Passport checks returning

Passport-free train travel inside Europe is getting less frictionless as more countries revive internal border checks and carriers tell passengers to keep ID handy. (ec.europa.eu) The European Commission says Schengen countries can temporarily restore checks at internal borders for security or public-order threats, and its current list includes Germany from March 16 to September 15, 2026, and France through April 30, 2026. (ec.europa.eu) On trains, that does not mean every passenger faces a fixed checkpoint, but it does mean police can board or stop services for document inspections on cross-border routes. Germany’s Interior Ministry said travelers and cross-border commuters should carry an official ID card or passport and warned that traffic impacts “cannot be entirely ruled out.” (bmi.bund.de) Rail operators already build that advice into their passenger guidance. Eurostar says travelers to and from London must show a valid travel document, while passengers traveling between France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany do not need a passport for those intra-European legs but should still bring an identity document because customs make random spot checks. (eurostar.com) A second layer of checks now sits on top of that patchwork for many non-European Union travelers. The European Union’s Entry/Exit System became fully operational on April 10, 2026, after a rollout that began on October 12, 2025, and it now records passport data, fingerprints and facial images for non-European Union nationals entering the Schengen area for short stays. (ec.europa.eu) That system applies at the Schengen area’s external border, not on ordinary trips between two Schengen countries, but it adds time and document checks for travelers whose rail journey touches a non-Schengen border such as London-Paris or London-Brussels. Eurostar says non-European Union nationals, including British nationals, have faced the new Entry/Exit System procedures since October 12, 2025. (ec.europa.eu) (eurostar.com) France’s controls are not a one-off spring measure. France’s Conseil d’État said on March 7, 2025, that the government had renewed checks at its land, sea and air borders with other Schengen countries every six months since the November 2015 attacks, and upheld the October 2024 decision that kept them in place from November 1, 2024, to April 30, 2025. (conseil-etat.fr) Germany has followed a similar path with broader land-border enforcement. Its Interior Ministry said checks have been in place at all German land borders since September 16, 2024, and told travelers to expect flexible controls aimed at migration, smuggling and security threats. (bmi.bund.de) For passengers, the practical rule is simpler than the legal map: carry the passport or national identity card that proves your right to cross the border, even on train routes that used to feel domestic. The Schengen area still allows free movement in principle, but the current rules let governments interrupt that flow for months at a time. (ec.europa.eu)