Mar Oregon
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Hoping to walk in 2020
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Definitely no knives on Eurostar trains
Definitely no knives on Eurostar trains
Your question is about pocket knives: knives that are foldable and cannot be locked. I don’t know the actual rules in Spain. I frequently travel with a Swiss Army knife with a 5 cm blade which are also allowed in cabine luggage on planes in Europe. I’ve passed through security checks at train stations in Spain a few times in recent years and there was never an issue.I think I read that the train systems in Spain require passengers to go through security check points before boarding a train. Correct? And I think I also read somewhere that you may bring a folding knife on board a train as long as you declare it before your bags are scanned/checked. Otherwise it can be confiscated. Is this correct?
Can anyone tell me if there are restrictions on the length of blades that are allowed on trains or other locations. I’m not planning to bring a Crocodile Dundee version nor one with a locking blade but I was given a small Swiss knife and would rather not lose it. I just want to be able to slice an apple or cut some cheese.
Took the train Santiago to Madrid; no security check.I think I read that the train systems in Spain require passengers to go through security check points before boarding a train. Correct? And I think I also read somewhere that you may bring a folding knife on board a train as long as you declare it before your bags are scanned/checked. Otherwise it can be confiscated. Is this correct?
Can anyone tell me if there are restrictions on the length of blades that are allowed on trains or other locations. I’m not planning to bring a Crocodile Dundee version nor one with a locking blade but I was given a small Swiss knife and would rather not lose it. I just want to be able to slice an apple or cut some cheese.
Took the train from Santiago to Ferrol last May. Arrived at the station - no security staff so went and sat on platform with several others. 15 minutes before the train was due we were all turfed off the platform and our luggage scanned before we were allowed back again. I've also been scanned at Palencia but never had my Opinel confiscated.Took the train Santiago to Madrid; no security check.
*Raises eyebrow*I was carrying daggers from Toledo
My son also bought a nice knife in Toledo after our Camino. It was his main purchase on his trip to Spain. When we went to get on the train from Valencia to Madrid the evening before our flight home, they confiscated it. There was no way they were letting him on the train with it, and no option to check it with staff in any way. The alternative was to write off our train tickets (and miss our flight home) if we went to try and post it because we weren't told this until boarding time.No problem on Renfe. Like Theresa, I bought a pretty lethal-looking souvenir dagger in Toledo -- they sell them everywhere there, swords, too -- and put it in my carry-on bag. No problem. I had asked at a shop if there were any restrictions, and was told that as long as it was in the original box and obviously a souvenir nobody would care. My Swiss Army knife also passed on the train X-ray from Madrid to Ourense and back, and from Madrid to Toledo and back.
Took the train Santiago to Madrid; no security check.
I think I read that the train systems in Spain require passengers to go through security check points before boarding a train. Correct? And I think I also read somewhere that you may bring a folding knife on board a train as long as you declare it before your bags are scanned/checked. Otherwise it can be confiscated. Is this correct?
Can anyone tell me if there are restrictions on the length of blades that are allowed on trains or other locations. I’m not planning to bring a Crocodile Dundee version nor one with a locking blade but I was given a small Swiss knife and would rather not lose it. I just want to be able to slice an apple or cut some cheese.
And welcome to the forum, @JACS! I see that you joined the forum today and this is your first post. Well, this should rekindle the knives in Spanish trains discussion. And are you planning a camino in 2119 or is this a typo? ☺YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
According my experience confiscation depends a lot from percon that is checking you. Appearance/attitude/length matters, yes.Security took my little Opinel knife off me before boarding the Channel tunnel train in London.
They kindly offered to post it to me in Paris at cost of €18.
Very generous of them as it had only cost €6 in St Jean the previous year.
I left it with them and bought another in Paris.
Regards
Gerard
What does happen to it all? In the early days I saw transparent bins full of SAKs, multi-tools, dive-knives . . . Do they sell it all off or do the families of the security staff get them as presents . .
I frequently travel with a Swiss Army knife with a 5 cm blade which are also allowed in cabin luggage on planes in Europe.
I’m not doubting that you have done that, but I think you've been lucky to get away with it.
2 Answers. Carriage Prohibited: Flick knives/gravity knives, lock knives and daggers, any kniveswith a blade over 3 inches/75mm in length (note that standard folding knives with a blade no greater than 3 inches/75mm long are permitted to be carried).29 May 2014
uk - Eurostar security control: Taking pocket knife for camping ...
Sigh. No, I've not been ""lucky to get away with it"". And I'm starting to admire my own patient reaction when this insinuation is made again and again on the forum.I’m not doubting that you have done that, but I think you've been lucky to get away with it.
Small folding pocket knives with blades under 75mm without a locking mechanism are the exception and are permitted.Is this new?
I’ve never had a problem with a small Swiss Army knife
Sigh. No, I've not been ""lucky to get away with it"". And I'm starting to admire my own patient reaction when this insinuation is made again and again on the forum.
Luckily, security staff and I know better than forum posters: sometimes - but not often - my backpack gets checked; in my home airport it's a random thing. In my home airport, they test for traces of bomb material (no idea what exactly) and they measure the length of the blade of my Swiss Army pocket knife which is below but near the permitted limit. I've had two such checks in Spain - once in Madrid and once in Santiago - over the years but there they just measured the blade.
Then they give it back to me and I put it back in my backpack and proceed to the gate. This is for inter-Schengen flights. Nothing more and nothing less.
I know that knives are not allowed in cabin baggage on flights within the USA or to the USA and I have every intention to comply. At my home airport, the area for security control of passengers booked on flights to airports in other Schengen countries are strictly separated from the security area for flights to the USA and the UK. I assume that the security staff is aware of the difference between the applicable rules.UK.Gov advice
If you have the great good fortune to be American (cough!) you're not allowed so much as a pointy stick.
my many shortcomings, among them an insufficient command of the English language
I know that knives are not allowed in cabin baggage on flights within the USA or to the USA and I have every intention to comply. At my home airport, the area for security control of passengers booked on flights to airports in other Schengen countries are strictly separated from the security area for flights to the USA and the UK. I assume that the security staff is aware of the difference between the applicable rules.
I occasionally take my backpack and my pocket knife to the UK. In my car and on a ferry.
And I am aware of my many shortcomings, among them an insufficient command of the English language and language interference.
The security scanning at larger Spanish stations is atypical of national European rail services and follows on from the Madrid train bombings in 2004 when some 190 people were killed - for those of you struggling to survive without your pocket knives, I can confirm that your teeth will do a perfectly good job when eating an apple
I can confirm that your teeth will do a perfectly good job when eating an apple
My first thought was: @spursfan is not a dentist.Oh, you lucky wo/man .... you still have all your own teeth!!
If you shut your mouth and leave it in your hand luggage it doesn't always help, as my son found to his great disappointment (see my post immediately above yours).PLEASE READ THIS.... I declared my expensive Swiss Army Knife with 5.5cm blade to the security officer at Gerona Station in Spain and it was confiscated. Apparently if I’d shut my mouth and left it in my hand luggage this would have been OK. Don’t ask. There was no persuasion possible and I lost it. The RENFE staff in the office next to the security x-Ray scanner rolled their eyes and said this was a common issue and said there was nothing they could do to help. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
At least on a plane there is an option to check these things. Not so on a train.I might have recounted this before: taking daughters off on holiday and, just as we're leaving the car at the airport car park, Daughter No2 cuts her finger. Grabbed first aid kit and tended to her mortal wound (scratch) on the bus on the way to the terminal. Going through the scanner: "Is there anything sharp in your bag sir?" "No . . . oh damn! Scissors!"
In the bin they went.
There were big posters up around Gatwick saying "250,000 prohibited items have been confiscated so far"
"250,001 and one now Daddy!" said Daughter No1 with glee.
What does happen to it all? In the early days I saw transparent bins full of SAKs, multi-tools, dive-knives . . . Do they sell it all off or do the families of the security staff get them as presents . . "Dear Santa, thank you so much for yet another Swiss Army Knife - it will look good on display along with the other 6 in my collection!"
I had the axact same experience in Malaga last spring. No consideration whatsoever for a pilgrim at the start of his long peregrination. The AVE is a killer for security.Have just had a small Swiss Army knife confiscated at Cardoba train station, AVE train to Barcelonawe have travelled all thru Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, Germany on trains & buses for the past 3 months, before and after Camino and yet 3 days before flying home it ended up in the bin ... pleading fell on very deaf ears!! grrrrrr... ps it was in the backpack with a camino shell so no allowances for being a pilgrim
I had the axact same experience in Malaga last spring. No consideration whatsoever for a pilgrim at the start of his long peregrination. The AVE is a killer for security.
Absolutely, security is important. There is a difference, however, between security and security theater.Those of us in Europe remember the Marid train station bombing that killed over 190 people and injured some 2000 more - that's why the Spanish have such security on their longer-distance trains
Those of us in America remember as well and I in particular for having lived in Spain. By no means was I trying to diminish the importance of the security measures put in place as a result of that bombing. I was just stating a fact.Those of us in Europe remember the Marid train station bombing that killed over 190 people and injured some 2000 more - that's why the Spanish have such security on their longer-distance trains
I had my pocket knife with me on a number of trains and was never stopped. I don't recall ever going through a scanner.I think I read that the train systems in Spain require passengers to go through security check points before boarding a train. Correct? And I think I also read somewhere that you may bring a folding knife on board a train as long as you declare it before your bags are scanned/checked. Otherwise it can be confiscated. Is this correct?
Can anyone tell me if there are restrictions on the length of blades that are allowed on trains or other locations. I’m not planning to bring a Crocodile Dundee version nor one with a locking blade but I was given a small Swiss knife and would rather not lose it. I just want to be able to slice an apple or cut some cheese.
Why bring a valuable or valued pocketknife? Just bring a cheap box cutter (cost 50 cents US). Served all my needs on the Appalachian Trail, Via Francigena, and last year the Norte/Primitivo. Lightweight, cheap, versatile, and no biggie if lost or confiscated.I think I read that the train systems in Spain require passengers to go through security check points before boarding a train. Correct? And I think I also read somewhere that you may bring a folding knife on board a train as long as you declare it before your bags are scanned/checked. Otherwise it can be confiscated. Is this correct?
Can anyone tell me if there are restrictions on the length of blades that are allowed on trains or other locations. I’m not planning to bring a Crocodile Dundee version nor one with a locking blade but I was given a small Swiss knife and would rather not lose it. I just want to be able to slice an apple or cut some cheese.
Agreed. Catching the train from SdC to Ferrol last May there was no security about so perhaps 12 passengers wandered onto the platform. 15 minutes before the train was due we were herded off the platform and bags were passed through the scanner.Absolutely, security is important. There is a difference, however, between security and security theater.
"if something is so precious you're afraid to lose it don't take it on the Camino with you"
I agree in general, but I certainly don't regret taking my relationship with my son on the Camino with me that year.My maxim has always been "if something is so precious you're afraid to lose it don't take it on the Camino with you"
This is an old thread, but thought I’d update with current experience for those scanning through.Took the train Santiago to Madrid; no security check.
I was on the train from Zamora to Santiago and I had my bag go through the scanner. They saw my knife, a Swiss Army knife and measured it. It was too long so I had to throw it away in their bin. Had I had it in my trouser pocket I would have got away with it as only the bags were scanned. Sadly it was my husband’s so I bought him another in Santiago and it had the Santiago emblem which pleased him when he met me.I think I read that the train systems in Spain require passengers to go through security check points before boarding a train. Correct? And I think I also read somewhere that you may bring a folding knife on board a train as long as you declare it before your bags are scanned/checked. Otherwise it can be confiscated. Is this correct?
Can anyone tell me if there are restrictions on the length of blades that are allowed on trains or other locations. I’m not planning to bring a Crocodile Dundee version nor one with a locking blade but I was given a small Swiss knife and would rather not lose it. I just want to be able to slice an apple or cut some cheese.
But who thinks to keep receipts from all of your purchases [of items to be taken home]?
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