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

Send us Fan MailOn 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…