Unofficial parcel service via TGV.

[TheSeeker]

My uncle who lives in the south of France once told a story of people placing a suitcase aboard a TGV in Marseille and then immediately getting off the train. An accomplice then collects the suitcase from the pre-arranged carriage when the train arrives in Paris.

Has anyone else heard this story? Sounds a bit too good to be true.

 

[Mag_seven]

I'm sure its happened and not just in France.

 

[swt class 450]

It probably happens on trains in many places around the world. If you just place it on a luggage rack somewhere then it won't look odd and nobody will steal it or think it is unattended. It's quite a good way to send something to someone without paying for postage.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm sure its happened and not just in France.

Rice smugglers do it to get rice across the border from Thailand to Malaysia.

 

[edwin_m]

Some risk of having your case stolen though.

 

[TRAX]

Some risk of having your case stolen though.

Not more than if you are on the train with it.

 

[AlexNL]

Some risk of having your case stolen though.

Or someone reports it as left luggage, the train gets cancelled and evacuated, and the item is removed and destroyed by the bomb squad.

 

[Bald Rick]

I’ve done it in this country!

In more innocent days, before we became so security conscious (and when the threat from terrorism was of course much higher).

 

[Mag_seven]

Barrier lines have put a stop to that sort of thing in this country.

 

[swt class 450]

There are still a very large amount of stations all over the UK without ticket barriers (and even the ones that do have them are very often left wide open) so it is definitely still possible here.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Barrier lines have put a stop to that sort of thing in this country.

A return to the next stop would allow the barrier to be passed at minimal cost for that kind of purpose (and a similar but more nefarious one of putting something on a train where you really wouldn't want to accompany it).

 

[Highlandspring]

I read in a briefing from BTP a few years ago that this method was being used to traffic drugs on Anglo Scottish services.

 

[theageofthetra]

Rice smugglers do it to get rice across the border from Thailand to Malaysia.

Happens with baby formula between Macau or HK and mainland China.

 

[Starmill]

I read in a briefing from BTP a few years ago that this method was being used to traffic drugs on Anglo Scottish services.

This got very dark very quickly

 

[Giugiaro]

CP - Comboios de Portugal has an internal parcel delivery service, allowing parts and documents to be shipped by train from different depots and main stations.

A few years ago I saw a form being written to parcel an EBICAB command unit from Contumil to Lisbon St Apollonia, after being refurbished at the highspeed workshops.
We also had the idea of asking a driver to parcel chorizo bread from Setúbal to Porto, paying him a loaf of the same bread, but we never got to do it. XD

The main problem is space, given that the current fleet doesn't have designated spaces for parcels, so stuff usually goes on the cab, alongside the driver.

 

[edwin_m]

I recall entrusting a consignment of silicon chips to a guard in Derby, for collection by a colleague in York and installation in the IECC. This was back in the BR days of course, wouldn't happen today.

 

[dazzler]

I recall entrusting a consignment of silicon chips to a guard in Derby, for collection by a colleague in York and installation in the IECC. This was back in the BR days of course, wouldn't happen today.

When I was in the DS&TE Telecoms Project Office at York (early 90s) we regularly used to send telecoms test kit up and down the ECML in HST TGS van areas, with a BR internal post green slip pasted to the test kit. Deposit the kit in the van at York and the technician retrieved it at its destination!

DS&TE = Director of Signals and Telecommunication Engineering
ECML = East Coast Main Line
HST = InterCity 125 High Speed Train
TGS = Trailer Guard Second/Standard
BR = British Rail

 

[Highlandspring]

I recall entrusting a consignment of silicon chips to a guard in Derby, for collection by a colleague in York and installation in the IECC. This was back in the BR days of course, wouldn't happen today.

On the contrary, small parts for Network Rail are often moved by train. When a Route needs a spare part urgently but has none in stock NR’s National Operations Centre sends out a parts request to all the Routes and if someone has what’s needed they contact the relevant Route Control who then arrange to have the item transported as required. That regularly involves carriage by service train up and down the country and the TOCs are always happy to oblige; CrossCountry is particularly helpful with this.

 

[contrex]

Every Christmas, when I was a kid my grandma used to buy a plucked turkey in Long Eaton, take it to Sawley Junction in a cardboard box, hand to a passenger train guard, and ring my dad, who would meet the train at St Pancras.