Excess Express

The Excess Express is a luxurious train which is boarded by Mario and his comrades, to get to Riverside Station and Poshley Heights in the game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It, as well as the smaller areas Poshley Heights and Riverside Station, serves as the setting of Chapter 6 of that game. The Excess Express is made up of a locomotive, three passenger cars, a dining car and a storage car.

Events
The Excess Express has an article written about it, by the RDM (Rogueport Direct Mail Service), saying that, for the first time in 10 years, the Excess Express workers gang-tackled a train-obsessed Lakitu who was in a worker-only area, making the train late. The Excess Express allowed him to leave with just a warning. The fact this was the first time in 10 years the train was late can inform that the Excess Express is very fancy.

After defeating Cortez and Lord Crump, the Magical Map leads Mario and his Partner's to the Poshley Sanctum in Poshley Heights. Like Glitzville, Mario needs a ticket to get to the Excess Express, which Professor Frankly says is the only way. After doing Don Pianta's workers (Tony and Vinny) a favor (finding Don's daughter and her boyfriend), Don gives Mario an Excess Express Ticket. While on the way to the station, Beldam appears and thanks Mario for saying that the next Star is in Poshley Heights. Either way, Mario advances to the station.

During the three-day train ride, many unfortunate events happen, hindering Mario and his pals and keeping them from getting the sixth Crystal Star. Heff T. steals Chef Shimi's Galley Pot, and Doopliss (impersonating Zip Toad) steals a Businessman's briefcase containing ingredients for Nitro Honey Syrup, the waitress's shell earrings, and Toodles's Gold Ring. Under orders of the Shadow Sirens, he planned to mix the things he stole together to bomb the train, resulting in what he described as a "sticky, yummy explosion." Mario and his friends enlisted the help of Pennington to foil his diabolical plans.

Mario and his partners also met Ghost T. here. Mario had to talk to him after the Excess Express conductor accidentally left him a blanket (not realizing that he was a ghost), leaving the conductor without a blanket of his own. Mario had to retrieve Ghost T.'s diary for the ghost to get him to give the blanket back. If Mario reads the diary, he will get an instant game over after a small cutscene.

Mario and company also run into a hoard of miniature Smorgs that kidnap all the passengers on board, with the exception of the engineer, the conductor and the waitress, the latter two of which they hold captive in the storage cart. As Chapter 6 ends, Mario travels to the Smorg-infested rooftops of the train and fights a giant collection of Smorgs, eventually freeing the passengers and saving the Excess Express. Afterward, the rooftops (and the storage car, for that matter) are inaccessible.

Passengers Of the Excess Express
Below is a list of the occupants of the eight cabins of the Excess Express. With the exception of Mario, Ghost T., and Heff T., all occupants are replaced by various traveling Toads, Koopas, and Goombas (as well as a single Yoshi, the only one in the game other than Mario's Yoshi partner and his Stampede friends) after Chapter 6.
 * Cabin 001: Doopliss (disguised as Zip Toad)/Red Adult Toad and Green Child Toad
 * Cabin 002: Toodles/Blue Adult Toad
 * Cabin 003: Heff T.
 * Cabin 004: Ghost T.
 * Cabin 005: Mario
 * Cabin 006: Pennington/Green Adult Toad
 * Cabin 007: Businessman/Light Blue Child Toad
 * Cabin 008: Goldbob, Sylvia, and Bub/Red Adult Toad and Red Child Toad

Enemies

 * Smorg (Chapter 6 Boss)

Tattles

 * "This is a passenger car. Orange and brown decor... That actually looks good! the passenger cabins here are numbered 3, 4, and 5, in case you forgot numbers."
 * "This is a passenger car. The green and brown colors actually work here. Wow. There are two passenger cabins here, numbers 1 and 2."

Trivia

 * During the events of Super Paper Mario, Francis writes about wishing to buy an Excess Express train set.
 * The Excess Express may have been inspired by Dry Dry Railroad from the original Paper Mario, which similarly offered locomotive transportation in the game's main area. The Excess Express and Dry Dry Railroad's K64 also look vaguely similar (mostly in palette and in the fact that they both feature star-like objects in their fronts) and featured near-identical staff members, although Dry Dry Railroad was much smaller than the Excess Express and was not even a playable area.
 * The Excess Express is the only place in which Yoshis are seen, other than the player's partner.
 * Jr. Troopa makes a cameo appearance flying near the window of the Excess Express in the e-mail the real Zip Toad sent Mario.
 * Shy Guy's Perplex Express, from Mario Party 8, bears a resemblance to the Excess Express.
 * Ghost T. does not notice the Smorgs attacking at all if Mario talks to him while they are at the train.