To think 11 is not too young to travel on a train alone?

[Tellmeifimwrong]

Please settle a debate! Happy to hear all opinions.

Is 11 years old, starting y7 in Sept, too young to take a one hour train journey, without parents but with a slightly younger child? Put on at one end by an adult and met at the other end by an adult, with a phone and data, and train staff informed? No behavioural problems or SEN.

There are definitely staff on this train, checking tickets.

Interesting thread. Given that lots of 11 or 12 year olds get themselves to school on public transport daily then I'd say yes. I dont get the 'what if something happens like the train terminates' concerns...you tell them to ask a responsible adult / someone at the station, or call you for help, or worst case scenario wait at the train station. They have phones and are less than an hour away, it doesnt sound like they will be stranded.

Sadly I think that things like assault or sexual assault are much more likely to happen by people they know or in school compared to people on a train.

Although saying that I woudlnt put them on a train full of football fans on the way back from a match for example

The staff won't take responsibility for the children, though.

A long time ago I used to take a 15 minute bus ride to school on public transport aged 6.

@Chersfrozenface no, my thinking was more that the staff wouldn't be concerned to see them alone if I had informed them when I put the children on the train.

But you can't ask them to look out for your kids, this isn't the 1950s.

They won't be lumbered with responsibility for them, and may be too far away if your kids run into a problem anyway.

What is the purpose of this train travel? Is it a one-off or a regular thing?

If you informed them when you put them on the train, they would likely ask the children's ages. When told that they're 10 and 11 they might refuse to let them on as they're under 12.

Slightly off topic but an hour each way is quite a long commute to school at 11, especially with (presumably) walking at either end. I'd look into other options, if possible.

Regarding safety, at this age I'd only be comfortable with the train if there were plenty of other children from the same school doing the same journey. If not, then considering the length of time and distance involved, I think 11 is a bit young, personally. Sometimes trains are cancelled/re-routed/terminate early at a stop in the middle of the route/get stuck somewhere for a few hours, and you need to be able to handle these kinds of scenarios.

There are staff on many trains, though frequently just the driver and one other crew member. In my experience that other crew member does not always appear. Tickets are sometimes checked on the journeys I make but by no means always.

I don't think you could rely on them being responsible for children. It isn't their job to be shepherding them.

As I said in my first post on this thread, I'd be reasonably happy with a sensible 11 year old making a train journey on their own. I wouldn't make them responsible for a younger child though, especially an unrelated one. I just don't think it would be fair at all for very many reasons.

I think not ideal but also not a complete no. It would depend on a lot of things like the route, number of stops, time of day, what other passengers tend to be like.
It would also depend on the children. If they are used to walking around near their home without an adult e.g. going to local parks, shops etc, used to managing without adult supervision, then probably yes. If they are driven everywhere and don't go out alone, I don't think this would be a great idea.
The children would need to be reasonably streetwise for this I'd say.

I would definitely rather 2 together than just one though. Surprised so many are saying a lone 11 year is is better than a 10 year old plus 11 year old! Even as an adult it's much less scary to do things with a friend.

Run through what they will do in various scenarios such as train terminates, drunk scary person gets on, miss their stop or get off early, etc

One off, not to school, although the trip is a familiar one because I've done it with them.

I have "scaffolded" as a pp put it.

Children younger than 11 get the train to school around here, the walking bus for our school stops at the tube station so those getting the tube alone don’t have to walk to school alone.

I think the age thing depends on the railway company, my granddaughter has been travelling the length of the country since she was about 10 3/4, some companies won't allow it before 12.

The past is a different country.

If that happened now the police would definitely be called by someone.

Trains rarely stop for long at any station. You may well not have time to locate the crew member to say anything anyway and the one checking the doors will be required to help let the train get away as soon as possible to avoid causing delays. Yes, they are available if an emergency should occur during the train's journey, but they aren't there to be saddled with children.

11 year old should be responsible for themselves only.

If it was just the 11 year old I'd say fine, but I wouldn't leave them in charge of another child. There is a 7 year old in my son's class who is walked to school by his 10/11 year old brother. I had to physically stop the 7 year old from running into the road the other day. The older sibling couldn't control him, which is fair enough really.

If train staff will help them off the train then maybe I'd be more inclined to allow it. Not sure if that's a service they offer though!

I think the big difference is how familiar they are with the journey.. if they’ve been making it every few weeks since they were toddlers fine, less so if they’re not familiar with the route. (And I say that as someone whose ds1 flew unaccompanied from 13.. me and my ex lived at opposite ends of the country and he’d flown up / down every school holidays for years. I wouldn’t have allowed it for ds2 who only flew every few years if we went abroad.)

Was just going to say this!

@SnackSizeRaisin I'm surprised at everyone saying 11 year old would be better alone too! Things always feel safer, more fun, more manageable with a friend.

I've been on trains that warn of dangers of putting head out of windows - not stream trains - you often had to open door by leaning out and grabbing outside handle.

It's usually all buttons to open doors these days - which I mostly prefer though did find in Birmingham short local stop service driver forgot to open the doors at one station - which was not great had to get off go over and wait for next train to get to our stop.

A woman was killed like this at Bristol in December 2018, on a GWR HST train. However, there are hardly any of this kind of train still running.

@Nap1983 as I said upthread intercity trains with slam doors and pull down windows were still used until at least 10 years ago.
I think they still use them on GWR.

Honestly OP you know the route, the train types,the service reliability and the kids involved - it is a judgment call.

I think in most cases I'd say tad too young but not all - and I'd check with train operator that they do allow under 12 to travel alone - there do seem to be some operators with those restrictions.