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Tips for rail travel

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KTX high-speed train, South Korea

    This article is a travel topic




Before or as you commit to a particular trip, do some research about the designs of trains and stations you will use. Look for sources that describe differences in height of the train or its distance from the boarding platform to ensure you can manage your luggage. Look for where you can store your larger luggage...preferably on the same car as your seat, but it may be in a separate car. Try to keep smaller pieces and valuables/irreplaceables with you. Consider ways you can secure large luggage contents and each piece that may be stored out-of-sight, e.g., with color-coded nylon straps connecting zipper-pulls, a cable-lock connecting handles of two or more pieces.

When to travel[edit]


At the station[edit]

  • Please don't run if you can avoid it.
  • Do not walk on the tracks except at an authorized, controlled crossing or under the direction of staff. Look both ways before crossing, even if warning devices are operating. Do not cross against warning devices.


Consider the advance research you did as you first see your train (noted under "Ticketing" above).


On board[edit]

  • In parts of the World where railways are primarily used for transport (as opposed to being focused on tourism), such as in Europe, it is common that long train compositions stop at a certain forking station to split the train, disengaging in few minutes the rear half of the composition and coupling those cars to another locomotive, thus forming two shorter trains that will continue to different destinations. The final destination for each car is always indicated by signs that usually hang outside the car. This means that some cars may be full of passengers, while others have few passengers. A common error made by travellers without much railway experience is to accommodate themselves in the wrong car, thus ending in a destination other than the originally intended. Although it may be legal to travel in that car (with a ticket of equal or superior class), the traveller should pay attention to move to the correct car before reaching (or on arrival at) the forking station. The railway company will not assume responsibility for a passenger who, by ignorance or negligence, might have ended in the wrong final destination.
  • There are short water crossings where the whole train will embark into a ferry boat (for instance in the Baltic Sea, between Helsingor in Denmark and Helsingborg in Sweden). Passengers are normally allowed to leave the train and walk inside the ferry boat, but they should be back in the train before reaching port, which in the example mentioned is a sea crossing of only fifteen minutes.

Accommodation on board[edit]

  • Some trains in India and other countries tolerate the practice of persons travelling on the roof, between cars, or hanging at the sides. Although no ticket is needed, this may be a dangerous form of travel due to the possibility of falling, or to the lack of clearance from tunnels, cables, posts, or other overhead or lateral structures. If travelling like this, it is necessary to imitate what the locals do (for instance, lying low because of the approach of a tunnel or an overhead cable). A tourist should normally refrain from such risky adventures, and pay the ticket for travelling inside the train. In most lines the practice is forbidden altogether, and may result in being fined or arrested.
  • Travelling in freight trains (or in freight waggons of mixed freight-passenger compositions) is tolerated sometimes, but often forbidden. Although it may seem an intrepid part of hobo culture, it is not without risk. The train may even stop and order the stowaways out, who may be taken under police custody or may be not very kindly treated by a "reception committee" armed with heavy sticks. This form of travel is not normally an option for the tourist, even on a low budget.

Speed of travel[edit]

  • Trains are typically, though not necessarily, faster than buses. (In Eastern and Southeastern Europe buses are faster)

By region and country[edit]


Further information is available about rail travel in specific countries.


Further information is available about rail travel in specific countries.

Further information is available about several specific routes:




For further details of European rail travel, see:

Information about specific routes:

North America[edit]



Information about specific routes:

South America[edit]


Information about specific routes:




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