Luggage Safety on European Trains?

I can't speak for French trains, but every Germany train I have ever been on has had a luggage rack over the seats. If you have a carryon sized bag, it should fit in the luggage rack.

This is one of those questions that get discussed all time with lots of anticipated problem but have never heard first hand of anyone having problems. It is always a friend of a cousin. We have traveled for 20 years on trains and have never had a problem. When I throw a day bag on the overhead rack I will fasten one of the straps to the rack just so no one could grab it quickly but have never seen anyone else bag grabbed either. When we put our bags in the luggage bins we will lock the handles together with a cable lock. Again, probably overkill as I have never see a bag taken or any indication of being taken. Notice that most of the locals throw there bags in the bins without a second thought. Can someone take a bag -- sure. Probability -- very low.

We've never lost a suitcase, but a couple sitting across from us on a train in France did. They were just beginning a 3-month journey, which had started in Iceland, and found their very expensive Eagle Creek bags missing from the baggage area at the end of the train car when they arrived in Paris. We have never let our bags out of our sight on a train since! Maybe if you had two or more bags locked together they'd be safer, but then you'd need to be alert and get up & unlock them before the train stopped, as sometimes you just have a few minutes to get off.

Interested in recent mentions of cable locks to tie luggage together or securing it to train racks. I've done it in the past, sometimes, but I now wonder how to get a cable lock past airport security, if you're only taking a carry-on. Wouldn't a suspicious TSA checker seize it? After all, it does have metal - at least mine does - and could also be used to strangle someone. OK if it's in a checked bag, yes, but with a carry on, I wouldn't want to lose the lock before even getting on a plane. What do you think? Has anybody lost such a gadget to airport security? Just curious. Thanks.

I take the french TGV very regularly and other european trains occasionally and I've done so for almost 20 years. Never saw or heard of any stolen luggage on the train. When you think about it, stealing luggage on trains is not very convenient. It's much easier in the station where thieves can easily run away and mingle in the crowd.

I have the pacsafe cable lock and never had it confiscated from my carry on before.

As a previous poster said, it seems a theft risk but I've never read of someone having a bag stolen. Just use some caution and common sense. Don't leave anything truly valuable in the open or in a bag if you walk away (like cameras or computers). For big bags they must go in the bin at the end of the car. I like to sit facing the bin just so I can check at station stops to be sure my bag stays where it is.

I use a retractable cable lock about three feet long and it retracts into a plastic box about the size of a deck of cards. Have carried it through security dozens of times without question. It is sold in our area as a ski lock but am sure it would be available in other areas and bicycle shops.

Last year I traveled quite a lot on trains. Florence to Venice, Venice to Arezzo, Milan to Zurich, Zurich to Garmisch (through Innsbruck) and back down to Rome. My luggage was too big and too heavy to put up in the overhead area (I learned that after the first time I tried and a nice man had to assist me). Instead, I would use the A shaped space between seats on trains. I could simply roll my suitcase in behind my seat (or in the seat in front of you if you worry about keeping an eye on it) and it was close to me the whole time. The friend I was traveling with, her luggage was even larger and difficult to wheel down the aisle, so she would place her luggage on the racks at the end of each car. Over long train rides we would get up and check on it sometimes, but we never had any problems and never worried about the safety of our possessions.

Just a wild guess, but I'd bet the single least stolen item in Europe is a suitcase full of clothes.

Another worry solved by only taking a carry on sized suitcase
that is not too heavy to Europe. Even if you check it in for flights. I can put mine in the overhead rack with no problems and if the train does not have overhead racks (not been on one yet) I can tie our two together if we must put it at the end of the car.