Bike reservation for SailRail between Great Britain and Dublin

Both Stena Line and Irish Ferries have special tickets for train+ferry between Britain and Dublin, Ireland. Stena Line call it Rail Sail and Irish Ferries call it Sail Rail (I suppose that makes geographic sense). I have booked travel with a bike to Dublin through Rail Sail. I received my train tickets and confirmation the bike is booked for the ferry, but I did not receive bike reservations with my train tickets. For Sail Rail I will receive my tickets when checking in at the Dublin ferry port, and presumably they won't have a train bike reservation for me either. How do I obtain bike reservations for the railway part of the journey?

As I was travelling for work I've had to book through a travel agent, which insists that The train providers have advised me that they do not reserve a bike for travel but you can take this with you as luggage when travelling. That's incorrect at least for Virgin Trains and GWR, and perhaps others where bike reservations are mandatory.

My outward journey includes travel with South Western, CrossCountry, Virgin Trains West Coast, and Arriva Trains Wales. My return journey includes travel with Arriva Trains Wales, Virgin Trains West coast, and Great Western Railway. For those companies, I'm aware that bike reservations are mandatory or Virgin Trains West Coast and Great Western Railway, and recommended on CrossCountry and Arriva Trains Wales.

uk trains

Best Answer

It is possible to book bike reservations directly from each train operating company, but you'll have to contact each company directly. That means four companies, four bike reservations. There is no need to already have the ticket (just explain the situation), so it works in both directions.

South Western do not take or need bicycle reservations for the trains relevant for my journey. They might for others; I did not check in detail.

CrossCountry bike reservations, I did through their Facebook Messenger page. It was quick and painless. I did not get a booking code: they just noted my name and told me the train manager would be informed.

Virgin Train bike reservations, I did through their online chat service. There was a little wait (maybe 20 minutes), I told them the trains, received one booking code for each segment, I will go to the train station to pick up the tickets.

Arriva Trains Wales bike reservations, I did by phone. I had to phone, wait in the queue, tell them my name, e-mail address (she said she had to make me an account first, but she was not able to send me the details by e-mail), I received one booking code for my bike reservation in both directions.

Great Western Railway, I have not done myself as the travel agent finally admitted they were wrong in their claim there are no bike reservations and offered to do this one, but it should probably be like the others.