It is perfectly normal to have questions []


First you have to find your train. Look for large departure screens throughout the stations to figure out the platform number. Smaller screens at the platform will have the train number, final destination, and major intermediate stops posted on it. If you have a reservation, then obviously you have to find that particular car. If not, make sure that the car you are getting on goes to your destination (supposedly Milan) because different cars of a single train may be going to different destinations.

In most cases you just hold on to your tickets and show them to a train personnel when they go and check them. On a night train however car attendant may ask to keep your tickets, so there will be no need for them to wake you up through the night.

Exactly the same.

In most cases your luggage is your responsibility, you have to haul it aboard the train, find a spot on a rack and put it over there, take it down, and carry to the connecting train. (IMHO there is no enough room for luggage on the majority of trains in Europe.) I remember reading about some trains (Eurostar, perhaps) having luggage cars and checking-in luggage, but I have no first hand experience.

I assume you already have the required reservation for this train????  Does your ticket show the date, time and train number or do you have a separate reservation with the date, time and train number?  If you just have a ticket you will need to buy a reservation before you get on the train.  Since this seems to be an overnight train (at least I can’t imagine choosing to train from Paris to Rome during the day) you’ll want to get your reservation several days in advance if you don’t already have it.

BTW, there is an overnight train with no connections on this route (it leaves from Bercy station, while your train may leave from Lyon, Austerliz or Est station  – Paris has 5 major train stations and at least as many “pretty major” train stations).  No connections would be a bit easier for this trip.  You might be able to change with little or no fee at the train station in Paris — I would definitely try.

You can “check” your luggage on some trains, but I believe you have to check it an hour or two before train time and you are unlikely to get it back for at least an hour after you arrive.  Unless you’re terribly overloaded with luggage I wouldn’t even try.  However, the French national rail company even offers door to door (pick-up and delivery from/to your hotel) luggage service on some trains.  Try www.sncf.com  although I find their new site terribly difficult to use even when you click on the British flag for the English pages.

Please let us know your departure time—- there is a train that leaves from Gare de Lyon in Paris at 07:42, and arrives in Milano at 14:50, with another train from Milano at 15:10, arr in Roma at 21:06—- a very long day!
One thing to be sure about is to know “military” time, so that if a dept time is 07:42, that’s 7:42 AM, while 19:42 would mean 19:42.
If you leave during the day, your departure terminal will almost certainly be Gare de Lyon, while night trains would more likely be Gare de Bercy, which is very close to Gare de Lyon, so be very sure that you get to the correct departure terminal.
Gare de Lyon is a very big station, and it’s easy to get disoriented if you’ve never traveled. Some departure tracks are numbered, and others are lettered, and the ones with letters are in a slightly separate part of the terminal which might require a walk of 3-5 minutes—- just enough to make you rush if you’re not prepared. Usually, departure track numbers don’t show up on the signboard until about 20 minutes ahead of time, and sometimes less, so be prepared to move quickly once the track number is posted.
Rent a movie called “Mr Bean’s Holiday”, and it’ll show you the Gare de Lyon, so you’ll have at least a rough idea what it looks like (I’m serious!).
One important item: before you board the train, you MUST put your ticket into a machine to time stamp/validate the ticket. You’ll see these machines just as you enter the train platform, and I think they’re now yellow in color, and there’ll be a sign that says “compostez votre billet” or something similar.
I agree that luggage racks are often not sufficient. Some trains (TGV, or fast trains) have them at the ends of the cars, while others have overhead racks. If your train is a TGV and you find that the luggage rack is filled have a look at the other end of the car—- you’ll often find a rack that’s completely empty!
When you transfer at Milano, you’ll see TV-like monitors that indicate which platform you need to reach for the train to Rome. The transfer might simply involve walking across the platform, but some transfers require walking to the main part of the station, then across to a different platform (but, in this case, no stairs to worry about).

  Full luggage racks can be a problem.  Being at the platform early (most Europeans arrive at the last minute) and knowing where your train car will stop can be a big help as you can be one of the first people to board.  Somewhere on the platform there will be a poster sized “illustrated train composition diagram.”  I think they’re usually yellow.  The diagram shows the departure time, train number and a drawing for each train that normally leaves from that platform each day.  The drawing will show each train car in the same order as the cars are on the train, the car number (which is sometimes fairly hard to spot on the actual train car) and the car’s destination (in case of train splitting Seva mentioned).  You can tell the approximate location of your car from the diagram.  Often, there are capital letters on the drawing — A, B, C and D, etc.  These letters corrsepond to the letters hanging overhead on the platform.  If the “A” is near your car on the diagram, your car will stop near the “A” sign on the platform. 

Thank you all very much for your help.  It was all very informative (I didn’t know anything about “Composter les billets”).  I really appreciate it—it’s a wonderful resource for novice travelers to have access to all you fine folks!!