK centre or you were just calling at a bad time.

The pace of the transaction was so ponderous that I expected to receive hand printed tickets with hand written receipts.

the German assistant was very thorough but so very slow.

My first two attempts were failures. I was in a queue and was told that I was in position number one then the recorded message changed to one that told me that there had been a technical fault and could I ring again - this was after a fifteen minute wait in the queue. I duly did so only to get a recorded message to say that the call centre was now closed. The technical fault message was delivered at the very moment that the office closed.

The second attempt saw me move two places up in the queue in twenty minutes to position number three in the queue five minutes before closing time - I hung up.

I was not happy.

 

[andym]

Looks like when it comes to efficiency the Italians trump the Germans. The Rome office sorted out bike and seat reservations be email and I only had to ring to give them my credit card number and I got straight through. Perhaps DeutscheBahn don't have a local office in the UK while they do in Italy?

 

[rich p]

As a postscript, four of us turned up at Fussen bahnfoff at 10 am and bought a Bayern group ticket for 41 euros in total. We used regional trains with 3 changes for a journey of 250 miles or so to Bamberg. Extraordinarily easy and remarkably cheap.

A few issues with peple sitting in the cycle designated areas but all sorted reasonably.

 

[Andy in Sig]

So what do you think of Bamberg then? And have you been to have a look at Vierzehnheiligen?

 

[rich p]

So what do you think of Bamberg then? And have you been to have a look at Vierzehnheiligen?

Bamberg was great - one of the best of a spectacular bumch of towns on the Rom St. We camped in a delightful riverside site just south of the town which I would heartily recommend.

We didn't get to Vierzehnheiligen sadly. Our schedule meant we had to cycle to Wurzburg to get back to the car which was a lumpy but good 2 day ride with an overnight stop at a quirky camp in Ebrach. The cistercian monastery there was pretty spectacular though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebrach_Abbey

 

[Telemark]

This thread is useless without pictures ...
please!

T