Train Travel Warning??

Hey Everybody,

I just wanted to update you on something that occurred to family members traveling from France to Italy on the train. They were in a sleeper compartment with 5 other travelers whom they were not traveling with. This was an overnight trip, and upon waking the next morning, all of the travelers in that sleeper felt a bit ill. Not too bad, just slight sore throats and headaches. It didn%26#39;t take long to learn that they had all been victims during the night of theft. Every person in the sleeper had money stolen. They later found that two other sleeper cars on the same train had the same problems. All of them went to the police upon arriving at their destination, and they were told that there are people who are using the gas nitrous oxide (normally used by dentists) to effectively make sure that all occupants of the sleeper stayed in a deep sleep. They thread a tube underneath the main door of the car in the middle of the night and pump in the nitrous. When they%26#39;re certain that everyone is deeply asleep, they take whatever they can take quickly. No one was physically harmed. If you are on an overnight train trip, make sure that your valuables are in a locked bag for protection. I did try to research this but could only find where nitrous oxide had been used in home robberies in Europe. So what do you all think? Were the cops straight with them? Any ideas on making sure you stay safe? Our relatives are still in Europe for another 2 weeks with lots of train travel planned. I%26#39;d love to be able to give them some good advice, and I figured that this was where to get it! If it hadn%26#39;t happened to very close relatives, I don%26#39;t think that I would have believed this. Thanks!

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I can only say that I%26#39;ve read these stories enough times to believe them (although usually they%26#39;re about truck drivers and/or mobile homes on parking lots in southern Europe). I don%26#39;t think it makes much difference what kind of gas they%26#39;re using, as long as it knocks people out long enough to rob them.

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This is nothing new. Tour books (like Let%26#39;s Go) mentioned this decades ago. Use a travel door alarm, a compartment door %26quot;latch%26quot;, etc. Or keep the window open!

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Yes there was a bad spate of this on the overnight motorail services a few years back. On those trains they changed the locks so that you could double lock the compartment and nobody can get in. When it was at its worse and before the double locks we used to wire up the door!!!

I always slept with my valubles right next or under me in the bed.

So sorry this is happening again.

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Never use to encounter those things in the days of Blue train or Golden Arrow . Wonder why now.

One certainly woudl sleep well with beautiful dreams!

Gerlis

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Where are the train guards when people are being gassed and robbed, I wonder?

If this is not another %26#39;urban myth%26#39; it%26#39;s awful.

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There have been many warnings about this being done to motor homes parked over night and to people camping in France and Europe.

I am not surprised that it would happen on a train.

It is a shame this happened to your family members.

Where were the train personel? That is a good question?

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I have read that the personnel on the trains are often in on the robberies in that they allow it and get part of the takings. I have a friend whose son and friends, on a trip to Italy, took turns staying awake and keeping gaurd. They were the only ones who didn%26#39;t get robbed. They do use some sort of gas. It seems to happen on trains to Spain and Italy.

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My advice is to be careful about travelling overnight and this sort of incident has been happening for years, but the new trains were supposed to be safer.

You need to make sure that the doors are securely locked and that valuable items like your passport and money are secure and close to you. Sometimes travelling overnight does not really save that much time or money and you miss all the sights so go by day even if you to stay overnight at a hotel. I would also say be careful about your valuables at railway stations.

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Trains wil definitely make a come back - to travel today by air is like entering a marathon not knowing how many kms either Some of the scenery is not always so unmissable. re saving time I think to travel whilst you sleep is excellent time usage.

Bon voyage Gerlis

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I heard this story in 1965 on my first trip to Europe. I%26#39;m still not sure how much of it is urban (Euro?) legend. I just found that overnight sleepers with 5 strangers had other disadvantages than fear of gas/robbery...there is always seems to be someone who is in the no-smoking car, who keeps getting up in the night for a smoke and comes back reaking, though technically not smoking in the berth. You generally have a very late departure from the originating station, and an early arrival, groggy at best, at your arrival, with nowhere to wash up, etc.

I%26#39;ve been traveling by train in Europe, as you can see, for forty plus years. I have heard the gas story many times, but it is always someone someone knows, or a friend of a friend, who had the problem. I have never read of this in a European newspapr, and can read in four languages. Still, caution is best.

I no longer need to travel on an extremely tight budget, and might try a private compartment if traveling, for instance, from Frankfurt to Berlin or Zurich to Vienna. My preference is to enjoy the landscape by day, if possible.