Travel by train in the US is not that common these days, especially when touring. When traveling abroad however it's not as rare, and you may find yourself using a train to get from city to city at some point. Travel by train is pretty great in many ways, but it's not the same as jumping on a flight. So I wanted to take some time here to give a heads up on what you should expect.
Trains run on a very tight schedule, the time between arrival and departure is typically just a few minutes. This means the time you have to get on and settle in is very short, and trains wait for no one. If you haven't boarded by the scheduled departure time, you'll be left behind. Knowing this, you need to be sure that you can move quickly through the station. Be sure that whatever luggage you carry can be moved swiftly. This also means that if you're traveling with a fly pack you'll need to arrange separate transport for that gear. No time to load and unload twenty pieces of gear and luggage during a three-minute layover.
When traveling by train and touring with a fly pack, one option that I've had good luck with is working with the local promoter to get your gear moved. Let them know in advance how many pieces you're traveling with so they have an idea of what size and type of vehicle they'll need to hire to transport the gear. Following your performance, have the gear picked up and transported to the next venue. This allows you the freedom to hop on the train the next morning with just personal bags. If you're renting production gear such as audio, lighting, or backline, and it's being brought to multiple venues on a tour, you can often just have them throw your fly pack in with that gear when transporting it to the next venue.
Given the nature of train travel and tight schedules, I recommend that you also have the band and crew prepare in advance so they can put their large pieces of luggage on the gear truck as well. No one wants to navigate luggage through a train station filled with people heading to work in the morning.
Related to this, I learned a good lesson this summer while touring in Europe. We had booked some flights via Lufthansa, and one leg of our travel from Cologne to Frankfurt was via train before hopping on a flight. Although this was officially Lufthansa travel, it was still via train and all the standard train travel rules applied. I was hoping that since our travel was booked via Lufthansa we'd be able to check our fly pack in advance, and they would put it all on the train during the short boarding time. I did a bunch of online research in advance to see if this was the case, but my searches were all inconclusive. Luckily we had a German-speaking crew member who was nice enough to call the train station in advance, and we found out that they do not check luggage and it was up to us to get the gear from Cologne to Frankfurt. In this instance, I was required to hire transportation for the gear, and following a quick conversation with a local transportation vender the issue was solved. Crises averted, lesson learned. Regardless of how it's booked, train travel is no place for a fly pack.
Train travel can be pretty great. Relaxing in the first-class cabin of a bullet train across Japan is something I always look forward to. But as with most everything related to touring, it requires some preparation and pre-planning. Make sure to get your itinerary from your promoter or travel agent well in advance so you're able to make the necessary arrangements.