Carrying a Cargo Bike in European Trains?

Upvote:2

Complementing Tor-Einar's answer, NS International (the international service of Dutch national railways) has a very neat summary on the rules to carry bikes within the different carriers for Belgium, France, Germany and Austria here. The rules for domestic service are here (Dutch only)

A quick summary below - unless mentioned, this is for taking a bike as a bike, not as oversized luggage.

  • Dutch domestic service: cargo bikes ("bakfietsen") are not allowed
  • Intercity Brussels: cargo bikes are allowed with a supplementary ticket of 12 euros per single journey, and they charge an extra reservation fee of 4 euros if you want to take it in July or August (this has to be done on a service desk or by phone). Note that you may NOT carry luggage strapped to the bike and some parts of the trip don't allow bikes either
  • Thalys: it needs to be disassembled and packed into a case of max 135 x 85 x 30 cm
  • TGV: front wheel needs to be dismantled and bike needs to be covered with a slip cover, max dimensions 120 x 90 cm
  • Eurostar: no bikes allowed
  • ICE: must be disassembled and packed as luggage, max 120 x 90 cm (lxw). Cargo bikes not allowed in the Intercity Berlin
  • ÖBB Nightjet (Amsterdam to Vienna, Munich, Innsbruck): after April 2022, you may take a bike if it is disassembled and packed in a case of 85 x 85 cm

Upvote:4

I am not sure if your question is too broad for this format or are you really just looking for any arbitrary train where you can bring a cargo bike?

If that is your question, you can at least do it on some ÖBB trains (Austrian Railways). Not as a regular bike, but as cargo or oversized luggage in trains which still have luggage wagons or designated luggage compartments. You can't book the ticket online, but have to call ÖBB customer service or go to a ticket counter to make a reservation.

Even if cargo bikes often exceed the allowed size of bikes transported in trains, I would assume that all trains still running with luggage cars allow cargo bikes to be brought under the same conditions as any other oversized luggage.

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