"The Phantom Forest" plays here, which explains the track's name. The forest is haunted and fairly confusing, but there's a recovery spring partway through, and the party eventually finds their way to a train platform with a steam train. The music stops here.

Mash heads for the entrance to the nearest car. Cayenne, after looking around, suddenly appears horrified.

Ooh, another triple use of a single line!

Mash ignores him and goes inside. It's clean, empty, and rather fancy, but otherwise unremarkable.

魔 (ma), particularly when used as a modifier like this, doesn't translate well. Basically, it gives a sense of the supernatural, usually with dark connotations. It's magic, and while not necessarily evil as such, it's at least not rainbows and sunshine. Referencing the Grim Reaper also seems appropriate here.

The train whistles and begins to move, startling everyone.

Mash leads the way to the door they came in. 1-16 "Phantom Train" begins playing.

Despite what the NA version sounds like, Cayenne isn't being philosophical here. He's simply stating that if they stay on the train, they're headed there.

Note that if Shadow is currently in the party, he won't leave during the train ride.

Ghosts now populate the train. Although most are hostile, some will sell supplies, and a few even offer their assistance in combat.

Not very effectively, however. The first ghost to join starts two levels above the party average and at least has mediocre stats. A weaker second ghost that can only join if Shadow isn't in the party starts three levels behind and is rock-bottom in everything. They're more useful as meat shields than anything else. They do at least have the ability to eliminate enemies instantly by Possessing them, but this may fail, and will remove the ghost from the party when it succeeds.

Head right to the caboose for some more information.

There's a book on a nearby desk.

That's fairly disturbing, actually. So many people are dying in the war that the transport to the afterlife is too busy to stay on a regular schedule.

And a switch in the corner provides an amusing scene, though it does nothing useful.

Mash just laughes, and with a quick hop, flips the switch anyway.

He storms over and puts the switch back the way it was.

Cayenne's ineptitude with machines comes up again later on several occasions.

Head left toward the locomotive when ready. Things go fairly smoothly, until one car turns out to be a dead end, and a ghost blocks the exit.

But the party fights their way out easily enough.

Ghosts begin to pour out of the far end of the car.

As the party sees the ghosts coming out of the car, more begin to pour out of the other end.

The party retreats the only way they can, onto the roof, but the ghosts just keep coming.

Mash takes a look around, then seems to come to a decision.

Mash, with the rest of the group, walks to the rear end of the roof.

Looks like "graaaaah" is turning out to be my Generic Warcry Noise.

He dashes forward, and, presumably carrying the others, leaps from car to car, until one roof collapses beneath him. The familiar chant is heard again.

The ghosts are indeed still coming.

As it happens, there's a switch just inside this car that does exactly that.

Don't miss the Oversoul monster in this car if you want it to show up on the Beast Plain later.

Further up the train, they come to a dining car. Mash sits at one of the tables and starts making a fuss.

A ghost walks over with food, sets it on the table, and leaves wordlessly.

They dig in, and the food causes full recovery, just like a healing spring or inn.

Things get interesting again when they approach a treasure chest in one of the cabins.

A man drops from the ceiling. He looks like some sort of warrior.

Battle time. Siegfried gets boss music for some unfathomable reason.

He strikes eight times (as if with Genji's Bracer + Proof of Initiation) before anyone else can act (except possibly counterattacks), but with laughable damage.

Now that the party has a chance to attack, he goes down with humiliatingly little effort.

He runs past them, grabs the chest's contents, and races to the door.

Whatever.

Another chest not long after contains a monster. Though stronger than the usual random encounters, it shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

More specifically, the Specter may attack with Blizzard and the more bothersome Absorb in addition to normal attacks, and may counter with Thunderflash (double damage physical attack). Fortunately, this party has no shortage of powerful single-target attacks, and Mash's Aura Cannon in particular will take advantage of one of the usual undead weaknesses. Win for a Hyper Wrist.

Not long after that, any ghosts helping the party walk away just before a small car with a save point.

Inside the locomotive just ahead are several switches, plus directions for stopping the train.

The party plays around with the controls until the train brakes, but...

The Grim Train attacks. Time for one of the strangest boss battles in the game... The party runs along the tracks as the train pursues them. It has a variety of unusual attacks, at least one unique to this battle, but you never have to see them, since a single Phoenix Tail will finish it off, as is usual for the undead.

If you'd rather fight fair, at least switch your party's rows before battle, since you'll always be attacked from behind. The train absorbs Poison and is weak against Flame, Thunder, and Holy, so use Mash's Aura Cannon as often as possible. Cayenne's Tiger will knock off half its health, and Shadow can toss Shuriken for good damage as well. For laughs, try having Mash use Meteor Strike, which actually works somehow. Interestingly, this is also the only enemy in the game to use the Holy-based Saint Beam (Scar Beam), which means many players will never see that attack.

Either way, the music stops after the battle.

The party retires to an empty cabin until it's time to disembark.

The others nod their agreement. And then a large group of people, presumably dead spirits, begin boarding the train. "The Mines of Narshe" plays for mood. Cayenne reacts rather strongly...

Cayenne rushes past Mash, knocking him off the platform, then keeps chasing after the train as far as he can. The music stops.

Voices drift back from the train.

幸せ (shiawase) is a pain to translate, since English doesn't have a good equivalent. "Happy" is fairly close, but it sounds too shallow. Happiness is a fleeting emotion; 幸せ is more of a lasting satisfaction with life, like in "they lived happily ever after".

The train passes out of sight. Cayenne stands downcast on the edge of the platform, and won't move for several minutes. Surprisingly, Shadow has something to say, if present.

Eventually, Cayenne pulls himself together enough to continue the journey.