Featured image: Good train travel etiquette starts with us! | Photo by CristianBlazMar on Envato

How to be a good train traveller

by Carolyn Ray

I have to thank a gentleman on a train from Dublin to Cork, Ireland, for inspiring this article. As I write this, we are facing each other with a table between us. He’s talking loudly on his phone, eating with food spread out across the entire table. As if he’s sitting on a couch, he stretches his legs out, until I am squished into the side of the train and give him a hard push out of the way with my feet. Honestly, he doesn’t even look up or stop talking, just carries on. Okay then! 

The train is my preferred way to travel, and I’ve clocked a lot of miles on the rails in the past year, crisscrossing Europe from Belgium to Italy, all over Switzerland and to small towns in Scotland and Ireland. From these experiences, I’ve curated a list of ways we can be good train travellers. Some of them may seem obvious, like our Airplane Etiquette article, but they need to be said.

Have more to add? Post them in the comments below.

Tips for proper train travel etiquette

1. Don’t block the aisle

Getting on a train is similar to getting on a plane — don’t block the aisles as you stuff your luggage on the rack above your seat, or chat with your friends. Let other folks pass quickly, and then you can return to gabbing in the aisle. Like a plane, the spaces above the seats are for small bags. If you have a large bag, find the space designed for large bags. (Another reason to pack light!) 

2. Sit in your assigned seat

Before you get on the train, know what seat you’re in. Every coach is identified from the outside, with letters like A, B, C or numbers. Inside, seats are numbered. Most seats are reserved. If you have a specific requirement, reserve a specific seat. 

(Tip: When you book your seat, consider the direction the train is going and also whether you want a table or not). As I sit on this particular train going to Dublin, this car ranges from seats 1 to 60, and there are 10 tables, each with four seats.

On the other hand, there are no reserved seats. I normally reserve a table so I can write on the train. Often, I find that people don’t realize there are reserved seats, or that their seat number is written on their ticket.

3. Keep your feet to yourself

Just as on a plane, keep your feet under or around your own seat. Do not stretch them out, and definitely do not put them on the seat in front of you. Feet on the seat is a really big no-no — some trains have fines for this.

4. Don’t lean over others to take photos

On my trip from Inverness to Edinburgh, I am writing on my computer when the boobs of the woman next to me suddenly block my view of the screen. I am surprised that there is no consideration of the fact that I am typing at the time. A simple ‘excuse me’ works wonders. After I don’t move, she apologizes and asks politely if she can lean over me to take her photographs.  Hogging the video or blocking the view isn’t cool. Take your photo, keep your fingerprints off the window and move on.  

5. Talk at the same level as others

Some trains are very noisy, and often it can’t be helped. I rode one from Dublin full of young men going to a hurling semi-final in Northern Ireland. Rowdy would be an understatement but there was a lot of positive energy in the air.

Normally trains are quieter places, and on longer trips, it’s easy to fall asleep with the gentle rocking motion. Talk in a quiet, calm voice. Unlike a plane where sound is drowned out by noise, a train seems to amplify sound. 

6. Use headphones when you listen to video or make calls

Every country seems to have its own etiquette about using mobile phones. In London, everyone walks around with headphones. In Ireland, people speak into the bottom of the phone, no headphones.

I would prefer not to listen to a phone conversation on a train at all, but if you must talk the entire way, please use headphones. The same goes for video games, which many parents supply their children with to occupy them, but can’t they use headphones too? Get a pair here.

7. Keep your food to yourself

I usually try to get a table when I’m booking a train, which means there are four people (not one) sharing a small space. Please don’t spread your food across the entire table. Furthermore, spitting and spraying food on your neighbour, which I also endured, is not very nice either. I recommend bringing wipes for the tables.

8. Wear a mask if you’re sick

Trains have more fresh ventilation than airplanes, but if you’re sick, please wear a mask and cover your nose when sneezing. There is nothing worse than the feeling of germs floating around a train. I have a good supply of masks on hand at all times, but we really should try to protect those who are most vulnerable from illness.

9. Clean up your garbage

Whether you purchase food on the train or bring it with you, please take it with you and throw it out. Don’t jam it in the pockets or the floor. There’s nothing worse than finding gungy food stuck between the seats and litter on the floors. Remember that all services are short-staffed so we all need to do our part to keep things clean for each other.

10. Bathroom etiquette

It has to be said: just as you would at home, help keep bathrooms tidy and be as quick as possible. This isn’t a place to check your email. Generally there are only a few bathrooms on a train, and there’s nothing worse than waiting 15 minutes to get in. I’ve seen some of the nicest accessible bathrooms on trains recently, newly designed with automatic doors.

11. Let people off before you get in

When boarding a train, allow all the passengers to exit before you try to enter.  It’s a one-way street. There’s not enough room for two people to pass each other.  There are also steep steps and you don’t want people to get hurt when disembarking. 

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