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Little progress: By 2025, Deutsche Bahn wants to offer bicycle parking spaces on all routes

2019-11-01T09:01:57.651Z


For cyclists, the train driving is complicated - often there are no bicycle parking on the train or too little. The railway wants to improve their offer, but with their plans just reached the minimum target of an EU directive.



The introduction of the ICE 4 pleased the Radurlauber: after all, the new fast long-distance train also bicycle places. But to travel longer distances by bike with the bike in the luggage, it is still difficult and requires a lot of planning.

Deutsche Bahn wants to improve. Cyclists should in future have more opportunities to take their bike in long-distance trains, said the Federal Ministry of Transport. By 2025, pitches should be available on all routes, albeit not every turn. The aim until then is to take along in 60 percent of the long-distance transport offer. Today, the proportion is 47 percent.

In the future, the train will only order passenger trains with wheel arches, the ministry responded to a request from the Greens in the Bundestag. "Taking bicycles should be as natural as electricity and Wi-Fi on the train," demanded the General German Bicycle Club (ADFC).

While space for bicycles in regional trains is standard, so far only part of the long-distance trains have space for bicycles:

  • in the approximately 180 intercity trains
  • and in 59 ICE-T trains, where they have been retrofitted. In the ICE of the series 1 to 3 travelers can not take a bike. The company does not want to convert this too much - too much effort.
  • In contrast, the new ICE 4 has a bicycle compartment. The train already has 39 of these trains in existence, followed by another 80 by 2023. The railway also ensured that, in future conversions in railway stations, the installation of elevators big enough for bicycles would be considered.

If you want to travel by bike, but should reserve. While intercity trains today have 8 to 16, in some cases even 24 parking spaces, there will be fewer in new trains in the future. There are eight seats per train. The train does not go beyond the minimum requirement of an EU directive.

Few pitches for economic reasons

The needs of travelers and economic interests must be taken into account, it was justification. After all, bicycle parking spaces in long-distance traffic were on average only 21 percent, while seats for passengers were 56 percent.

"Eight parking spaces in each train are already a good start," said ADFC Managing Director Burkhard Stork. But the railway had already promised in 2011. "The implementation is unfortunately in very small steps."

For cyclists are also important details: that they can quickly find bicycle compartments, that doors are wide enough and that the wheels can be parked without great effort. In addition, the train must plan flexibly: "Eight places can be enough in many cases - but in hotspots of cycling, as in Passau and in the neighboring towns of the Danube Bike Path - it must be seasonally much more."

The Ministry confirmed that in "individual cases" even travelers with a bicycle could not be taken despite reservation - for example, when a replacement train without parking spaces was used. This is due to new trains occur less frequently in the future. For cargo bikes, however, the trains remain taboo. They blocked passages, were not secure due to their bodies and caused problems when getting in and out, they said.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2019-11-01

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