Episode 51: “Vertical bike storage is discriminatory and should be outright banned”: Rail engineer Gareth Dennis explains why taking your bike on the train is such a faff

The road.cc Podcast

On episode 51 of the road.cc Podcast, we’re joined by rail expert Gareth Dennis to get to the bottom of why taking a bike on a train in the UK continues to be such an emotive issue for so many cyclists, and what needs to be done to make our rail network more accessible for everyone.

A railway design engineer, writer, podcaster, and lecturer at the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, Gareth is also a cyclist, so knows all too well the difficulties people with bikes can face on the UK’s trains.

In a frank, interesting, and wide-ranging discussion, he chats with Jack and Ryan about the issues impacting how cyclists use trains in Great Britain, including limited and inadequate space for storage, as well as a lack of accessibility and clarity for train users with bikes, non-standard cycles, and wheelchairs.

He also explains why a “radical step change” in capacity is needed to create enough space for bikes, and why the current solution – the dreaded vertical bike hangar – is “discriminatory” and should be banned... while providing the Podcast with some legal advice that most train operators won’t want you to hear…