Couchettes

It used to be true. I think that unless your train will be leaving the Schengen zone during the night--straying into Switzerland, for instance--that it is no longer true because there is no need for it.

If it is true on this route, you may surrender your passport with confidence. You'll get it back in the morning.

I used one on an overnight from Madrid to Paris, I dont' remember having to give them my railpass, but they did take my passport, I got it back the next morning, I wouldn't be concerned about it since it's common practice. My personal experience was positive! When I boarded I was the first in the couchette, after a while another single male came in, he was headed back to London via Paris, it was great having someone to talk to after traveling alone for a while. About 2 hours out of Madrid we stopped in a little village and gained another roommate, a Parisian who went to Salamanca to visit his niece. While at dinner we stopped again, we found a new roommate when we returned, I didn't get to know him since it was late in the evening and everybody was settling down for the night, he was in his bunk listening to his ipod. The next morning before we arrived in Paris the Parisian helped me map out my transit from one train station to another so I could get St Lazare for a train to Normandy.

Thank you both- Adam and Barry for your feed back! I feel a lot better about this!!

When we took a night train from Paris to Munich in 2005, the porter asked us for our passport so that she could take care of the border crossing formalities during the night. She also explained that if we did not want to give her our passports, the customs/border police would be knocking at our door. But she indicated it was our choice.