Thieves in French trains. Message to authorities about major risks.
 

Be careful when travelling by train around Europe, specially in Paris. Stick to your belongings 100% of the time. It´s not new that the streets of Paris are full of pickpockets, mainly in the tourist areas, even inside churches. I´ve seen them in action and heard about many cases. However, I want to raise the topic of robbing on board the trains like the TGV. I didn´t pay attention before during previous trips to Paris, but now I got surprised when two of my bags were stolen while the train was still at the Montparnase station. The MODUS OPERANDI of these thieves is as follows: during boarding time, they get in the train cars pretending they are passengers and sit down in any seat at one end of the car in order to have a good view of all the real passengers, waiting for any minor distraction. People puts some bags in the overheads, sit and relax waiting for train departure. A few moments before, thieves act by quickly standing up, stealing the bags and getting off the train before doors are closed. Regardless what I´ve lost, my message to the French authorities and all those in charge of European trains is that I´m impressed how terrorists haven´t taken advantage of the lack of security/safety since there is no procedure at all in place to have ONLY real passengers boarding a train while on stations. There must be a simple way to prevent that. The same easy way these thieves take someone else´s belongings off the train, the same way someone could place an undesired artifact on board and leave the train before daparture. I really hope never happens something like that.

There must be a simple way to prevent that.>

and a simple way to protect your bags - keep your eyes on them until departure. thanks for the warning to do just that.

This can happen anywhere, thanks for the warning.

This luggage theft procedure has been practiced and perfected for decades. It can happen on any train, not just the TGV. For defense, put your luggage in the overhead rack above you and keep your eyes on your luggage whenever the train is in a station.

Thanks for the reminder, fernando. I admit I've become rather blasé over the years about my luggage on French trains.

And it does seem as though it would be rather simple to keep non-passengers off trains.

Yep - definitely keep your eye on your bags. Several of our bags have some sort of strap with a clip - designed for clipping one bag to another, like when you have a roller with a small bag sitting on top. If our bags our out of our immediate control, like at the end of a train car, we try to clip them to a pole or at least to each other - makes it a little harder for someone to snatch a bag and get away.

Glad I read this today..will be taking the train from Nantes to Paris on Friday..unfortunately, I have a couple of bags. Guess I will be paying much better attention to them now.

I think the OP was advising of how easy it would be for a terrorist to plant something on the train in the luggage area. Although he said he lost his bag, the point was that there is no security on the baggage area which not only allows theft but also allows putting toner cartridges on the train very easily.

<i>but also allows putting toner cartridges on the train very easily.</i>

Why bother with toner cartridges? Any containers would do if luggage is not screened.

Same with trains in the US ..no checks so this is not just a European problem..and buses too

Yes, someone can bomb a train. They can also set off car bombs, gun down people in a crowded market place, or any number of terrible things.

I suppose that France could impliment luggage and passenger screening for trains, but then it would make train travel much less efficient, more costly, and time consuming. I can see why they don't do it. Plus, unlike a plane, the damage someone can do with a train is finite.

The last time I took the TGV I had to show my ticket before being allowed on the platform. But I gather that this was due to exceptional circumstances since the point of the post is that anyone can get on the TGV before it departs.

Friends just back from Spain say that every long-distance train they took had airline style security checks. A complete hassle but unfortunately may be necessary - meant to deter terrorists but probably would deter un-ticketed thieves from boarding trains. Take the good with the bad.

How the heck can someone reach for MY bag when it is in the overhead bin, and they have to lean over me to get it?? I think people must be putting their bags in overhead bin, then leaving their seats for some reason for this to happen. Now, leaving bags in the luggage area - ok, can see that happening.

Travelnut, I think the OP is talking about the luggage racks at the end of the car, where you may not be sitting.

I've seen people lock up their luggage in these areas. Good idea, but I just never seem to do it. I keep a close eye on mine, to the point of irritating the hell out of my husband. I can't help it. You can take the girl out of New York, but you....yeah, you know the rest.

Sometimes the rack directly overhead is already full of bags, and you may have to hunt around for any open space. It's not a given that you'll always be able to view your bag from where you're sitting.

The luggage areas near the doors of rail cars are there for the convenience of passengers, and luggage thieves. YankyGal has the correct paranoia. The InterCity from Amsterdam to Brussels used to have locks at the luggage area, available for one euro.

well, I was reacting to this part:

"People puts some bags in the overheads, sit and relax waiting for train departure. A few moments before, thieves act by quickly standing up, stealing the bags ..."

That's what I was responding to, Travelnut. Sometimes the only available space in the overheads may be behind you.

This is a problem as it is very difficult to keep track of your bags when they are at the end of the car, unless you happen to have a seat assigned right next to them. Even then, someone could quickly grab it and go out the door. Now those would be big bags, suitcases, of course. So if these thieves want small daypack type things, they would be grabbing them from the overheads.

It wouldn't be difficult to do that, Travelnut, I don't understand why you think that would be so hard. It's just a small rack over the seats, you can reach it easily from the aisle. It isn't compartmentalized, you could easily have something you own put up there right next to someone else's legimately. They aren't "bins", anyway, they are just open racks in all the TGVs I've been on (meaning no door to open, it's not like an airplane bin.

Fernando, what TGV did this happen to you that you lost something and what kind of bag was it, how big (was it in the overhead racks and not the luggage space at the car end?).

Although it may seem like "overkill", when we traveled from Paris to Belgium, then Belgium to London, we used a bicycle cable lock to loop our 2 suitcases together, passing the cable through the luggage rack. Of course, our suitcases zippers were also locked. We could then just relax and enjoy the journey without worrying about keeping an eye on our luggage. Better safe than sorry! We did get up to unlock them right as we were coming into the station, so we didn't hold up other travelers. Then we were right with our luggage and ready to get off the train.

Christina, you´re absolutely right, I mean the overhead racks since, as you stated, there are no bins like in airplanes. The TGV where this happened was the route Paris-Rennes, departing from Montparnasse. The train was almost full and we were carrying 3 more big bags that we couldn´t put besides us, which thieves wouldn´t certainly be interested on, due to the weight. The ones stolen were linked by the strap of one of them "to make them harder to steal" so what thevacationqueen states is not exagerated at all.

Some additional comments: of course we assume 100% responsibility of this issue due to our distraction. Even after 2 flights in a raw (Botswana-South Africa-France and RER CDG to Montparnase: more than 15 hours), we should have been more careful on board the train.

As StCirq and RonDace stated above, my intention here is double: first, a friendly warning or reminder to first timers or experienced travelers. Second, to express my concern about the lack of a simple boarding procedure in european trains to prevent non-passengers to be on board, due to much bigger potential risks...I´m not looking for converting train industry in Europe as the airports worldwide.

Fernando, thanks for the reminder to be vigilant. We'll work on how to secure our suitcases and smaller items when we make that same Paris to Rennes trip in the spring.

<i>lack of a simple boarding procedure in european trains to prevent non-passengers to be on board</i>
In Britain there is a simple procedure. Before getting on a train platform you must pass through a ticket turnstile, similar to those in the Paris Metro. There are usually attendants on duty to keep an eye on the people and prevent the vermin from leaping over or squeezing through two at a time. When you get off a train you must pass through another turnstile. This is sometimes an inconvenience when you travel with a BritRail Pass and get off in a smaller city. The Pass doesn't work in the turnstile machine. The attendants may be having tea in their office so you have to wait a moment for one of them to notice you and open the gate for baby carriages and wheelchairs.

Thanks for the timely warning!

I was just reading on another Fodors' thread about these jackets and vests which has lots of pockets and eliminates the need to carry important, expensive and loose items in backpacks.

http://www.scottevest.com/

I'm seriously thinking of getting a couple - one for warm weather and one for cold.

Hope this helps.

BTW, besides the demos on the website, there are also a few videos on youtube.

Not just bags are stolen. On a Prague train my husband and I watched a few different times different thieves wait until the doors were about to close, and steal wallets out of the pockets of the standing persons and jump off. Happened the other way also, as the passengers were exiting, their wallets were discretely taken out of their back pockets and the thieves were left on the train with us, very strange for us and not a care from them.