Can bikes with kid trailers go on the train?

[sarahactivated]

Hi forum

I’m visiting Melbourne from Perth and want to know if a bike with a child trailer can get on the train. The vic train website doesn’t mention anything about them. I am renting them tomorrow. I would prefer two child seats attached to the bike, which would make life much easier, but my prelim search hasn’t come up with anything.

Thank you
Sar

[Scintilla]

Hi
Your major restriction will be the space taken up by the trailer. Ours that we used back in the 1990s was foldable to the size of a suitcase. We did usually go by car as with the whole family of four it was just more time and cost-efficient. These days, with the loss of our D-vans for extra space, and the increased demands upon country train travel, our club has increasingly been finding that train travel, even with a few (4 - 10) single bikes (bags unloaded) is becoming a great risk and at times almost impossible. The only line that is better for this is the NE line from Melbourne to Albury, as the trains there have an attached Power-car which has good space for about 10-20 bikes.

Train travel in Melbourne on the Metro trains is generally a much easier thing to do, though again, a trailer will prove difficult at most times, and generally not possible at all during peak periods.

[nezumi]

Getting everything into the train, and out again, will be the more difficult part.

In Melbourne, use the rearmost carriage on the train. The front and rear carriages *should* have more room, as these carriages are where wheelchair users travel. They use the front carriage (where bicycles are not permitted), so go for the rear for your best chance.

Other than that, there's no real distinction between a kiddy trailer and a pram.

[Scintilla]

Third and fourth carriages on metro trains have similar space. But the core trouble remains that people ALWAYS sit on the fold-down seats in these spaces (not labelled as being for bicycles, though that IS one purpose)

People rarely EVER take prams on the trains, for similar reasons that there just is not enough space.

Oh for a return to the designs of the old Hitachi trains.