Eurostar: bikes will now need to be carried into boxes

From November 1, Eurostar will apply a new bike policy in order to have more places in the trains. For every bycicles over 85 cm, Cyclists will need to dismantle their bike and insert it into a “bike box” for the journey.

Until now, bycicles were hung on a storage rack by their tyres with a capacity of 8 bikes per train. Eurostar explained that “packaging bikes in this way, they take up less space which means that we can carry more bikes, or any other type of luggage.”. Passengers will be able to use their personal bike box if they have one. Otherwise, the train operator will provide them one when boarding. The fee for travelling with your bike on Eurostar trains will remain the same: between £25 and £29 each way.

Bikes under 85cm are allowed on all Eurostar services but bikes over 85cm (in bike box) are only allowed on Eurostar trains between London and Paris, Eurostar trains between London and Brussels and Eurostar trains between London and Lille.
 
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Eurostar new bike policy attracts criticism

Some associations are raising their voices against this new policy which could “discourage the people we want to see cycling more from using what is otherwise a fantastic service.” explained one of the representative of the National cycling charity CTC. Dismantling and reassembling bikes could effectively be difficult, Eurostar claimed that the staff will be available to help cyclists to get their bikes into boxes.

Source: BBC, CyclingWeekly, KelBillet