¶ … old, during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in high school, my parents took our family to Europe for a summer vacation. We visited France, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland. In Europe, the train systems are much better, more efficient, and more easily accessible than the American rail system. Practically every town in Europe has a local train station and the process of entering stations and purchasing tickets is very quick and efficient; in most places, tickets are readily available in many automatic kiosks, regardless of whether one is traveling to the next town or across the country. Tourists (like us) typically purchase seasonal passes that allow unlimited travel without the need to purchase tickets for every trip. In general, European trains are much more comfortable than American trains and the traveler has the option to go fist class, which usually means a separate car with all private cabins. At the same time, European trains are as accessible and easy to catch as public busses in the United States. One of the thrills for most foreigners traveling on European trains is that it provides a fantastic opportunity to take in the visual beauty of the countryside; that was apparent nowhere more than in Switzerland, where the trains go right through the Swiss Alps and many towns that have existed for hundreds of years. Naturally, my parents and older siblings really enjoyed the marvelous views of the Swiss countryside (in particular). However, as a fourteen-year-old, I could hardly have cared less about the scenic beauty outside the train windows. I had found an entirely different thrill of my own that had to do with some of the differences between American and European trains. That thrill would almost cost me my life and ultimately changed the way I view my life.

In the U.S., the passenger doors on train cars are controlled automatically by the conductor; they open and close electrically and passengers have no way of opening the doors. On many European trains, such as...

Above the handle, there are signs that warn passengers in bright red letters in several different languages (including English) never to open the doors until the train has fully stopped. There are also images depicting a person opening the door within a circle with a diagonal line crossing out the picture to indicate that opening the door while the train is moving is forbidden. Another similar picture depicts a person falling from a moving train.
While waiting for trains in the stations, we often saw other trains being moved the station from one track to another around by railway personnel and mechanics. I was fascinated by one part of this process in particular: namely, the train personnel always stood outside the trains, in front of open passenger compartment doors, on the fixed steps attached to the train that allow people to walk up to the doorway from the station platform level. Unlike many train stations in the U.S., European trains travel on tracks that are only about six inches below the train station platform. They almost never waited for the train to stop before they hopped off onto the platform. This was possible to do safely because, unlike most U.S. train stations, many Swiss train stations are open only at one end; all trains enter and exit from one side and they move through the station very slowly on their way in because they have to hit a hard rubber stop at the far end of the station very gently.

Eventually, I began emulating the same practice that I had observed among the train personnel, opening the door and climbing to the bottom exterior step every time our train reached our destination station. I would carefully open the door as the train slowed to a stop and then climb down to the lowest fixed step as the train slowly approached the end of the station and then…