Polish Train Travel - Scary?

forgive me if i read too much into that, the internet and users are sometimes a little strange. though at first glance it does look a bit dodgy

I will, no problem.

There really was nothing to read into it apart from some humour (see my post above that one to bubbawoo).......I was attempting to be funny......will try harder next time !

hehe dont worry, i suffer from fact of reading last post then commenting:P i should learn!!!:D:D

Polish trains are no better or worse than in any other nation.

I had my pockets picked once in the Copenhagen main rail station (very polite criminals though. They took the money and put the empty wallet, credit cards included into the post to get returned to me).

I've almost been pickpocketed on the Metro in Paris. (Bad pickpocket... I actually broke his finger getting it out of my pocket. I can honestly say that I didn't mean to do it but I am also not sorry about it).

I've seen other people getting their purses or bags stolen in Paris, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Zurich and London. I even think I got shaken down by a fake policeman in Prague once. But as the damage equated to USD 5, I didn't put up much of a fuss... I sure as HELL have seen enough of that in New York City (especially during the bad old days during the 1980's/early 1990's).

There are bad people all over the world and trains are an easy target. You just always have to watch out for yourself anywhere you go.

I personally enjoyed my train travels through Poland. I didn't have any problems on the trains and I didn't see all that much in the way of shady looking people to get excited over. I only really had my radar going a few times, but those times were late at night in either Krakow or Warsaw rail stations when the places were the stations were more or less empty and the people who were there weren't the kind I would want to bring home with me...

I have not even been close to being robbed in Poland. I use the trains, trams and buses. I have no problem with the transportation. The people getting robbed are the people making themselves targets. I try not to speak english to loud around people who look a bit shady. A lot of tourists on trains try and advertise the fact they are tourists. So they make easy targets.

Horror stories and Wise tales are just that. The stations at night are the only time where it looks really bad to be there. For some reason the Police do nothing to these people hanging around the stations.

Personally growing up in Miami seemed more dangerous to me. I feel much safer here. I'd rather be robbed then shot. Just my opinion though.

i wouldnt entirely agree with that - as ive already said, puntuality and reliability of polish trains is better than another country i know

I was talking more from a safety standpoint.

But I've been delayed on every nation's trains, Poland included. The worst delay I have ever had was in Germany if you can believe it. I was going from Heidelberg Germany to Zurich Switzerland. Had to take a regional to Stuttgart and change to an ICE train bound towards Zurich. I figured that I had about 25 minutes between trains.

Needless to say, the train from Heidelberg was delayed about 40 minutes. We arrived in Stuttgart on track 15 and I had to pick up my train on track 3. I was the first one off the train, ran like hell and was able to touch the ICE train as it pulled out of the station on me.

American trains are mostly on time. They're just expensive and they are overbooked (at least they used to be). I went to university in Rhode Island, and I'd take Amtrak back to New Jersey during my first 2 years there. There were many times that I stood in between cars for the entire trip. I've also stopped taking Amtrak unless I absolutely have to in this country. If I need to go to Washington DC for the day, it is actually cheaper for me to fly than it is to take the train many times. But I do liek pulling into the Union Station there and seeing the Capitol Building right there....

over the past 15 years there has always been trouble (robbing, drunken people, etc) in night-trains crossing the polish - german border, when using 2nd class sitting car. in sleeping-cars and during day trips I never whittnessed any trouble - and I used and still using trains quite a lot during the whole country. its save as in any other european country - what does not mean that you can't have bad luck.

What annoys me on trains in Poland are people using their cell phones a lot. I've been lucky to have the whole 8 person compartment for my self many times in my longer journeys or at least had share it comfortably with 2 or 3 other fellow travelers. Polish EC trains are often crowded from my experience but have better service like newspapers, drinks, ...toilets and seats.

Local trains are probably all crowded, the new, modern ones have usually uncomfortable seating and older ones are sometimes overheated.
Best deal: Friday evening to Monday morning all trains 60 PLN 2nd class, 80 PLN 1st
I find train station toilets clean but overpriced. Probably it does take 3 PLN per **** to keep them profitable for agents and corporate style.

YES.Polish trains can be a problem.
I'm from China and going to travle to South Poland for skiing,it's a small town and I have to change train in Jelenia Gola from Wroclaw.I'm afraid about the safety on trains

Oh come on, what on earth is so scary about that? I've been travelling all over Poland by train ever since I turned 16, and that was ages ago, believe me. Nothing scary ever happened to me, and I took night trains, slow trains, local trains, the lot. Sometimes the train was crowded, or overheated - that was just about the extent of my misery ;-)

If you watch out for pickpockets, like you should anywhere in the world - you will be absolutely fine.

I got robbed in 1999 on a night train crossing the Polish-German border between Dresden and Legnica. Actually I was GASSED. Woke up with a dreadful headache, with my jacket pockets slashed by a scalpel. The window wide open to vent the carriage. Oh, and dowidzenia my laptop with a week of work...

I am 100% convinced the train crew was in on it all, and perhaps even assisted in the crime. First, they refused to give me a couchette and then acted very coy when I asked if the trains were safe. They looked like shifty little b*ggers and I should have been more suspicious. Scum of Poland. Even today I would not hesitate to kill them on sight (if I could get away with it).

But then I was silly enough to sit alone in a carriage. NEVER, EVER SIT ALONE AT NIGHT IN A POLISH TRAIN CARRIAGE. It was the first time I'd ever been robbed and I've travelled a long, long way in my days. Makes me sick just recalling the whole thing.

My advice - these b*ggers target foreigners, so don't make it obvious that you are one (difficult to do only 10 years ago, but not so hard today). Use the day trains, they're very, very much safer. Avoid long distance night trains unless you can sleep in a couchette or sit in a large car with other people.

I don't believe you. I think you made the whole story up and if you would like chapter and verse as to why I have come to this conclusion, then I am more than happy to go through your post word for word and explain to you why your story is not credible.

Am sure you will try and post an even better story next time :)

Don't believe me then. You really think I could care less? Do you really think I would waste my time writing here if not as a genuine warning to others, not to fall in the same trap?

For your next "safe" trip I suggest you take the Dresden-Warsaw overnight train, find yourself a nice cosy 2nd class cabin, on your own, and take a nap, somewhere between the German border and Legnica, just before the train crew changes shifts at about 2AM.

When I reported the thing to the Police they said this thing was fairly common at the time (1999), Especially on long journeys, such as Szczecin-Warsaw, which was another bad train to fall asleep on midroute, just before crews changed shifts. How the situation is now I don't know, but I'm not gonna travel on a night train again to find out.

I agree...this story has gone around more than big foot yet nobody I know in Poland has ever really heard of it happening or experienced it. It is always "I heard" or online.

I can't speak for 9 years ago but it is hardly a concern now.

As much as I dislike living in Poland the most dangerous thing on a train here is that sandpaper toilet roll.

Simple answer to that is 'Yes'.


For insurance purposes as well I expect !

Your laptop must have been pretty pricey if you had it ten years ago ?

Of course. And British insurance is pretty good. They paid up. (Unlike Polish travel insurance which is sh1te, some friends just got robbed in Ecuador; their Polish insurance company wouldn't pay them a penny for their camera gear, which was expensive dSLRs with big f*off lenses.)


It was old and second hand and sligthly broken, so the screen wouldn't stay open properly. And it was a Mac as well, so non-Kosher in Poland. I'd be surprised if the Polish b*st*rd thieves got more than 100 zlots for it, especially since they didn't take the mains lead and the battery was nearly flat!

All the same I'd gladly have returned the insurance money with interest, so as not to go thru that nightmare.

Are you kidding me here ? You actually had an old, second hand MAC laptop ten years ago ??? Well, I never......

Pass LOL

:)

Like I said dunno what the situation is in 2008, but I was told back in 1999 that it was safe. At the major stations at night railway police were patrolling in threes. There was a strong police presence everywhere.

Just to cap it all a few weeks before I got robbed, I was reading a business travellers' guide to Poland written by a good friend, and HE had said that Polish rail travel was now safe. I wish I hadn't believed him...

I heard about a guy who flew too close to the sun and his wings melted and he fell into the sea....probably better not to take a flight just in case.

Yep, a Mac Duo, I think 260. It had a tiny 9inch? black & white screen, just as everyone was converting to colour. Produced in 1995, and I bought it sometime in 1997, so it would have been about 4 1/2 years old. Back in those days technology was moving very fast.

Still hate PCs now, even though I'm writing this on one. My current laptop is a Mac iBook G4 - also getting old as I bought it (new) two years ago, and the HD is much too small and the processor too slow.

So what model MAC laptop did you have then in 1999 if it was an old second hand one at the time ? I am so interested in that ?

And furthermore I am surprised you were able to insure such an expensive machine especially when travelling ?


Gosh ! I expect you advised your friend that he didn't know what he was talking about <in your view of course >

:)

Well I'm going hitch-hiking in Germany next week. Must say I feel safer hitching in Germany at night than travelling on the Polish trains at night. (I don't hitch in Poland unless there are no other options, cos I can't stand walking around on muddy Polish slip roads and cracked pavements, and through horrifically hideous Polish suburbs, and most Poles have no conversation anyway except the same old complaints about wages and the same old standard political crap: "Wie Pan, gdyby Kaczynski...., wie Pan")

I do use the Polish trains (and feel fairly safe on them), but not for overnight journeys.

Agreed about Polish conversational skills but if you are saying Germans are somehow any more pleasant to talk to I question your sobriety.

Cleaner cities....better roads...hell better everything...but conversationalists? Nope.

Wasn't that expensive. It would have cost 1100GBP new in 1995. But computers depreciate fast. Most businesses write them off completely in two years.
I got 400 GBP on the insurance for it, so it wasn't THAT expensive, and I didn't have to pay any extra premium, just standard cover.

Anyway enough for now. Time for bed.
(What a waste of time this all was. None of you lot believe a word of what I'm writing anyway.)

I'm sorry but I take what you say with a pinch of salt.

But it kept me entertained for a while. :)

Well my German isn't that brilliant, and hitching is a fantastic way to get free conversation lessons. Of course in return I give them English conversation lessons... And surprisingly, Germans are not boring to talk to, not the ones that give lifts at least. I've met a lot of really great, friendly people in Germany hitching, even a couple of new girlfriends. Germany's probably my favourite hitching country in the world, followed by GB, then perhaps Malaysia. Poland and indeed the whole of Eastern/Central Europe are very low down the list, near bottom.

I used to take the night train to Prague a lot and the guards used to tell everybody to keep the windows closed as thieves in the Czech Republic would climb through your window on your couchette and rob you blind when the train stopped at the station.

The Warsaw Poznan route used to be a favourite for thieves also

I have had friends who have been robbed on Polish trains but I do not believe that they are any worse than UK trains. There used to be gangs of steamers around Ilford who would attack and rob everyone on the train and then get off at the next station. At least this does not happen in Poland.

Quite true and this is not an isolated case. Steaming happens more oten than people realise.

I sometimes wonder regarding the anecdote about sleeping gas, is rather just a convenient excuse for people, the logistics of theives carrying canisters of gas around trains and gassing whole compartments is rather unfeasible. Not only would you need alot of gas, but where would you get the gas from in the first place.

Imagine, first you go to the local hospital, rob ten cannisters of "sleeping gas" (what the **** is sleeping gas?) Then you lug it onboard an overnight train gassing people. Er...doubt it.

The Poles are an extremely resourceful bunch, I wouldnt put it past them especially when theres a few ZL in the balance.