Complete waste of 20 or so minutes that adds absolutely nothing to the movie. Oh, so they got a positive ID? That could have been done in a five minute scene.
"Worthington, we're being attacked by giant bats!"
The movie isn't just about them getting away, but getting away with the money. The train sequence shows how close they can come to losing it all. And in addition to being suspenseful, it also adds to the tension between Doc and Carol.
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So, what is the "goal" of this movie? What part of the "get away" part didn't you get? This film is all about getting away. If you took away scenes that didn't "carry the film forward" you wouldn't have a film at all. Throw that paperback copy of "filmschool for dummies" in the nearest trash can, and start to learn from the real masters. Peckinpah shows the way, all you have to do is pick it up. If you get your head out of your ass...
It also reinforces the viewers perception that Doc will go ANY lengths to get and keep that money. He wants to keep his wife, but if she's going to be too big a pain in the ass, he'll keep the dollars and ditch her.
shareThe train terminal scene is actually one of the best and most entertaining parts of the film, in my opinion. In addition to tipping off the cops to Doc as the bank robber, the sequence demonstrates his unusual facility for dealing with cons and crooks like himself. It leaves you wondering, however, how they were so unlucky as to be the first victims of the con artist, since he could not have pulled the key-switching trick more than once in the same place without drawing a lot of police attention.
shareI love it because it shows us some of the early days of Amtrak. (Yeah, I know that's a non-movie like!) Amtrak started as a conglomeration of all of the nation's passenger lines that had gone out of business. So, here, you see Southern Pacific cars, but with the Amtrak signage inside the cars, and inside the station.
I thought that the sequence provided the benefits other posters here have mentioned. But, yeah, seeing the Amtrak-related scenery is what I liked most! :-)
I thought it was a great scene!
shareAn interesting fact is that the exterior of the El Paso train station was used as the Police Station.
shareA commentary track shows how McQueen gets onto the train in a shot that just BARELY shows a flash of him getting on...the view is blocked by baggage on a baggage cart, except for the briefest glimpse.
Nifty "invisible" direction by Peckinpah.
I like trains, so I was fine with it. :-)
Also, it was interesting seeing Amtrak at its beginnings, with the smorgasbord of different train cars from different railroads.