How to behave on a Swiss train

Swiss train, any train, subway car, airplane, the office....this etiquette applies in many places! :)
Thanks for sharing.

Very interesting and insightful. I have to say, though, regardless of the country, when my husband and I board a train to find every single seat group, whether 4 places or two, has ONE person sitting it, it annoys us as we then have to split up.

Don't know why you would have to split up when you encounter 1 person sitting in a quad group of seats...But there's no need to be annoyed because that's just how public transport works.

On some Netherlands trains, in 1st class, one of the levels (say the upper level) has a sign "Silencio" and you will be chastised by passengers if you speak at all to a travel companion: silencio means don't say anything. Or you can ride in the 1st class lower level.

Note that if you're traveling on a public holiday, it can turn into a total free-for-all scrum. We unknowingly planned on going from Zurich to Lauterbrunnen on Ascension Day and had locals apologizing to us about how 'This is not Swiss!' for everything from the baby carriage abandoned in a place to block people's ability to get off and on the train to the excessive crowding to disfunctional toilets on down .

Did have some nice chats with those locals about how it usually works and our onward journey to Basel a few days later was a lot more mellow.

Silent carriages, in the European countries that have them, are really meant as "no talking at all".