Trains, Gatun Lock and Colon

I just had a look at the guide book and the train company's web site. There is indeed a train, Colon is indeed dangerous but you're probably OK if you only take taxis between places like the locks (which are about 10km south), the train station and the bus station. Apparently you can buy the ticket at the station, you don't need to book. It is not super clear where their offices are, but I guess I could buy a ticket at the station in advance. Since despite it not being necessary in theory to book, the train leaves at 7:15am. Sigh. On the other hand, although if it happened to be sold out one day it would be annoying to have dragged myself out of bed early, it might be better not to book in advance since there's a big risk of oversleeping. The train only runs Mon-Fri, and I'm clearly not going tomorrow, so I guess I will consider that for Monday (of course, I need to sort out accommodation here before then).