The Justice of the Silent Train Carriage

There is a place in the Netherlands where law and order reign supreme. It is a place where the consequences of stepping out of line are more severe than normal. If you ever find yourself in this place it is important to be very careful. Be on your best behavior! Do not make a sound! There is no mercy in the silent train carriage in the Netherlands.

In case you are not aware of it: on each train in the Netherlands there are a few carriages which are designated as silent sections. They are areas where you are not allowed to talk or make noise. It’s so people who want to ride the train in silence can relax. You can tell if you are in a silent train carriage by the markings on the windows (Stilte/Silence) or by what will happen if you are foolish enough to start making noise. Let me explain…

Silent Train Carriage Etiquette

You might think it sounds nice, a place where you don’t have to listen to someone else’s loud phone call or the music of a person who doesn’t know what headphones are, and you’d be right. That part of it is nice. However…

When I say no form of noise is allowed in the silent carriage I really mean no sound whatsoever. It’s not just the obvious things. Not even whispering is tolerated. Even breathing too loudly can sometimes result in other passengers casting annoyed glances in your direction.

If you are a tourist who did not realize that you were sitting in the silent section of the train (or that there was such a thing) your ignorance will be no defence. Justice will be just as swift. 

Each ‘crime’ is treated the same. In fact, your whispering might get you in just as much trouble as the group of students who were just DJing with their phones and left beer cans all over the place.

It does not matter what you do or what reasons you might have had. If you step out of line in the silent train carriage there will be repercussions. But what are those repercussions? Well… You will be told off.

Crime and Punishment

A self nominated Dutch person who has become incredibly annoyed by your noise (no matter how quiet it was in reality) will designate themselves judge, jury and shush-er.

They will tell you off for daring to make a sound. They do not appreciate that you think the rules do not apply to you. It doesn’t matter if you were trying to be quiet and made a necessary or accidental noise. Maybe most people didn’t even hear it. But this person did and it’s the principal of the thing after all. If we didn’t have rules we would be savages. No one is above the law!

It won’t matter if you were not aware of those rules they will still let you know that you have broken them. They will tell you this very publicly and very loudly. The irony of this will be completely lost on them. In fact, lost in their quest for justice some of them will not even realize that they are being louder than your initial infraction. It’s a miracle that this has never triggered a train reaction of shushing.

Even if you remain as quiet as a mouse for the rest of the journey you will still receive annoyed glances until the moment one of you leaves the train. Make a noise in a silent train carriage and you will make an enemy for life. Nothing will redeem you in the eyes of the person who’s newspaper reading or quiet contemplation you interrupted. The best thing to do is never ride a train again.

Have you ever fallen victim to ‘stiltecoupe justice’? What happened?

For more strange stories about traveling on Dutch trains why not read about the Secret Messages at Amsterdam Train Station.