Polish Train Travel - Scary?

I'm an English teacher in Poland (from UK) and my Polish boyfriend has always told me to be careful travelling on Polish trains, but i thought that he was just being sensitive because i was travelling alone... until the other day when one of my students told me that she has been robbed twice while travelling on Polish trains and that the robbers use a gas to make the victims fall asleep before they rob them... Is this true?? If so, is it common?? Also, if it is true - that is one of the scariest things I've ever heard - I'm going to be much more cautious now when travelling by train!!

It's good advice to be careful on trains in general whether in Poland or not.


I don't know the age of your students but I think this is perhaps an embellished story. A possibility might be that it happened once or something but not regular. Don't worry about train travel but be as careful as you would be anyway travelling alone.

A first time traveler on Polish trains is always warned by friends to be on the look out.

People do get robbed. There is no doubt about it, but it is not on every journey.

Take normal precautions and you'll be OK......... Don't fall into a deep sleep.

More and more trains have open carriages rather than compartments, whch makes things safer.

Be as aware on crowded trains... as you would be in any crowd.

pinkjewel may be on the money, sounds like a bit of a dated embellishment at that. be smart and treat being in a crowd of strangers as being in a crowd of strangers and you'll be fine.

when was the last time you traveled by train ?

Why ?

because you write about situation which was 8 years ago ...

Do you mean this:


If so, I stand by this comment.

Thanks for your points of view - feel a bit better about it now... had just never heard anything like this before and i have to admit that i don't like the trains with the seperate comartments if i have to sit with a group of strangers. The ones with no compartments are much better! (plus - no way i'm gonna get the train at night on my own anyway!)

It depends what part of Poland u r in. Generally, it's a safe option during the day. Sometimes, it's the strange critters u meet at the stations that pose more of a threat but Poland has many harmless drunks. Scotland, arguably, has more weirdos lingering around. Theft is more of a problem than assault.

I've checked the stories about 'gas' on other websites. They are not true.

I thought that right at the outset but unfortunately my post was moved into random thread. It is a bit far fetched in my opinion.

Gas?? LOL i had the same fear when i went to poland last summer. My family told me that thieves would gas cabins (especially on nights trains) to rob you back in the 70's and 80's!! It doesn't happen anymore. Trains IMO are quite a safe mode of transportation and often times they are full of people so thieves wouldn't dare attack you. Even if the train isn't full just make sure you find a cabin with decent looking people (ie: not skin heads or dresiarze).

I only had one problem on a train from wroclaw to prague. A middle aged czech man tried robbing me while i was (alone in a cabin) semi passed out (yes massive hangover). He thought i was sleeping and had entered my cabin and reached for my bags which i mistakenly put in the overhead storage rather than sit/lay down on the bags. I must have thought i was on a canadian train. Luckily i got up and showed him the door. Anyways, my valuables were hidden in a strap on travel pocket between my briefs and pants.

The gas thing is talked about all the time yet I have never met anyone that has had it happen or knows someone who had it happen.

Pickpockets and petty thieve however are a whole other story....they are common. Even your own cabin mates will at times help themselves to your things if you don't keep an eye on them.

Never leave money and documents in your bag...always on you in a place they can't get to without waking you.

I used to commute from the south coast of England to London everyday, and the things that you see on UK trains, I have never seen on Polish trains.

One day I was sitting in my seat when a rather scruffy guy came wondering down the isle, eye's rolled back in his sockets, holding his arm with a hypodermic syringe hanging out of his arm as high as a kite.

I can also remember the steamers in London that would run through the underground mugging and stealing anything they could get their hands on.
Every country has it's good and bad, but I have never seen any problems on Polish trains, but by all of the scare stories, I guess I have been lucky.

I also really depends on the route and the time of day...the long night trains can get a bit sporty.

Hi puddddddin,

I've been on the trains from Gorzow many times.. usually to Poznan. Try go 1st class where you can... usually it's only an extra 3zl or so.

2nd class was always packed with unsavoury characters usually.

BTW hope you are still enjoying Gorzow, it wasn't for me and I came back to work in London, still missing Poland a lot and am sure I will be back but maybe to a bigger city like Gdansk.

Hi there, I guess you need to keep your wits about you anywhere in the world, but my first time in Poland I had to travel around by train - sometimes on the sleeper / night train when I had to travel long distances (company was too tight to pay for a flight LOL), and I had no trouble at all.

yes...


no...

yea it's not really safe to travel on polish trains but... it has got a clima! Something special is in it.

Polish trains are a pleasure.

im not sure if i would go that far but at least they run, and run on time, which is more than can be said for some countries...

The trains are good.The employees can be a problem.I remember 5 years ago there were old trains packed with people,an unbelievable situation.Slow and dirty,many times all seats were taken and many passengers had to travel standing.But now with EU integration brand new trains,IC are on the lines almost the same quality as the german trains.

They are slower than german trains only because of the old rails.

I've traveled by rail in Poland alone and overnight. I did not feel it to be dangerous. However, I would still recommend traveling with someone else versus alone. I've also been on the subway in new york city; Now that is a scare!

No, its not. polish train travel is certainly not safe at all. You can be robbed and your body is then thrown out of the window to hide the evidence. I know of someone who left the compartment for a while and had his drink spiked. On his return he sat down, finished off his drink and the next thing he remembered, he woke up in his underpants! They had stolen the lot, literally everything, they cleaned him out.

A teacher at the same school as me was robbed (along with her mother) on a sleeper train. They both woke up with huge headaches and no valuables. The school doctor diagnosed them with mild CO2 poisoning.

That said, this was nine years ago.

it happened to me once on the train from gdansk to warszawa. i remember going to the bar for a few beers and a couple of wodkas, then i have no recollection, and then i woke up on the bench in my compartment and i was in warszawa... and i had a lot less money than when i got on in gdansk... hmmm... suspicious...

Very suspicious but I am a very good detective and therefore i can deduce this one very, very easyly.

You were inebriated or in other words.......pi$$ed as a newt !

hahahahaha


Yes, but they didn't kill him and throw his body out odf the window then did they ?

You had better not ever, never go on a Polish train Michal. Who knows what they may do to you.

really sick that u hide behind your computer and make stupid threats, i dont like the guy that much too, but personal threats on the internet are just wussy

it wasn't a threat it was a joke man !

what sort of world do you live in if you think people are posting threats on here, you are a silly person.