Train E-bike ban

Can anyone shed any light on this? I was leaving London Victoria train station this morning and was told by one of the station staff told me that from 3rd June, E-bikes wont be allowed on trains anymore..........TIA

I can't find any information about ebikes being banned on UK trains beginning in June.

 

 

"Electric bikes will be allowed on our trains, however they must not be charged onboard our trains or in our stations. The ban from 01 June applies to e-scooters, e-unicycles, e-skateboards and hoverboards only. "

 

 

 

January 31 2022, 6.00am:

 

 

Why are e-bikes banned from Caledonian Sleeper trains?

 

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/business-environment/transport/2955270/caledonian-sleeper-e-bikes/

 

 

Rescinded:

 

https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-bikes/

Edited April 21, 20233 yr by guerney

Some of the reasons given, for the potential ban, appear to be based on accidents that have happened whilst chargeing batteries, so you might think banning charging of eBikes batteries on trains would be enough.

 

Interesting that they also appear to want to ban eScooters as well, which are mostly used illegaly anyway, so thats a bit like banning crime on trains.

 

Does an eBrompton look like an eBike though ............

Can anyone shed any light on this? I was leaving London Victoria train station this morning and was told by one of the station staff told me that from 3rd June, E-bikes wont be allowed on trains anymore..........TIA

I asked South Eastern Rail, online, if this was true, and the person replied that they werent aware of any policy change. Then asked the conductor on the train on the way home, he said it was true but the full details weren't clear yet........

Does an eBrompton look like an eBike though ............

 

An ebike without a battery is just a bike? A battery in a rucksack is just luggage?

I asked South Eastern Rail, online, if this was true, and the person replied that they werent aware of any policy change. Then asked the conductor on the train on the way home, he said it was true but the full details weren't clear yet........

 

There's no mention about a ebike ban on their website:

 

 

"Electric bikes, tandems, tricycles

You can take an electrically-assisted pedal cycle as long as it’s similar in size to a normal cycle. Power-assisted cycles without traditional cycle-style pedals aren’t allowed. We don’t allow tandems, tricycles, handbikes, motorcycles or cycles with trailers on our trains."

 

https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/on-board/cycles

South Eastern Rail

 

No mention of a ebike ban on their Twitter feed either:

 

There's no mention about a ebike ban on their website:

 

 

"Electric bikes, tandems, tricycles

 

You can take an electrically-assisted pedal cycle as long as it’s similar in size to a normal cycle. Power-assisted cycles without traditional cycle-style pedals aren’t allowed. We don’t allow tandems, tricycles, handbikes, motorcycles or cycles with trailers on our trains."

 

https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/on-board/cycles

I realise this but the conductor said they'd received various emails about it.....

Ebikes widely banned on trains would be a major pain.

 

Nothing on their Facebook account...

 

https://www.facebook.com/southeasternofficial/?locale=en_GB

 

 

...or Instagram:

 

https://www.instagram.com/southernrailuk/?hl=en

Edited April 21, 20233 yr by guerney

An ebike without a battery is just a bike? A battery in a rucksack is just luggage?

 

Well for other reasons too, I would rather not have eBrompton readilty identifiable as an eBike.

 

For instance a black wheel rim and motor might look better, but does look eBikeish, but a silver\aluminium one less so. Stealth LCD4 on the handle bars.

 

And a real small battery\controller bag that you disguise by stuffing a sandwhich in the top.

Well for other reasons too, I would rather not have eBrompton readilty identifiable as an eBike.

 

For instance a black wheel rim and motor might look better, but does look eBikeish, but a silver\aluminium one less so. Stealth LCD4 on the handle bars.

 

The AKM rear motors look tiny... but you have a 2 speed hub gear - less ebikey than motor up front? Make the display easily detachable?

 

And a real small battery\controller bag that you disguise by stuffing a sandwhich in the top.

 

...or a small battery hidden inside a very realistic looking fake 12 inch Subway? Varnishing bread really works.

 

https://www.craftsuprint.com/projects/crafts/various/how-to-varnish-bread.cfm

Edited April 21, 20233 yr by guerney

The AKM rear motors look tiny... but you have a 2 speed hub gear.

 

The motor wheel is the front. Rear wheel looks normal.

 

...or a small battery hidden inside a very realistic looking fake 12 inch Subway?

 

Now there is a thought, the Brompton has some big frame tubes, wonder if you could hide the electronics in them and use an external bagette battery ?

hide the electronics in them and use an external bagette battery ?

 

I expect The Resistance did the same in WWII. Varnished bread looks great for years, we used to have loaves on the walls of a shop I worked in many many years ago, and they're still there, looking exactly the same as they did then over 40 years ago. I forget how many layers my friend varnished those loaves with, but if I see him I'll ask.

external bagette battery

 

The BaguettaMoPower™ is invented!

Edited April 22, 20233 yr by guerney

Fair play to Scotrail...

 

E-Bikes

Electric cycles (e-bikes) can be carried on all ScotRail services. Where cycle storage is provided that involves hanging the bike up by the wheel on our hooked cycle storage, we recommend where possible that customers remove their e-bike battery. This will reduce the bike's weight and make it easier for you when lifting your bike onto the hook.

Please note, to avoid damaging the on-train electrical circuits, ScotRail cannot allow e-bikes to be charged via the plug sockets on our trains. There is however a dedicated e-bike charging socket onboard the ScotRail Highland Explorer.

 

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/plan-your-journey/cycling/bikes-trains

Fair play to Scotrail...

 

E-Bikes

Electric cycles (e-bikes) can be carried on all ScotRail services. Where cycle storage is provided that involves hanging the bike up by the wheel on our hooked cycle storage, we recommend where possible that customers remove their e-bike battery. This will reduce the bike's weight and make it easier for you when lifting your bike onto the hook.

Please note, to avoid damaging the on-train electrical circuits, ScotRail cannot allow e-bikes to be charged via the plug sockets on our trains. There is however a dedicated e-bike charging socket onboard the ScotRail Highland Explorer.

 

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/plan-your-journey/cycling/bikes-trains

Although they do quote a maximum weight of 25kg and "Fatbikes" are not allowed due to their 2.5" tyre width restriction which is a shame as I was planning a few days cycling out and back from Corrour Station House and have a "Fatbike" specifically due to the terrain I hoped to ride across.

 

I had hoped for a car free trip by train but now I'm currently looking for car parking within a a full battery charge from the destination.

 

TTFN

John.

I've only taken my ebike once on train with my son and his MTB from Glasgow to Edinburgh route getting off at Falkirk to see parents, bike carriage was just a space with some straps, no hooks, I cannot see your average Scotrail train guard noticing or caring about fat bike tires?

 

We got spaces both ways and you can book on some routes.

Imo this would be a massively backwards idea. I don't get trains, can't afford them and I'm a long way from any stations. However, we have to solve the public transport disaster we have in this country.

 

I can understand no charging. I can understand no scooters ( until scooters are potentially made legal on roads ). Maybe the crackdown needs to be on dodgy suppliers, remove the firebombs at source and stop them entering the public domain. Sure, there will be some dangerous bikes / scooters that get through but it's a numbers game.

 

I don't know what the solution is but reducing low carbon transport options isn't it.

Often it's not the fact the battery is or could be a fire bomb, it is simply the fact that people don't know the do's and dont's when it comes to charging. There needs to be a public campaign to stop ejits who think it's just like charging a phone or laptop.

Imo this would be a massively backwards idea. I don't get trains, can't afford them and I'm a long way from any stations. However, we have to solve the public transport disaster we have in this country.

 

I can understand no charging. I can understand no scooters ( until scooters are potentially made legal on roads ). Maybe the crackdown needs to be on dodgy suppliers, remove the firebombs at source and stop them entering the public domain. Sure, there will be some dangerous bikes / scooters that get through but it's a numbers game.

 

I don't know what the solution is but reducing low carbon transport options isn't it.

 

 

Agree 100%, Gov encourage with left hand then steal it back with the right...

Trains need a paradigm shift for bike transport.

 

Imagine bike/ebike numbers for whatever reason suddenly rise, when it comes to trains then we're all stuffed, no space, stuck too far for range, walk of shame home.

 

All trains should have min1/2 carriage available for bikes, that would be a start.

I regularly take my 2015 Haibike Yamaha on local trains . I have had no issues accessing stations through manned barriers or from Guards on the trains. A few years ago I took my Oxygen Emate on a train into central London Waterloo terminus, and had no issues getting to London or travelling back from the same Waterloo station.

 

My local operator is South West Trains.

 

I use their trains probably every week.

 

The trouble is that lithium battery fires of all sorts, cars, buses, bikes, scooters etc have been reported enough for a knee jerk reaction to begin to gather momentum without too much understanding of how likely one is to occur.

 

A bike mechanic I know locally told me he had refused to work on a bike with an electric kit. It sounded like the customer wanted the bicycle bits to be serviced, not the electrical components. The bike mechanic sited battery fires as the reason he refused the job. It sounded simple to me for the bike to be looked at with the battery removed.

 

His response was certainly affected by the rather sensationalist coverage of electric bike fires.

 

Perhaps there needs to be a minimum standard for batteries and their chargers beneath which they cannot be sold.

 

Certainly a fire on a train can quickly become a very serious problem. Modern trains often have no windows or doors that can be opened and the emergency egress that a passenger might attempt to use can be prevented by The Driver with an over ride switch while the train is on the move. There are good reasons for this as stopping a train on fire has issues for the Driver who needs to avoid stopping the train in a tunnel, a cutting, on a bridge or under the canopy of a Station. Evacuating a train is also not straight forward as they are high of the ground and the crew need to block adjacent lines so that people getting out are not killed by passing trains and have the electrical supply to the third rail switched of so that people getting out are not killed by electric shock. Access by emergency services can also be very difficult.

Edited April 21, 20233 yr by georgehenry

I can see this possible ban spreading, remember its mostly private companies that run the railways and they will, probably reasonably, be looking to protect themselves against paying for insurance or meeting claims, if there were an accident.

 

Problem is there does not appear to be any form of co-ordinated review as to the exact nature of these heavily publicised eBike fires and its very easy for the un-knowledgable to assume the problem is eBikes in general rather than perhaps that great care needs to be taken with charging, and dare I say, building eBike batteries.

 

Central government are perhaps unlilkely to intervene and mandate that the private compainies that operate trains take a balanced approach to eBikes and must take account of an integrated transport policy where there are clear benefits of encouraging people to take to cycling or eBiking. It also seems unlikley to me that the private railway companies have any particular interest in promoting or encouraging cycling, quite the opposite I suspect.

 

You need to remember the motto of one political party;

 

Public owned utilities bad, lining our pockets good.

Although they do quote a maximum weight of 25kg and "Fatbikes" are not allowed due to their 2.5" tyre width restriction which is a shame as I was planning a few days cycling out and back from Corrour Station House and have a "Fatbike" specifically due to the terrain I hoped to ride across.

 

I had hoped for a car free trip by train but now I'm currently looking for car parking within a a full battery charge from the destination.

 

TTFN

John.

I wouldn't worry about the weight. My Ridgeback is over 26kg, but who would know, when its base weight has panniers etc added?

 

The tyre width restriction is due to the bike holders in the special carriage, which have a steel loop for the wheel to sit in.

 

I travelled Glasgow to Oban in the special carriage without my bike just over a week ago, and in the approx 16 bike spaces there were no bikes, so if you meet the usual excellent customer service from Scotrail which is the norm on the remote routes, chances are you'll be allowed in the ebike charging bay, perhaps with your front wheel secured by other means, or removed.

 

And yes, it has a dedicated socket for charging.

I can see this possible ban spreading, remember its mostly private companies that run the railways and they will, probably reasonably, be looking to protect themselves against paying for insurance or meeting claims, if there were an accident.

 

Scotrail is owned by Scottish Government, given how f*cked they currently are and that they will all probably end up in jail I think ebikes on trains is probably way down their to-do list.