Finally, a site to plan a train journey with your bike!

How to reach a French city by train while taking your bike without losing your temper? Planning a train journey with your bike (not dismantled) – what used to be a challenge could well become easier with Velotrain.fr. This interactive map developed by Clément Férey, cyclist and web developer, allows you to organize a journey combining train and bicycle. A simple but effective idea, which deserves to be put on the path.

Velotrain.fr, the bicycle travel platform with a head start

The bike, the best tool for discovering a territory. Combine it with the train, and in a few years, the different regions of France and Navarre will no longer hold any secrets for you! The formula is ideal. However, the complexity of the rail network, the unequal reception of bicycles on trains and the sometimes long distance to stations can make the organization of the trip more complex.

With, after a while, the growing prospect of falling back on a more carbon-intensive means of transport, or worse, the desire to give up and return to the sofa to watch series…

An observation that Clément Férey also arrived at. This cyclist who loves cycling trips was fed up with doing so much research to organize his cycling trips. A web developer by profession, this Breton native wondered if he could design a tool that could simplify the planning of a trip combining train and bike: “Basically, I just wanted to easily find the stations in France, knowing that the SNCF was content with a poorly detailed PDF to inform its passengers“.

L’Open Datapublic data on the right track

By looking into the question, he discovered that the SNCF provides access to certain data relating to the French rail network. Baptized Open Datathis logic aims to promote the opening and making available of data produced and collected by public services. “From the network to the trains that run there, including the geographical coordinates of the stations, data of all types is available“, explains Clément. “You just have to know how to sort!“.

This data is also used for commercial purposes by SNCF partners (regional transport, buses, etc.) and third-party operators. Like Google, for example, which draws from it to enrich its own services.

“Development is based on cold data that is not subject to change, such as the geographical position of stations“, specifies developer, “as well as hot data such as train timetables. These are extracted via an application programming interface (or API) which allows you to know the timetables of the trains ready to accommodate bicycles from a given station to a given station on that date. The raw data is recovered then formatted to make the information readable.“

Easily identify stations and time to reach them

An OpenStreetMap basemap supported by the OpenRouteService API (a routing service based on OpenStreetMap data) and a few dozen hours of development later, the VéloTrain.fr site is on track. By default, the map shows active French stations. Isochronous zones, these concentric areas, provide an idea of ​​the travel time by bike to reach each station.

The rail journey manager also allows you to consult the trains likely to take you and your bike from the station of your choice to the station of your destination. “To my knowledge, until now there was no way to consult all the areas accessible by bike from a French station“, notes Clément. This is now corrected.

A card for travel that also has its say in everyday life

If you fiddle with the form a little to test, you will notice that not all trains are referenced. High-speed trains – TGV and “fast” OuiGo – which require dismantling of the bicycle, are not listed. All other trains — TER, Intercités (or OuiGo “Classic Train” equivalents) and night trains — accommodate bicycles without dismantling. But sometimes by reservation; Be careful to make sure before buying your tickets.

It was the passion for cycling that motivated the birth of velotrain.fr. Logically, the map leans mainly towards tourism. With one click you can display the greenways. It’s then easy to find how to connect them for your bike trip with the train.

But everyone will also find useful information from a more daily perspective. You can also find out about the different stations available around you, with the direct destinations of each. And why not use this platform for your business trips. That’s what we do here at Weelz!.

Velotrain.fr even offers certain journeys not available on sites like sncf-connect.com or trainline.com. By using secondary lines rather than high-speed lines, it is possible, for example, to find a Paris – Lyon route allowing you to transport your bike without dismantling it. With an increase in travel time, that goes without saying.

“The more people on a bike, the happier I am”

Clément also justifies the provision of his card by eco-friendly values: “We must favor gentle means of transport, that’s for sure, but it is sometimes complicated to organize. I wanted to make it a little easier in my own way. People are campaigning for the construction of cycle paths. This is not my case, but I offer this tool in the hope that it serves the same cause. If you start cycling during the holidays, it can motivate you to also switch to cycling on a daily basis. The more people on a bike, the happier I am!“

Book your train from velotrain.fr, the next logical step

Finally, all that’s missing is the possibility of booking trains directly from velotrain.fr. For the moment, it’s still up to you to take care of it via your usual platform…”It would be really nice not to have to book trains one after the other“, recognizes Clément. “It’s true that this is the next logical step. But from both a technical and commercial point of view, it becomes a much more complex project!“.

Other improvements, often reported by users, deserve to see the light of day according to the bikepacking fan. Bug fixes of course, like some esoteric matches that can be suggested during searches. But the site should also be enriched with certain additional data: “The Transilien, not referenced by SNCF data, is not taken into account in the journey results, although it is possible to take your bike there. Same thing in Corsica, where the trains do not seem affiliated with the SNCF.“

Promising project seeking contributor

Clément also talks about improving the search engine so that it allows you to set a departure or arrival anywhere, and no longer just at stations, by adding the cycling distances necessary to reach the station or complete the journey . But above all, developments relating to bicycle travel, because the idea starts from there. Manage steps? Export routes to a GPS? Extend the service to other European countries? “I haven’t stopped the perimeter yet“, confides Clément.

Still, he would like to open up the project, so that motivated volunteers can contribute to it. If you have the required know-how, we can only encourage you to contact him. A great way to serve the cycling community, right? More information directly on the site.