Train ferry Totally Explained

Everything about Railway Ferry totally explained

A train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries were originally referred to as "car ferries" until about the 1950s. The wharf (sometimes called a "slip") has a ramp, linkspan or "apron," balanced by weights, that connects the railway proper to the ship, allowing for the water level to rise and fall with the tides. For an example of a specialized slip to receive railcars see ferry slip.
While railway vehicles can be and are shipped on the decks or in the holds of ordinary ships, purpose-built train ferries are much quicker to load and unload, especially as several vehicles can be loaded or unloaded at once. A train ferry that's a barge is called a car float.
In 1833 the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway operated a wagon ferry on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. In April 1836 the first railroad car ferry in the U.S., the Susquehanna entered service on the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland. Bouch designed the ferry loading mechanism.

Bangladesh

from Balashi Ghat to Bahadurabad Ghat - 1000mm gauge.

Bolivia

link from Peru - 1435mm and 1000mm gauges at each end.

Brazil

See Paraguay

Bulgaria

The Varna-Odesa (Ukraine) train ferry line served by 4 boats (each, carrying 108 loaded railroad cars) opened in 1978, bypasses a break of gauge. Later, the service was extended to include lines to Poti and Batumi, Georgia. Boats can carry trucks and passengers as well.

Canada

A railbarge is a variation of a train ferry that consists of barges pushed by a tug.

In Use

Prince Rupert, British Columbia - Whittier, Alaska (AquaTrain)

Delta, British Columbia - Nanaimo, British Columbia (E and N Railway)

Matane, Quebec - Baie Comeau, Quebec (COGEMA)

Former car floats

various inland lakes of British Columbia (CN and CPR)

Port Maitland, Ontario - Erie, Pennsylvania (TH&B Railway)

Port Burwell, Ontario - Ashtabula, Ohio (CN)

Cobourg, Ontario - Rochester, New York (Ontario Car Company)

Sarnia, Ontario - Port Huron, Michigan - rail-barge - (CN, until the opening of the Paul Tellier Tunnel)

Windsor, Ontario - Detroit, Michigan (Grand Trunk, CN, CPR, Michigan Central, Wabash, until 1980s)

Former train ferries

Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick - Borden Carleton, Prince Edward Island (Canadian Government Railways, CN, CN Marine, Marine Atlantic), using the MV Abegweit and MV John Hamilton Gray. Service ended when rail service on Prince Edward Island was discontinued in 1989. See Prince Edward Island Railway for more information.)

Mulgrave, Nova Scotia - Point Tupper, Nova Scotia (Intercolonial, CN, until the opening of the Canso Causeway in 1955)

North Sydney, Nova Scotia - Port aux Basques, Newfoundland (CN, CN Marine). Service commenced in 1965 carrying standard-gauge rolling stock. A dual-gauge yard in Port aux Basques was used for classification and rolling stock had trucks exchanged with narrow gauge trucks. Service ended when the Newfoundland section of Canadian National Railway was closed in 1988. See Newfoundland Railway for more information.)

China

Zhanjiang, Guangdong and Haikou, Hainan - connects mainland with island.

Yantai in Shandong Province to Dalian in Liaoning Province - a short cut - (opening 2007).

Yangtze River in Wuhan before construction of first river bridge.

Cuba

Note: all auto and rail ferry services have been suspended between the United States and Cuba due to the ongoing United States embargo against Cuba.

Palm Beach - Havana, Cuba.

Miami - Havana, Cuba

New Orleans - Havana, Cuba

Denmark

In use:

Frederikshavn - Göteborg, Sweden, 1987 -, freight only

Rødby - Puttgarden, Germany across Fehmarn Belt. 1963 -, serves 6 passenger trains/day Copenhagen - Hamburg. Night trains and freight trains go over the Great Belt Bridge instead from 1998. Former:

Strib - Fredericia, 1872–1935, replaced by Little Belt Bridge

Korsør - Nyborg, 1883–1997, replaced by Great Belt fixed link

Oddesund Syd - Oddesund Nord, 1883–1938, replaced by Oddesund Bridge

Masnedø - Orehoved, 1884–1937, replaced by Storstrøm Bridge

Glyngøre - Nykøbing Mors, 1889–1977

Helsingør - Helsingborg, Sweden, 1892–2000, since then car ferry only

Copenhagen Frihavn - Malmö, Sweden, 1895–2000, replaced by Øresund bridge

Gedser - Warnemünde, Germany, 1903–1995, replaced by car ferry Gedser - Rostock, Germany

Faaborg - Mommark, 1922–1962, freight only

Assens - Aarøsund, 1923–1950, freight only, narrow gauge (1000 mm)

Svendborg - Rudkøbing, 1926–1962, freight only

Hvalpsund - Sundsøre, 1927–1969, since then car ferry only

Svendborg - Ærøskøbing, 1931–1994, freight only

Gedser - Großenbrode Kai, Germany, 1951–1963, replaced by Rodby - Puttgarden Ferry

Hirtshals - Kristiansand, Norway, 1960–1991, freight only

Copenhagen Frihavn - Helsingborg, Sweden (Danlink) 1986–2000, freight only

Egypt

A ferry, though not necessarily a train ferry, links the 1435 mm gauge network of Egypt and the 1067 mm network of Sudan.

Finland

Turku - Stockholm (see SeaRail).

Germany

In use:

Mukran - Klaipėda, Lithuania, break-of-gauge, freight only (1986-)

Puttgarden - Rødby, Denmark, passenger trains only (1963-)

Rostock - Trelleborg, Sweden, freight only (1994-)

Sassnitz/Mukran(changed in 1998 from Sassnitz to Mukran) - Trelleborg, Sweden, freight plus one daily passenger train. (1909-) Former:

Bodensee (1869–1976)

Elbe: Lauenburg – Hohnstorf (1864–1878)

Elbe: Köhlbrand, Hamburg (???–1974)

Rhine: Worms – Rosengarten (1870–1900)

Rhine: Bingen – Rüdesheim am Rhein (1861–1900)

Rhine: Bonn – Oberkassel (1870–1914)

Rhine: Rheinhausen – Hochfeld (1866–1874)

Rhine: Ruhrort – Homberg (1852–1912)

Rhine: Spyck (near Emmerich) – Welle (near Kleve) (1865–1912)

Grossenbrode - Fehmarnsund (1903–1963)

Grossenbrode - Gedser (1951–1963)

Georgia

Russia to Georgia, bypasses Abkhazia.

Iran

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and upheavals along the railway route through Armenia and Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia instituted a ferry service over the Caspian Sea.

Italy

Calabria-Sicily and vice versa: between the ports of Villa San Giovanni in the Region of Calabria and Messina in the Region of Sicily - passenger and freight service.

Mainland to Sardinia: between the ports of Civitavecchia and Golfo Aranci - freight service only. Both services are operated by Bluvia that's a subsidiary company of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. At present the link between Mainland and Sicily has a regular and frequent activity, while the link between Mainland and Sardinia is less frequent and operated basically day by day on the basis of the actual traffic demand.
An unofficial web page about the Italian rail ferries can be found at this link

Japan

Japan Railways would have had train ferries to link up the main islands before these were replaced by bridges and tunnels.
   In 1936 English edition of Annual Report published by the Department of railways, Government of Japan list the following train ferry services:
Wakkanai - Otomari 210 km provided by Aniwa-maru (3355 ton ) and Soya-maru (3593 ton ).
   Aomori - Hakodate 160 km provided by Shoho-maru (3461 ton ), Hiran-maru (3460 ton ), Tsugaru-maru (3485 ton ), Matsumae-maru (3430 ton ), Daiichi Seikan-maru (2326 ton ), Daini-maru (2493 ton ).
   Uno - Takamatsu 25 km provided by Sanyo-maru (530 ton ), Nankai-maru (544 ton ), Mizushima-maru (342 ton ), Daiichi Uko-maru (323 ton ), Matzuke-maru (76 ton ), Koki-maru (52 ton ).
   Shimonoseki - Fusan 240 km provided by Keifuko-maru (3621 ton ), Tokaju-maru (3620 ton ), Shokei-maru (3621 ton ), Shiragi-maru (3036 ton ), Taki-maru (1235 ton ).
   Shimonoseki - Moji 15 km provided by Buzan-maru (405 ton ), Chosui-maru (393 ton ), Moji-maru (388 ton ), Shimonoseki-maru (528 ton ).
   Miyajima - Itsukushima 5 km provided by Misen-maru (177 ton ), Nanaura-maru (181 ton ).
   In addition to above mentioned services there were five steam ships plying between Shimonoseki - Komorie, a port of northern Kyushu, chiefly for goods transferred to and from Kyushu. In addition, there were three harbour ships (fitted with rails ) of smaller type in Wakkanai, one each at Tsugura, Takamatsu and Osaka harbours, six in Shimonoseki, three in Mojo, three in Fusan (Chosen / Korea ), four in Aomori Bay, six in Hakodate, and one each in Temiya (Otaru Harbour ), and Muroran.
   Awanakahara - Shimmachibashi service. On account of the whole Kotoku line including Awanakahara - Shimmmachibashi section being inaugurated on March 20,1935, the rail ferry service on this section was discontinued on that day. From that date Osaka-maru, Myoken-maru, Ebisu-maru and Bekku-maru were withdrawn from service and placed in reserve for possible emergency use in addition to former Wakkanai - Otomari train ferry Tamura-maru.

Lithuania

Klaipėda, 1520 mm - Mukran, Germany, 1435 mm (1986-)

Mexico

Central Gulf Railroad, connecting the Port of Mobile and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico. It is served by the Burlington Northern Railroad, Canadian National Railway, CSX Transportation, Kansas City Southern Railway, and the Norfolk Southern Railway.

New Zealand

The North Island to the South Island - two ferries - operated by the Interisland Line between Wellington and Picton. The ferries are capable of carrying both rail and road vehicles on two separate decks (except the MV Kaitaki).

Norway

Historically the lake Tinnsjø railway ferry (1909 – 1991) linked Tinnosbanen and Rjukanbanen, transporting goods to and from Rjukan and the Norsk Hydro heavy water factory, as seen in the movie The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas.

Hirtshals - Kristiansand, Norway, 1960–1991, freight only

Paraguay

Link to Argentina - replaced by bridge c1985. Encarnacion - Posadas

Peru

Link to Bolivia via train barge across Lake Titicaca. Barge Manco Capac is equipped with dual gauge tracks for both Peruvian standard gauge and Bolivian meter gauge. There is a small ammount of trackage at either end of the route from Puno in Peru or Guaqui in Bolivia that has dual gauge in use. Car loading and unloading are done at docks. British built Steamship Ollanta isn't maintained for operations on Lake Titicaca at Puno anymore. Peru Rail, in charge of the vessel is trying to develop a tourist project soon.

Russia

Black Sea

Port Kavkaz to Port Krym (Ukraine), across the Kerch Strait. Operated from 1953 to 1993. In 2004, service restored as a car ferry so far; possibility of carrying rail cars is studied as well.

January 2008 - More train ferry routes

Pacific Ocean

Vanino - Kholmsk, connecting Sakhalin Island with the mainland. (Since 1973).

Caspian Sea

Baku, Azerbaijan to Turkmenbashi, Kazakhstan See Iran.

Sri Lanka

A ferry though not necessarily a train ferry links India and Sri Lanka over a narrow and shallow stretch of water.

Sudan

A ferry, though not necessarily a train ferry, links the 1435 mm gauge network of Egypt and the 1067 mm network of Sudan, across the Nile River.
Another ferry used to operate between Juba, Sudan and Pakwach, Uganda, also along the Nile River.

Sweden

In use:

Ystad - Swinoujscie, Poland (1974–2008, when it'll be replaced by Trelleborg - Swinoujscie)

Gothenburg - Frederikshavn, Denmark (1987 -)

Trelleborg - Rostock, Germany (1996 -)

Trelleborg - Mukran, Germany, (1998-) operated by Scandlines

Stockholm - Turku, Finland All are for freight trains (and road vehicles) only, except that there's a nightly passenger train service between Malmö, Sweden and Berlin, Germany over Trelleborg - Mukran. Former:

Helsingør, Denmark - Helsingborg (1892–2000)

Copenhagen, Denmark - Helsingborg (1992? - 2000), freight only

Copenhagen, Denmark - Malmö (1895–1986)

Saßnitz, Germany - Trelleborg, (1909–1998)

Trelleborg - Gdansk, Poland (1946)

Trelleborg - Gdynia, Poland (1947–1950)

Trelleborg - Odra Port, Poland (1950–1954)

Trelleborg - Warnemünde, the GDR (1948–1953)

Bergkvara - Mörbylånga, normal gauge 1435 mm between 1067 mm in Bergkvara and 891 mm in Mörbylånga (1953–1955)

Kalmar - Färjestaden, narrow gauge 891 mm (1957–1962)

Stockholm - Naantali, Finland (1967–1972)

Malmö - Travemünde, Germany (from mid 80'ies till a few years ago)

Tanzania

See Uganda.

Turkey

Bosphorus - train ferry connects the European railway network with main connections from Thessaloniki, Greece and Bucharest, Romania terminating at the Sirkeci Terminal to the Asian network terminating at the Haydarpaşa Terminal. This train ferry is for freight. Passengers use passenger ferries. The current Marmaray project, expected to be complete in 2009, will replace the ferry connection with an underwater railway tunnel running between the two sides.

Black Sea - Ilyichevsk, Ukraine to Derince, Turkey bypasses a break of gauge

Lake Van - Tatvan - Van. The Istanbul - Tehran and Damascus - Tehran passenger trains operate from each terminus to the ferry ports. Only the luggage van takes the ferry, the passengers have to switch trains at either end. The Lake Van Ferry is part of the planned Trans-Asian Railway, Istanbul - Singapore. A scheduled freight train runs from Istanbul to Kazakhstan. The Train Ferry was established to avoid an expensive railroad line along the mountainous southern shore and may be replaced when traffic increases sufficiently. There ferry route is 96km long while a rail alternative on the north side would be 250km long in mountainous terrain. There are two ferries of 16 coach capacity capable of making 3 trips per day each.

M/F Erdeniz is a train ferry that carries wagons between Eregli and Zonguldak ports. The vessel operates every day except Sunday. The vessel is operated by Erdemir Logistics.

Uganda

A train ferry on Lake Victoria links the 1000 mm gauge network of the Uganda Railway in Port Bell with the 1000 mm gauge network of Tanzania in Mwanza.

Ukraine

Black Sea - see above

United Kingdom

Harwich to Zeebrugge. Belgium - closed in 1987.

The Night Ferry from Dover to Dunkerque, France. Closed 31 October 1980, - replaced by the Channel Tunnel. (External Link

)

United States

In use:

The New York New Jersey Rail LLC (replacing the New York Cross Harbor Railroad), transferring freight cars between Jersey City, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York, run as needed. This car float still operates because rail cars with flammable and hazardous materials are not permitted in the former Pennsylvania Railroad, now Amtrak, tunnels under the East River, Manhattan and the Hudson River, and because the tunnel clearances of the tunnels are inadequate for most freight cars.

The Alaska Railroad is connected to the rest of the North American rail system only via train ferries. The Alaska Railroad runs its own ferries from Whittier, Alaska to Seattle, Washington, and the Canadian National Railway operates its AquaTrain between Whittier and Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

Lake Michigan Ludington, Michigan to Manitowoc, Kewaunee or Milwaukee, Wisconsin served by the Pere Marquette Railroad and successor Chesapeake and Ohio or Chessie System with the ships SS City of Midland 41 of 1940, SS Spartan and the SS Badger, both built in 1953. The Badger is now used as a automobile ferry between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan and represents one of the last large coal-burning passenger-carrying steamers in the world.

Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal used so-called carfloats.

Lake Michigan Frankfort, Michigan to Manitowoc, Kewaunee, Marinette, Wisconsin or Manistique, Michigan was the Ann Arbor Railroad's Lake Michigan car ferry service that discontinued in the 1980s. Ann Arbor operated the Viking and Arthur K. Atkinson as the final ships on the fleet.

Lake Michigan Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Muskegon or Grand Haven, Michigan was the Lake Michigan car ferry service of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad which was run by its subsidiary company Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company. Its fleet included five ships including the SS City of Milwaukee, built in 1931. (External Link

)

Straits of Mackinac: Mackinaw City, Michigan to St. Ignace, Michigan, performed by the SS Chief Wawatam (carferries.com

) at the Straits of Mackinac connecting Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas.

Chesapeake Bay - Bay Coast Railroad from Norfolk, VA to Cape Charles, VA

San Francisco Bay - The San Francisco Belt Railroad had slip at Pier 43 which allowed interchange with the Northwestern Pacific, the Western Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads.

Suisun Bay - The Central Pacific Railroad built a ferry that operated between Benicia and Port Costa, California from 1879 to 1930.

New York City - Havana, Cuba

Proposed ferries

The Trans-Asian Railway has proposed a few train ferries:

between Sri Lanka and India

across the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh

Penang in Malaysia and Belawan in Sumatra, Indonesia

Portage railways

The opposite of a train ferry is a portage railway.

A train ferry overcomes a lack of a land link.

A portage railway overcomes a lack of a navigable stretch of a river. For example, before the Panama Canal, the Panama Railway provided a link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Railway Ferry'.

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