My off-road tandem in the bike compartment of an IR-train. Right:

Susanne und Dirk Bettge's tandem in the same type of IR-bike compartment.

Susanne und Dirk Bettge's tandem in the bike compartment of an IC-train.

Susanne und Dirk Bettge's tandem in a local train (S-Bahn) near Rostock.

The train company forgot to include the car with the bike compartment...

Most trains running in Germany are still operated by the "Deutsche Bahn AG", a state-owned railway company. Only some international trains, a few night trains and an increasing number of local trains is operated by other companies. No matter who operates the train you intend to use, taking your bike or tandem along is usually not a problem.

While you could also send your tandem ahead (boxed or unprotected), I would not recommend doing so based on my experiences with train personel in Europe. However, on many trains you can simply take your bike along, and most trains even have room for tandems and recumbents. Depending on the type of train you have to reserve a space for your bike in advance, though. You will have to load and unload the bike yourself, and one of you should stay near the bike to help other passengers around it in case the bike compartent is very crowded.

Traveling by train with your bike is easy if you are strong enough to lift your bike. I would not attempt to take a recumbent tandem or a triple along, though. Also, as the train doors are often quite narrow, it is may be easier to get your bike on and off if you take your panniers off first.

To find out about a specific connection, go to the English query page for train connections. Enter the names of the cities and rember to select "Carriage of bicycles required" in the lower part of the screen to exclude trains that will not allow bikes. For additional information call the biker's hotine at 01803 / 194 194 (I do not know if this number will work from outside of Germany; to try, add the country code for Germany, e.g. 01149 from the U.S., and drop the leading '0', giving you 01149-1803 / 194 194).

There are various types of trains in Germany. These are (in order of decreasing speed):

• ICE (InterCity Express) - high speed train, air-conditioned, on-board restaurant and payphone
• IC (InterCity) - fast train, mostly air-conditioned, on-board restaurant and payphone
• EC (EuroCity) - same as IC, but travels to or from a city outside of Germany
• IR (InterRegio) - slower than IC/EC, on-board restaurant and payphone
• IRE (InterRegioExpress) - local train
• D ("Durchgangs-Zug" - a very old designation referring to the (now common) fact that you can walk through the entire train) - long-distance train; often traveling at night and/or to or from popular vacation spots, often abroad.
• RE (RegionalExpress) - local train
• RB (RegionalBahn) - local train which stops almost at every station
• SE (StadtExpress) - local train which really stops at almost every station
• S (Stadtbahn) - local trains within larger cities and suburban areas
• U (Untergrundbahn) - subway ("underground", if you prefer)

• Busses - you will most likely not be able to take your bike (much less your tandem) along on a bus!

• I have never tried to take a bike along on one of the various night trains, and I do not know if you can. In any case, I would not be able to sleep if one of my beloved bikes was on the train unguarded!
• You cannot take your tandem along on older ICE trains. You may be able to take a bagged single along, but only if the conductor can't see it's a bike... Only the most modern ICE trains have a limited number of bike spaces. They currently only serve the route Zurich (Switzerland) to Stuttgart and back. Call 01803 / 194 194 to reserve your spot in advance (required).
• IC, EC, and IR trains often have bike compartments (see pictures), and these are big enough for tandems. They make travel very convenient: Just load up your bike and go. You do have to reserve a spot for your bike at least 24 hours in advance, though! The same holds for trains with special cargo cars. You cannot take your bike along if the train you picked does not have a bike compartment or a cargo car. Check the time table for availability. To save time and to avoid causing a delayed departure of your train, find out in advance where along the station's platform the bike compartment or the cargo car will come to a stop. The position of all cars of each long-distance train is marked on a sign at the platform called the "Wagenstandsanzeiger" (a note on German morphology: just lump as many words together as you can!).
• D-trains often have cargo cars. Check in advance.
• Many of the local trains still do not have bike compartments, though more and more do. Either way, you do not have to reserve a spot for your bike or yourself (nor can you), and you can take the bike along as long as there is space to fit it. In some regions bikes even travel for free on local trains (e.g. in the states of Thuringia (Thüringen) and Saxonia-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt). If there is no bike compartment, pick the first or the last car of the train, as this will make it easier for you to get the bike out of the way of other passengers. Smile a lot and tell stories about your great tour on that weird bicycle. Depending on the city, there may be special regulations for S- and U-Bahn trains, such as not allowing bikes during rush-hour etc.

Except for local trains in some regions, you will need a bike ticket for your bike. Official regulations require two tickets for a tandem or a recumbent, but since most conductors don't know that... (Don't you tell 'em!) Prices for a bike ticket vary between 3 € and 8 € depending on the distance covered (short or long), and it is lower for passengers with a half-price pass ("BahnCard").

Call the Deutsche Bahn AG if you are traveling with a larger group of tandems. Two or three tandems should fit (if you reserved bike spaces), but larger groups will run into problems (even if you were able to reserve a spot for each tandem). The only hope for larger groups are trains with cargo cars.