Inappropriate acts and strange things on train journeys: The wildest things the Nine.com.au team have seen on public transport

Train journeys bring together people who would never cross paths otherwise – but perhaps it needed to stay that way. 

There’s something about public transport that brings out the weird in people, with passengers finding out what others think is acceptable public behaviour in the short time they are together. 

From live fish to boiled eggs and flying fingernails, here are some of the wildest things we have witnessed while on the train. 

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Beauty routines 

Many people take the time they have to spend on the train to do their makeup or skincare, but some take it a bit further.

One 9honey team member shared, “There is a lady who takes my morning train who clips her fingernails at least once a week. Doesn’t even care when they flick onto other passengers.”

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Another colleague shared, “I’ve seen a lady clip her fingernails straight onto the floor of the train.” 

They later found out they were talking about the same person. 

Wellness 

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Others seemingly take the opportunity of being in a swaying train to test their balance. 

One staff member shared, “I did once see someone doing a headstand on a yoga mat on the train while it was moving,” finding it odd but admitting it was “kind of impressive.”

Emotional support items

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We all have our comfort objects, some more wacky than others. While some have water bottles, others may opt for something more compact.

One team member shared that she witnessed, “A woman holding a peeled, hard-boiled egg in each hand. Just… holding them.” 

Questionable activities 

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It can be hard to know what to do when you catch someone in the act in the middle of a moving train.

“On the commute to work I smelt something very strange but then turned my eyes back to the outside view only to make eye contact via our reflections with someone vaping,” one team member shared.

“They stopped but then had the hide to have a go at someone talking in the quiet carriage just before getting off. You can’t do something illegal and then police someone’s etiquette!”

Beauty sleep 

Sometimes it’s the commute that takes it out of you more so than the long day.

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One staff member shared, “I once had a guy who had fallen asleep underneath the seats… on the floor. 

“Mind you no one was on the seats. He could have snoozed across three seats, but he was on the floor with his head underneath one row of seats and then legs under another.”

Smelly surprises

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People bring all sorts of odorous things onto trains, but this one from a team member may top them all.

“My friend and I got on the train with a bunch of teenagers who had clearly just come back from a fishing trip and they smelled like seawater, which we assumed was from wet clothes… until one of them held up a net and started talking to it, which was when I realised there was a LIVE FISH inside. The net was still wiggling as we hurried off to the next carriage.” 

And finally… 

“If I had a dollar for every train urination by a drunk teen I’d seen, I would have $3.”

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Some notes

While the following gripes may not be wild, it should just be common sense to not do these things in public… or so you would think.

“I get a lot of tradies on my train and at least 50% of them watch TikToks on full blast with no headphones so the whole carriage gets to hear it,” said one colleague.

“Today a guy is literally doing his Duolingo out loud, just speaking random Spanish phrases at full volume into his phone in an otherwise silent carriage,” she added.

“I have also been in a carriage with someone who painted their fingernails, which stunk especially since the train wasn’t stopping for about 30 minutes,” one shared.

One travelling commuter recalled, “I will never forget a long train journey in the UK next to a posh couple who kept telling their kid off, he was called MILLAN. Millan this Millan that.”

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