Ian Wallace Interpretation:
Catching a train in a dream symbolizes embarking on a particular path of professional progression. This will lead to a predetermined outcome within a known time frame. Although this provides a sense of steady and certain progress, it can also limit your freedom to explore other opportunities and this may cause you to hesitate. Commit yourself to following a known professional path for a specific amount of time. After this, use this juncture to pause and review whether this is the path you want to stay on. Trying to keep your options open might mean you miss an opportunity to get ahead, so calculate the risks involved in being noncommittal against the potential of the career trajectory you are on. The feeling of having limited professional opportunities is also experienced in dreaming of being trapped in a lift.
Opportunity to decide where I want to go in my career so I can embark upon on a particular professional path
Dream: You are rushing to the railway station because you have to catch a particular train. As you arrive at the station you may start to get anxious because you are unsure which platform to go to and can’t remember where you put your ticket. You may arrive on the platform just in time to see the train disappearing into the distance. If you do make it onto the train you might start to worry whether you are on the correct train and actually going the right way, or become concerned about which station to get off at.
Meaning: When you dream of trying to catch a train, you are thinking about a specific career path you would like to follow in your waking life. Trains run along specific routes at predetermined times and so often symbolize particular career paths within a large organization. Different trains represent different career opportunities and train stations are ways of embarking on these opportunities. Your hope is that if you embark on this path and follow it for a certain amount of time, then you will reach a certain professional ambition. Trying to reach the correct embarkation point suggests that you are still trying to find the right platform for your career ambitions. Your ticket represents your opportunity to follow this path and you are concerned that you might lose it. If you arrive on the platform and see the train disappearing into the distance, then you are concerned that you might lose the chance to get on board with a particular opportunity. Being on a train that won’t stop indicates that you would like to change your current career path but you are finding it difficult because of commitments that you have made. Although it may seem as if your career is running on rails and everything is going well, it may be frustrating for you because you seem to be restricted to following a rigid path that you feel you can’t escape from. Trains make regular stops, however, and these are opportunities for you to change career track.
Action: This dream is about choosing where you want to go in life and how you can get your ambitions on track. To successfully embark on your chosen career, you have to commit to go in a certain direction for a set amount of time. It may be difficult for you to make this commitment but keeping your options open might also mean that you miss this particular opportunity to get ahead. Although you may feel a bit trapped by routine, it is sometimes best just to sit tight until you reach your goal, rather than trying to make a risky career move.
Background: Many of us associate trains with commuting to work and they can provide us with a feeling of certain and steady progress, while giving the knowledge that we can’t deviate from our chosen route. As we advance along our accepted path, we see stations as indicators of progress. This leads us to saying thing like ‘having ideas above your station’, if we think someone won’t advance as far and achieve the status that they had hoped. If we deviate from this predetermined course, we end up using phrases such as ‘going off track’ or that someone has ‘gone off the rails’.