During last month’s Velo-city conference in the Netherlands, an unusual event was organised to spread the word about the excellent examples the Dutch set in combined bike and train journeys.  Over 20 journalists from around the world participated in a highly original press conference held in one of the carriages of the specially-commissioned train that took the conference delegates to Amsterdam! 

The journalists learnt about some of the measures that Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) – the Dutch railway operator – have implemented to encourage more people to combine bike and train from Ineke van Gent, Regional Director NS North and East.  These include secure bike parking facilities and the development of OV-fiets – the bike rental system operated by NS in hundreds of train stations around the country.   Due to measures such as these, it is estimated that over 40% of railway passengers in the Netherlands now travel to the station by bike.  As Saskia Kluit, Director of the ECF’s Dutch Member Fietsersbond, explained, part of the success is due to the good relationship that her organisation has with NS, ensuring that cyclists are involved from the beginning of any developments that affect them.

Libor Lochman, Executive Director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) spoke about how the good practice examples in the Netherlands are being copied elsewhere in Europe, as European railway operators become increasingly aware of the benefits of connecting these two modes of transport.  The ECF’s Secretary General, Bernhard Ensink, explained that the European Union (EU) can play a role in making the connections more seamless too.  In cooperation with the CER, the ECF have included a dedicated chapter focusing on the actions that the EU can undertake related to multimodality and intelligent transport systems in the EU Cycling Strategy, which was presented to EU Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, during Velo-city. 

As well as the European level, the participants of the press event also heard what can be done at a local level to encourage combined bike and train journeys, with Vice-Mayors from the Velo-city host cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen - Geert Ritsema and Harriët Tiemens -  describing how their authorities have worked with the NS to connect the station with the wider cycle route network and to run promotional and marketing campaigns.

After the formal part of the press event came to a close, the journalists still had the opportunity to mingle with the speakers and ask more detailed questions as the train made its way to Amsterdam - the capital of the Netherlands and one of the most famous cycling cities in the world.