To add what to what Thursday said- even when there ARE barriers, it's usually one gate for multiple trains. Your ticket might be checked on the train but I don't know what else you'd want. People at each door checking tickets? That would slow the system down so much.

"One reason people choose to take trains rather than planes is precisely to avoid the security theater in airports."

Understand. I like that aspect as well, but someday a train crossing a bridge somewhere will just go "poof" and what did anyone do about it?

Well, there was an incident on Thalys when a guy tried to attack passengers with a knife and was eventually subdued by passengers and train staff. After that, there was a lot of talk about security checks at stations, but currently those are only in place at GdN in Paris, and there they are mainly a waste of time and symbolic. All other stations: anyone can walk on the train. And in Spain there have been large scale assaults on trains, with many dead as a consequence.

So sorry to hear this happened, what a PITA!.

I've never heard of checking bags when riding a TGV. And I ride them all the time. I usually carry a 19"or 21" rollaboard and have a cross-body bag that is glued to me at all times. Even with my small suitcase, it is often not possible to keep it near me, and I have to put it at the end of the carriage. I do get up periodically, particularly during stops, to make sure no one has lifted it, but I certainly can't and don't keep my eye on it throughout a journey. I don't ever have anything valuable in it, so for me that's not a huge concern, though it would probably be a huge hassle if it were stolen. There isn't "rampant theft," though. It always amazes me when one person chooses to resort to hyberbole from a singular situation, which this is.

I'd be more concerned about the fact that some random person could jump on and off a train at a stop and do far more damage than steal a suitcase.

I'm also surprised you didn't get more help from the SNCF staff. I've only had to turn to them a few times for help, but they have always been quick and forthright and accommodating when I did. Moreover, I have never noticed a failure on their part to administer warnings of all kinds, in both stations and on the trains.

I hope you sort this out. I hope you realize there are ways to keep in touch with SNCF officials to get help resolving continuing problems.

There will always be thieves everywhere, not just on trains. But I recall more than 40 years ago having having my bag pilfered on a luggage rack on a train (the TGV did not exist yet) before departure, simply because I had put my bag on the rack in the compartment and then got out to say goodbye to my parents. What did they take? About 5 music cassettes. Seems laughable now, but I was furious, because cassettes were expensive to me back then. And did they even like the music that was on them?

More recently, on a train from Paris to Dunkerque, the person next to me noticed that his bag was missing just after the train had left. But he was sitting with his back to it and probably feeling quite confident about security. I never feel confident about security. For the 90 minutes or so of the trip, he went all through the train, conversed with SNCF attendants but never found his bag. Clearly it was taken before the train had left the station. Always a nasty moment.

Don't think it is just trains, though. On an Alitalia flight from Miami to Milan, the passenger next to me (aisle seat) had put his new Raybans in the seat back pocket. During the night, they disappeared, never to be seen again. (I swear that I had nothing to do with it.)

But I am already wondering if we will hear from afpi711 again, who registered just to post this and might be another one post wonder.

I'd be afraid I wouldn't get the bags unchained and still make it off the train before it pulled away from the station.

I had been forewarned about men who "helped" you get your bags onto the train and racks at end of coach. They verbally assailed you if you didn't tip them and the thought of them making off with the bags as you went to your seat did enter my mind. Never had an incident, happy to say, with many train trips TGV and others in Europe.

Several years ago when I was the target of an attempted robbery on a train I posted the story on several message forums to alert fellow travelers to the particular scam used. I wasn't trying to form relationships or have discussions. There wasn't any need for follow-up posts.

It seems to me quite obviously that travelers who have an outstandingly bad experience when traveling are inclined to post once, to help others, and be done with it. The plaintive posts from "Fodorites" that the OP return to face an interrogation, and the suspicions cast on one-time posters for reporting something other than "wow golly fabulous I LOVED EVERY MINUTE of Europe it's paradise" yada doesn't just border on absurd. It is absurd & shows a rather defective understanding of human nature in distress.

Well, since you say yourself that you do not return for any follow-ups, you clearly have no experience with the number of people who give totally fallacious reports. Believe me, there are a multitude of them.

Menachem there are police officer in every Thalys I have taken fir months now.
And I take 2-3 Thalys a week on average.
I saw no cop on TGV yet.

whathi- Thalys was attacked by an onboard terrorist in Belgium - were there armed guard

oops - decided not to post that thought but since I did without completing - were their armed cops on Thalys before that attack?

Yes someday there will have to be armed security personnel on every train in Europe and airport-type screening for boarding and ticket prices will have to rise expotentially as a result.

Sign of times - surprised there have not been more attacks on trains -soft targets.

Maybe there are undercover security folks on TGVs you do not see?

If I had a suitcase full of essentials for a year in the US I'd be sure I had travel insurance which covered it.
Visa wouldn't cover it since you presumably only purchased the train ticket through them.
Stuff like this happens every where, throughout the world, in trains, planes and automobiles. It is awful, but it is what it is.
It could have been a deliberate theft, or it could have been an unlucky mix up of bags. You can't know what happened.


As for a terrorist attack, yes it will happen again (remember Atocha) on a train, just as it will happen again on a street somewhere. Should we be subjected to constant security checks and surveillance just in case? Doesn't that deprive us of the lifestyle we want to preserve, and the terrorists want to destroy?

Massimop...It's not that one and done posters never come back that makes it suspicious, really. It's often the phrasing or the gist of the story that doesn't make sense. In this case, the story is titled "safety of passengers", and the OP specifies it was his minor son, but nothing unsafe actually happened. They're merely assuming it was someone without a ticket. And then it it was a year's supply of his "best and favorite" belongings...which assuming this is a teen boy, I'd be curious to know what that refers to. The poster is also upset that the police weren't notified immediately...maybe they've never had stuff stolen out of their house or car, but police don't even respond to those calls. As someone said above- you file a police report and an insurance report and that's all that happens.

I mean, I believe it happened. But it's human nature to "enhance" a story, and I can also believe that happened here. I'm more curious about the end of the story. Did the kid get on the plane without his belongings and just replace it in America? Or did this "numb and nauseating" experience cause him to forgo the whole trip? Did their home owners or rental insurance cover the loss? We may never know...

My brother had a canadian young guy (15) so minor who spent a year in Belgium.
I've never understood why/how a family could decide to send a minor to school 10 000 kms away from home.
He didn't do anything except create problems (alcohol drugs, smoke, non attendance to school).
I recently asked what had become of the biy (he was nice but completely - lost). He committed suicide.

Just to add a gory side. Keep your kids close until they can fly and have proven they can fly.

There was a train strike our last visit to Paris and the first day it was off the trains were packed and the luggage was left everywhere on the train. It was nearly impossible to get out the door. Everything was full and there was no chaining suitcases but that is a great thought. Just bring my bike lock and chain. We were seated far from the luggage racks. Virgin train had room for my 19 inch suitcase above my seat.

Virgin train had room for my 19 inch suitcase above my seat.>

Virgin trains in France?

If you chain your luggage, you just to get up and stand next to it each time the train stops--and be sure to begin unlocking things a good 10 minutes before your final stop.

<i> I've never understood why/how a family could decide to send a minor to school 10 000 kms away from home.
He didn't do anything except create problems (alcohol drugs, smoke, non attendance to school).
</i>

I know a lot of families who send their kids to school in their very own town, and the kids cut school, smoke, drink, and do drugs.

When I lived in the US, we had a German high school student spend a year with us. She went to school, got good grades, and didn't smoke, drink, or do drugs. She came home every night at a decent hour, and even helped me with the housework. The next time I was in Europe, I stopped to visit her and her family. We still keep in touch.

pal, no last trip to UK, love those trains. I should not have mentioned Virgin on a France post.

I've never understood why/how a family could decide to send a minor to school 10 000 kms away from home.
He didn't do anything except create problems (alcohol drugs, smoke, non attendance to school).>

Is there a cause and effect there - no he would have done the same thing at home - maybe that's why they sent him packing!