"So you're waiting for a train..." Riddle meaning?

[dustbust5]

So in some ways, through the use of the riddle and the events of the end, it becomes clear to us that Cobb doesn't care about what is real and what isn't, he's tired of being alone.

I think Cobb does care about the difference between dream and reality. That's the only reason why he rejects Mal's shade: he knows that they can't be together in his dreams because that's not the real Mal. So how could he not care if those children are real or not?

When all is said and done, that's all that's changed, Cobb is again willing to let go of control over where the journey takes him and where it stops as long as he's with who matters most to him, he simply has finally transferred that all important value to his children.

As I said, I love your post, it is wonderfully written and it has given me a lot of food for thought, but I don't completely agree here. I do think that, at the end of the film, Cobb stops trying to control his own reality, but he does so because he understands that it would mean living in a fake world, and he can't accept that.
It does matter whether he is in reality or in a dream at the end, because if he were in a dream, his children would be as fake as the life with Mal he turned down soon before.
I think that Cobb, as soon as he sees his children, simply takes the final "leap of faith" and he doesn't have to rely on the top anymore.

My bad I wasn't clear, but you are right that he cares about reality, he has learned to care about reality. When the film begins Cobb believes he's in reality but doesn't want to accept it, it doesn't feel like the world is the world he believes in, that's why Mal pokes him by saying you keep saying what you believe, but what do you feel, she knows he doesn't feel whole or right or at peace without her.

What I was referring to is that corruption of reality for Cobb stems from his promise to Mal, joining their models of reality, saying that as long as they're together everything will be and is ok. Things go wrong, Mal corrupts their joint model of reality, and what was born out of a leap of faith to be able to do aything and be anywhere as long as their together gets extremely corrupted, and the same model that defined his reality now pulls him away from it.

What I was saying is the film, in a simplified way, represents Cobb's journey to transfer that value to his children. But when I said he doesn't care about reality I simply meant that his children were his model, his children are 100% in reality so making his children his model is making reality his model.

I think beyond the logistics there's a lot to be said about the parenting aspect of this, that Nolan is showing us the journey of letting go of one's regrets and dysfunctions so that they can commit to their children because once a parent that is immediately your reality. In a real life way he's saying that if your regrets and insecurities are not allowing you to be devoted to your children then you are lost and need to find your way towards the reality that is important, your children.

[the13thdance]

I'm an experienced lucid dreamer. This qoute actually means something.
During sleep paralisys, that moment between sleep and awake, auditory hallucinations are common.
For shared dreams to be possible, all parties involved need to be proficient in wake-induced-lucid-dreaming, literally, going directly from waking conciousness, to a dream state.
The scene where they're laying on the train rail is similar to laying on pillows with a partner, physical contact is helpful, but visual and mental connections are more important. As your body falls asleep, with a mind still lucid, you often hear static, or screams, or roaring, or crackling, or any weird sort of white noise, as you sink into a dream, which could very well be compared to the roar of a train...taking you far away...together.
That riddle means more then most people are assuming, just because they've never considered the fact that inception might hold little bits of truth. And it has alot more then a few "little bits"

[mchekhov]

I'm an experienced lucid dreamer. This qoute actually means something.
During sleep paralisys, that moment between sleep and awake, auditory hallucinations are common.
For shared dreams to be possible, all parties involved need to be proficient in wake-induced-lucid-dreaming, literally, going directly from waking conciousness, to a dream state.
The scene where they're laying on the train rail is similar to laying on pillows with a partner, physical contact is helpful, but visual and mental connections are more important. As your body falls asleep, with a mind still lucid, you often hear static, or screams, or roaring, or crackling, or any weird sort of white noise, as you sink into a dream, which could very well be compared to the roar of a train...taking you far away...together.
That riddle means more then most people are assuming, just because they've never considered the fact that inception might hold little bits of truth. And it has alot more then a few "little bits"

no

[author]

My interpretation, as a member of the audience:

You're waiting for an ending.
And ending that will take you far away.
You know where you hope this ending will take you.
But you don't know for sure.
But it doesn't matter.
How can it not matter where the ending will take you?
Cause they'll be together.

But they are NOT together in the ending.
Mal is dead and Dom finally lets go of her.

[dustbust5]

My interpretation, as a member of the audience:

You're waiting for an ending.
And ending that will take you far away.
You know where you hope this ending will take you.
But you don't know for sure.
But it doesn't matter.
How can it not matter where the ending will take you?
Cause they'll be together.

But they are NOT together in the ending.
Mal is dead and Dom finally lets go of her.

Exactly, that riddle haunted Dom, it was a totem of sorts establishing his reality as being Mal herself, that he had to be with her and he owed her staying true to that. The ending represents him finally understanding that she's gone and in order to return to reality, he has to accept that their world together is done, because she is

[tykjen]

My interpretation, as a member of the audience:

You're waiting for an ending.
And ending that will take you far away.
You know where you hope this ending will take you.
But you don't know for sure.
But it doesn't matter.
How can it not matter where the ending will take you?
Cause they'll be together.

But they are NOT together in the ending.
Mal is dead and Dom finally lets go of her.

I meant "They" as in Dom and the children..
And when Mal said "You'll" be together, it also refers to the Dom and the children.

But like Nolan said in an interview, the "Waiting for a train" riddle, was very much like a "leap of faith" to take for Mal.
Dom gave Mal a leap of faith in Limbo, but then Mal used it on Dom in reality on her own suicide. Mal was never totally snapped out of limbo mode right.