How WIDE are the train aisles in trains?
 

My question may sound silly, but I'd like to know how wide, big are the aisles in trains in ITALY to decide on my luggage.
Thanks in advance

Not wide enough for a 26" suitcase.

I don't think the problem is so much the width of the aisle as it is the necessity to hoist your suitcase up onto an overhead rack. How are you at pushing 40 pounds up over your head?

I really don't have a measure on it.
My guesstimate is about a meter in second class.

Figure the width of an airplane aisle.

They are narrow, but what I remember as seeming even narrower are the few very steep steps you have to go up to get on the train in the first place.

Not sure what Eloise means, but we've carried 26" suitcases down Italian train aisles with no problem. And gotten them up and down the steps getting on and off the train with no problem.

It depends on how sick or feeble you are.

Oh I've gotten them up, too, and down the aisles - but I would not say that I did so without problems... Nor do I think that I am particularly sick or feeble.

I draw the line at putting them overhead; fortunately, they fit between the seats on ES trains.

From another thread - ItalyLove is planning to use a 30 inch duffle. It would be narrow enough to get down the aisles but really a bear to drag around a train car.

Do they require people with duffles to drag them around the train car the entire trip?

Rufus - you know what I mean. To drag a <u>30 inch</u> bag to your seat and stow it between the seats - then drag it back off the train. Or, as has happened to me, take the bag to my seat only to find no space for the bag and having to take it to the luggage racks.

But even for a very strong, very tall, very fit person - a 30 inch bag is a bear to manoever.

I'm overweight, but not obese. Will I feet into such an isle? :'(

The real fun takes place when you're in an old-fashioned train that has compartments, rather than airline-type seating, and jump sets in the aisle. When these jump seats are occupied and luggage in the aisles, the whole luggage thing becomes an elaborately choreographed pas de valises. YOu should have seen my travelling companion holding her luggage above her head so that the snack cart could get down the aisle.

Yeah, it's not just the bag that goes down the aisle on a train, you are thinking that there won't be anyone heading in the opposite direction or hanging out in the aisle.

Storing the luggage is a completely other issue, and as Bob said, hoisting it overhead onto the rack, both in measurement and weight of the back can end up looking like a Laurel &amp; Hardy movie, with the human on the losing side. There's also storage on some trains UNDER the seat, which becomes a &quot;puffy&quot; suitcase problem, especially if it's a hard suitcase that cannot be squished down to shove under.

I wouldn't go with anything larger than a 26&quot; suitcase, and I downgraded to a 24&quot; a few years ago just for this reason.

Well - since you don;t pull the suitcases sideways the width of the aisle is really not the issue.

The issues are:

Carrying the cases up the steep steps from the platform to the train (in many places)

Lifting the suitcase above your head to put on the overhead rack (unless the car has a place at the end for large cases and you can lock them down)

Carrying the cases up the stairs from the main station to the platforms (this varies - some places are on the same level and some have ramps - but certainly not all).

So don;t take any case that you can't carry up a sizeable flight of stairs.

I carry a softsided suitcase which weighs around 30 lbs packed. It is difficult to toss on the train, especially on the 2 minute stops in a small town and the steps can be steep. I'm not a tall person, but I'm strong and capable, but it's hard to toss aboard at times.

Also, twice I have had pickpockets approach me when boarding the train. Getting on at the Brussels station to go to Amsterdam Schiphol a very nice looking gentleman in a suit and tie offered his assistance to help me on the train, and at the same time he was unzipping my backpack. Seeing as I was going directly to the airport I had my passport, money and credit cards in this pack. After all my trip was over, I thought. Luckily I turned around even though I couldn't feel him doing this and noticed my backpack was open, as he jumped off the train. It was unzipped and luckily he got nothing.

It is best to be able to be in total control of your luggage at all times. Too wide, too heavy, whatever, you must be able to handle it yourself and still be aware of your surroundings. A heavy suitcase is a problem.

janisj--sure I know what you mean.

But I don't see the big deal--so it takes a few seconds longer to get a larger suitcase on and off a train or up and down the aisle than a smaller suitcase. This is not a life changing event--unless you have a pretty dull and protected life. We aren't talking about hauling a steamer trunk around--it's a 20 or 21 inch suitcase versus a 26 or 30 inch suitcase/duffle. Of course, if you fill your suitcase with bowling balls or irons, then you've got another issue altogether.

Unless you really are ill or in bad condition or otherwise not very strong, it just is not that big a deal--and unless, as I joked, you have to drag the duffle around the entire time you're on the train, it is a minor inconvenience for a few seconds. If you are not very strong for whatever reason, then of course the size and weight of your suitcase can be an issue of sorts.

Maybe we have things too easy these days--minor things become huge problems since many don't have a lot of real huge problems to deal with every day.

And it's not enough for some (not everyone, some) just to say that they prefer a smaller suitcase--no, there must be SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU if you prefer to take more and carry a bigger suitcase. Some folks are always looking for ways to make themselves superior to others. &quot;My suitcase is smaller than yooooooooo-uurrrrrs. Nah-nah.&quot;

Rant. Rant.

No, it's not a life-changing event, but for me, who does this about 4 times a year, it's at least an &quot;event.&quot; Traveling solo with a rollaboard 22&quot; suitcase and a fairly heavy messenger-type purse is really about all I can handle. I'm strong, fit, and in my mid-50s, but once I've spent all night on a plane, taken a taxi ride of 50 minutes or so, and waited maybe a half-hour for a train, I'm feeling pretty wasted. Then I usually have to walk down a quai at a French RR station to car # 20 and board with a zillion other people going both ways in the aisles. If I didn't have just my one small suitcase that I know I can hoist above my head and put on a rack, I'd be dependent on the kindness of strangers, which isn't always a bad thing, but you can't count on it.

And I'm not at all convinced the aisles in all Italian trains are wide enough to accommodate a 26&quot; suitcase. I guess I can test this theory in a few weeks when I'm there, but last time I was on trains up and down the coast from Rome seems like those aisles were mighty narrow.

I think Rufus has just decided to take over the mantle of resident curmudgeon.

Most of what he says in that last is simply silly. Of course it (usually) isn't a life changing event - talk about hyperbole . . . . . .

But it IS very difficult to manage large, heavy luggage on trains

http://www.seat61.com/Italy.htm
Scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page until you get to the picture of the ES train seats.

Thanks everyone for their ideas.
I've decided and I'm taking a 26&quot; roller suitcase with backpack straps in case I need them.
It's going to be half empty so I can bring stuff that I buy there.