Talk:Passenger train

Improvements and expansion checklist

Here is a non-exhaustive list of tasks to improve this article (I will work through these myself gradually, but of course anyone is welcome to help):

• A history section
• More detail on types of trains (locomotive hauled vs multiple units), as well as local vs. express trains
• Rapid transit may need to be condensed or entirely removed, depending on what we decide the scope of this article is (most of this article was split from Train)
• More information on passenger train scheduling
• Changes in passenger trains over time (streamliners, wood vs. steel passenger cars, etc)
• Information on passenger train operations, such as employees and equipment
• Potentially a section about cultural impact
• Benefits and drawbacks of passenger trains as opposed to other modes of transport
• A section giving an overview of passenger trains in different parts of the world
• In general, more references throughout the article Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:59, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

A lot of these topics are already covered in Passenger rail terminology, so maybe this article will need to summarize that article. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 13:14, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

I concur, this article should cover the aspects of passenger rail in summary style, while Passenger rail terminology goes more in-depth. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 17:01, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Team-B-Vital Improvement Drive

Hello all!

This article has been chosen as this week's effort for WP:Discord's #team-b-vital channel, a collaborative effort to bring Vital articles up to a B class if possible, similar to WP:Articles for Improvement. This effort will run for up to seven days, ending early if the article is felt to be at B-class or impossible to further improve. Articles are chosen by a quick vote among interested chatters, with the goal of working together on interesting Vital articles that need improving.

Thank you! -- ferret (talk) 01:07, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

What do we consider a train here?

Because Swansea and Mumbles Railway claims 1807 for carrying passengers.©Geni (talk) 17:13, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

As a note on this topic, the article Train defines that as a Wagonway in it's lead and seems to distinguish it from a "train", i.e. treated as a predecessor. -- ferret (talk) 17:19, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

I can help answer this because I was the one who wrote that in Train. The definition used there basically considers the start of trains as we know them to be the development of the first steam locomotives. Wagonways are a form of Rail transport, but are indeed a predecessor of trains. That said, I think the Swansea and Mumbles Railway deserves a mention in this article as an important direct predecessor to the passenger train. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:20, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

Other things in the history section

Should probably cover the first diesel engine and first underground railway. Also the wind down of steam. Possibly the impact on troop mobilisation speed.©Geni (talk) 00:05, 4 February 2022 (UTC)

In art

Should probably mention:

• Murder on the Orient Express
• L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat

In general though I'm not sure how much art is reliant on things being a passenger train. Equally it would be brutally tough to write this section without it effectively being a TVtropes style list.©Geni (talk) 00:02, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

Between vs across

The sentence "Passenger trains travel across stations or depots, where passengers may board and disembark." does not appear grammatically correct to me. Across means "from one side to the other" while between means "at, into, or across the space separating". The wording with "across" implies trains travel from one side to the other of the same train station. Surely it is beyond argument that a passenger train stops at at least two different train stations (excluding some heritage trains)? As such, in order to go from one station to the other, the passenger train would have to travel between the two stations? I would support a compromise wording of "Passenger trains stop at stations and depots, where passengers may board and disembark." What say you, @Danielsltt:? Trainsandotherthings (talk) 14:21, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Ja. Across would indicate travel within a single station complex. While there might very large station complex where a light railway travels across it I'm not aware of a case of this actually being done.©Geni (talk) 14:34, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Across works since platforms usually are across rails (typically more than 1 platform) and thus when a train stops at a station, it does travel across it. However, I'm not saying my way is the high way, I think your sentence "Passenger trains stop at stations and depots, where passengers may board and disembark." works perfectly well!

Edit: Just to explain that it is not the word "between" itself that caught my attention, but its use in combination with "where" Danielsltt (talk) 14:40, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Trains move through stations not across them. The point of the sentence is that they are doing their meaningful travelling between the stations not when they are in them.©Geni (talk) 15:04, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Editathon June 17

Just a heads-up that as part of an editathon I'm leading on June 17, new editors might be making some edits to this article. I'll be following up shortly afterwards to check for copyright compliance and other quality issues and will clean up stuff if needed. Cheers, Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 23:15, 12 June 2023 (UTC)