Two German bikers wanna say hello and have a few questions

[Nuit]

@eager_biker

Here’s my first question: On the TRA Website, the Tze-Chiang Limited Express has a bicycle symbol next to it, but it says “bicycle bags available” ← our bikes are not bagged and I believe they won’t hand out bags… does it simply mean there’s a place for bikes?

Chris, Ilan to Hualien can be done with unbagged bikes, in 2 ways.

1. The slower local train (2 hrs): there are 5 / 6 of these a day, bike just stays with you in the end carriage. You have to buy an extra ticket for each bike, but it’s not much. I’m still not sure if all local trains will allow bikes, but certainly some do. Good thing about doing this is you can get off at Xinsheng, and cycle right into Taroko. That saves a 20km backtrack from Hualien.

2. There’s one faster train per day (1 hr 25) from Yilan to Hualien which you can put an unbagged bike on : the 172, leaving Yilan at 17:37. The bike has to be sent as Express Delivery (kuai-di), and there’s paperwork involved. Get this done at the Yilan Baggage Office, before 17:00. The bike goes straight into the luggage van (at the front of the train, on southbound trains). Cost is about $350NT.

This is a useful recent thread about cycle-touring on the east…
[url]First time in Taiwan - cycle touring/routes