Cycling using trains (in UK and EU)

[bohrsatom]

How do advance TGV tickets work in terms of cancellation/amendments?

Generally TGV INOUI tickets are refundable/exchangeable free of charge up to 7 days prior to departure else a 19eur charge applies: https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/help/conditions.

Travelling with a bicycle brings extra difficulty as close to departure you're unlikely to find a train with bike spaces available. Your only option might be to refund and go the slow route by TER.

In 2022 I travelled from London to Bordeaux via Dover, Calais and Paris. Whilst most trains were flexible, the Paris-Bordeaux TGV required a bike reservation and I'd have been stuffed had I missed that train. In the end I booked two tickets (+ bike spaces) for different Paris-Bordeaux departures (one 6h after the other) and cancelled Plan B when I got to Montparnasse station on time. I had to pay the fee for cancelling but as an insurance policy it was well worth it.

[MrsHJ]

How do advance TGV tickets work in terms of cancellation/amendments?

[I'm travelling end of July - but there is no obvious best route, not even an obvious best ferry crossing! - so I'm not very keen to fix my plans months ahead. I can always get where I'm going on TERs if needs be i.e. buy tickets last minute.]

I got my tickets too- I’ve put big gaps in between trains for the reasons that Bohrsatom has outlined above- we cross posted so I’m duplicating info here. I’m having to do a dog leg due to the bike- Nimes does have TGV that go to Paris via Lyon but no bike spaces. The Atlantic line is better so Nimes-Bordeaux-Paris MPN-Morlaix. My carte advantage saved me €1 after taking the €49 cost of the card into account but I’ll be able to use it on other journeys too. It’s particularly valuable for couples.

Please see the photo. I think D-6 means 6 days before. I also seem to remember it used to be 3 days before. I have changed my tickets before.

Careful in TERs in holiday areas- eg Brittany, the Rhone valley and the Loire valley- some of them have some extra booking requirements for bikes in summer.

[mattheus]

Thanks, both - very helpful!

[Andrew-l]

And a nice positive experience to add today. Stratford upon Avon to Prestwick, three trains, three train companies, no problems with the bike at all, no hanging from wall- mounted hooks either!

West Midlands to Birmingham Moor street, with a five minute cycle to New Street. Roll-in area with flip-up seats shared with wheelchairs, and a dedicated rail for bikes.

Avanti from New Street to Glasgow Central, five minute walk to new platform. Roll-in storage for two bikes behind the driver (front wheel in a ground-level rack)

ScotRail Glasgow central to Prestwick town, roll-in area with flip-up seats for bikes only.

The only slightly tricky bit - nobody on the platform to open the compartment at Birmingham New Street, but the Train Manager in Coach C (next to the shop) popped out to do it for me.

[Andrew-l]

And the trip back was also seamless. Same three companies, same facilities.

Had a half hour to change trains at both Glasgow and Birmingham and that was plenty of time, even with a five-minute ride between Birmingham New Street and Moor Street stations.

[RickH]

Well that was a new (positive) one for me.

Yesterday, I was on the return trip from Chester, heading for Wigan (& then cycle home from there). I tried to get a bike reservation for the 1627 Avanti from Warrington Bank Quay to Wigan before I left Chester, but there were none available so I could only get one for the 1714. It isn't uncommon for that to happen and there is usually space anyway on the earlier one .

Today was different. There were 2 other people with bikes waiting to get on at Warrington for the 1627 but platform staff said they would get me on if there was a spare space as I was only travelling 1 stop (they are usually good like that, at least at Wigan & Warrington). It turned out that there were already 2 bikes aboard.

The saving grace was that the driver (who is usually at the same end of the train as the bikes when it is heading north, unless the train is the "wrong way round", AKA "reverse formation") said she was happy for me to stand with my bike in the compartment for the 10 minutes journey between Warrington & Wigan. I was very grateful.

[MrsHJ]

For those travelling by train in france this summer (broadly 1 May to 30 September) you may need to reserve a bike space on many regional TER services (I’ll be interested to hear about people winging it as if it’s a bad weather day I might want to use a train without a days notice). The bookings for Brittany have just gone live.

https://www.ter.veloabord.fr/

This is the link for TER services in Brittany. Interestingly the main SNCF app doesn’t show these services at the moment if you try to book a place for you and the bike- hopefully that will be updated but one to watch out for.

However the local TER website does show them and lets you book the bike space. I’ve booked my spot for Rennes to Saint Malo in May for €1. I’’d better book my train ticket now.

https://bretagne.ter.veloabord.fr/

I still haven’t figured out whether the Cévenol line requires a bike reservation in June. I think not…….pretty sure not, I can book it on the SNCF app with the bike box ticked.

[mattheus]

For those travelling by train in france this summer you may need to reserve a bike space on many regional TER services (I’ll be interested to hear about people winging it as if it’s a bad weather day I might want to use a train without a days notice). The bookings for Brittany have just gone live.

https://www.ter.veloabord.fr/

Aaargh - nothing is ever easy wtih trains!

The Web site you requested is blocked by your organization.
URLhttps://bretagne.ter.veloabord.fr/
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Thanks Mrs J. I'll actually be crossing Normandy at end of July, but need to check this stuff anyway ...

[MrsHJ]

For those travelling by train in france this summer you may need to reserve a bike space on many regional TER services (I’ll be interested to hear about people winging it as if it’s a bad weather day I might want to use a train without a days notice). The bookings for Brittany have just gone live.

https://www.ter.veloabord.fr/

Aaargh - nothing is ever easy wtih trains!

The Web site you requested is blocked by your organization.
URLhttps://bretagne.ter.veloabord.fr/
ReasonMatched categories:

Newly Registered Websites
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Thanks Mrs J. I'll actually be crossing Normandy at end of July, but need to check this stuff anyway ...

NP. Just to confuse you further it says Normandy is taking bicycles without reservation and then when you click through it mentions some lines that will need reservations- there is a list and it does seem to be taking reservations. Good luck!

[mjr]

Aaargh - nothing is ever easy wtih trains!

The Web site you requested is blocked by your organization.
URLhttps://bretagne.ter.veloabord.fr/
ReasonMatched categories:

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That's the fault of your internet service provider, not the trains. Try switching to a less of a power crazy nanny one?

[mattheus]

Aaargh - nothing is ever easy wtih trains!

The Web site you requested is blocked by your organization.
URLhttps://bretagne.ter.veloabord.fr/
ReasonMatched categories:

Newly Registered Websites
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That's the fault of your internet service provider, not the trains. Try switching to a less of a power crazy nanny one?

You're saying the trains don't run the internet? Well every day's a school day, thanks mate!

[MrsHJ]

More delights from SNCF to confuse travellers and really annoy local residents.

[simonhill]

It'll be interesting to see how reservations work and on which trains.

Last summer (twice) I took a TER train I just turned up and bought a ticket from a ticket machine. Will the machines now issue reserved seats or do you go and then get reservation. Or will it all be online???

[scragend]

It'll be interesting to see how reservations work and on which trains.

Last summer (twice) I took a TER train I just turned up and bought a ticket from a ticket machine. Will the machines now issue reserved seats or do you go and then get reservation. Or will it all be online???

It's not a reserved seat, it's a reserved place on the train. No guarantee of a seat at all! Known over here as "counted place" reservations.

I don't know how the SNCF ticket machines work - maybe they will make you select which train you intend to catch and only issue you a ticket for that specific train, which is effectively including a counted place reservation. When I was in Italy last year some tickets I bought from a machine were like that, others were for any train (and just required validating before boarding. I never bothered looking into the rationale as to which trains where which and why they were different; it didn't matter to me at the time.

If SNCF make you get a separate reservation as well as buying a ticket, that would indeed be a right faff.

Edited to add:

Having seen the attached screenshot I'm not sure whether the counted place thing is actually true in this case, because of the phrase "you will be allocated a free seat". But that may be lost in translation, or it may even be SNCF being economical with the truth.

Do TER carriages have seat numbers? If they do then maybe you will get an allocated seat. If not then that's not possible and it will be counted place. Seat61's tweet suggests that it is counted place rather than allocated seat.

But what the screenshot does say is that you get the reservation automatically when you buy the ticket.

[simonhill]

Thanks for detailed reply scragend.

Going back to bike reservations.

MrsHJ I remembered that when I bought my tickets for TER on the station machine (June 23) there was a "have you got a dog or bike?" question. I answered yes (to bike) and bought the ticket. Can't remember if there was a charge for bike, don't think so. Perhaps this was reserving a space??