tospain

Is there a locking bin or some other way to securely store luggage on the Talgo and Ave trains so I can move freely between cars without dragging my luggage along?

GeoffHamer

On trains, people just put their luggage on the luggage rack. You will see luggage racks full of bags and cases. Other passengers do not chain their baggage to the seats or drag it with them when they go to the toilet or the bar. The luggage will be perfectly safe. If you want to take jewellery or gold ingots, then why not leave them at home? AVE and Talgo trains, by their nature, do not stop very often: if somebody were to try to take your case, they could not take it off the train between stations.

olga

I disagree with the last poster. They could leave the train with your luggage, as a matter of fact I have heard of some cases, specially when the AVE stops in Puertollano and Cordoba.

At the AVE, the luggage racks are in the space between coaches and they are separated from them by glass walls, so depending on where my seat is, I usually stand near my seat so I can keep an eye out for the luggage or just plain stand by the luggage racks while I stretch my legs a bit.

While the train is going, there is no problem, you can come and go as you please.

GeoffHamer

When I've travelled on AVE trains, they have been busy, and the luggage racks have been full. People would not leave their luggage there if it were likely to be stolen. If you chain your luggage to the rack, it will stand out just as if you stuck on a label saying "rich American tourist". As far as I can remember, most AVE trains make just one or two stops between Madrid and Sevilla, so keeping an eye on your luggage at stops isn't really a great problem. These trains are punctual so you'll know when stops are due.

rcc

I don't think chaining them to the racks is a bad idea. I think it just provides more peace of mind (for some) and does not necessarily advertise "valuables inside". What it does is make things more difficult, and perhaps deter, would be thieves.
I've brought and never used those chain locks and the wife and I just got back from a 3 country train travel in Europe (Talgo and AVE trains included).

If you have up to medium-sized bags (i.e. slightly bigger than airplane caryy-on rolling luggages), you can store them on the rack right above your seats -there's plenty of available spaces. We had a large suitcase (wife's) and a slightly-smaller one (mine and I could've stored on the top-of-the-seats rack) and I just left them in the luggage racks by the end of the cars. We just make sure to glance at them everytime we make our way to the bathrooms.

JLHood

We took the TALGO from Madrid to Barcelona in May. We left our luggage unattended on the rack above our seats, as well as a book bag with a couple of digital cameras on our seats, when we went to the bar car and nobody bothered to take anything. It was a weekday and most of the people in our car were businessmen who got off in Zaragosa. We did, however, have first class seats.