This is a list of
train ferries that are designed to carry
railway vehicles. These include purpose-built train ferries that can be quickly loaded and unloaded by
roll-on/roll-off, and
car floats or rail barges which are
barges that carry trains.
Former train ferries
Argentina
Nine train ferries were used between 1907 and 1990 to cross the Paraná river and join the Buenos Aires province (the main state in Argentina) and the Entre Rios province (the entrance to the Mesopotamian region), until new bridges were built over the rivers they crossed. They were Lucía Carbó (1907), María Parera (1908), Mercedes Lacroze (1909) (three ferries that operated between the ports of
Zárate and Ibicuy (Entre Rios), crossing the
Paraná River at the northwest of the Buenos Aires province). Then were added Roque Saenz Peña (1911) and Ezequiel Ramos Mejía (1913), paddle train ferries, at
Posadas (crossing the Paraná River in the southwest of the Misiones province, at the north of the country, in the frontier with Paraguay).
Three other train ferries were added later: Dolores de Urquiza (1926), Delfina Mitre (1928) and Carmen Avellaneda (1929) to cover the service in the Zárate-Ibicuy crossing. María Parera had a collision with Lucía Carbó at km. 145 of the Paraná River, and it sank in less than 15 minutes on June 30, 1926. Two of the most modern still serve as floating piers in the Zárate region, and one of the first group was sunk during a storm at the Buenos Aires port in the 1980s. The two northern paddle ferries still remain at Posadas, and one of them holds a model railway museum inside. All the eight old ferries were built by the
A & J Inglis, in Pointhouse,
Glasgow,
Scotland, for the Entre Rios Railways Co. in Argentina. The ninth ferry, Tabare, was built in Argentina by
Astarsa in 1966 at Astillero Río Santiago
Río Santiago Shipyard near to La Plata city. It was the largest train ferry that operated in Argentina, with a deck more than 100 meters long. Tabaré is still floating, but not operating, at the old south docks of Buenos Aires port, near the Puerto Madero zone.
Narayanganj–Bahadurabad Ghat line from Balashi Ghat to Bahadurabad Ghat –
1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge across the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh – passenger services superseded by
Jamuna Bridge, 2003; 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)
dual gauge. Limited freight transportation continued until 2010.[2]
Mukran (changed in 1988 from the old
Sassnitz port to the new port nearby at Mukran) –
Trelleborg, Sweden, freight plus one daily passenger night-train. (1909–2020[14])
In Japanese, a train ferry is called "鉄道連絡船 tetsudō renrakusen", which means literally "railway connection ship". Such ships may or may not be able to carry railcars. A ferry service that is part of a railway schedule and its fare system is called "tetsudō renrakusen".
Japan Railways linked the four main Japanese islands with train ferries before these were replaced by bridges and tunnels.
There were three ferry services that carried trains. Through operations of passenger trains using train ferries were conducted between December 1948 and 11 May 1955. The passenger services was canceled after the disasters of Toya Maru (26 September 1954, killed 1,153) and the Shiun Maru (11 May 1955, killed 168) occurred, after which the
Japanese National Railways (JNR) considered it dangerous to allow passengers to stay on trains aboard ship. These three lines have been replaced by tunnels and bridges.
Seikan Ferry
The Seikan ferry connected
Aomori Station and
Hakodate Station crossing the
Tsugaru Strait connecting
Honshū and
Hokkaidō. The first full-scale train ferry, Shōhō Maru, entered service in April, 1924. On 13 March 1988, the
Seikan Tunnel was opened and the ferry ceased operation. The tunnel and the ferry line was operated simultaneously only on that day.
Ukō Ferry
The Ukō ferry connected Uno station and
Takamatsu station crossing the
Seto Inland Sea connecting
Honshū and
Shikoku. The ferry service started carrying railcars on 10 October 1921. On 9 April 1988, the
Great Seto Bridge was opened and the last train ferry operated on the previous day.
Kammon Ferry
The Kammon ferry connected
Shimonoseki Station and
Mojikō Station crossing the
Kanmon Strait connecting Honshū and
Kyūshū. This was the first train ferry service in Japan starting operation on 1 October 1911. The train ferries used piers at Komorie station. After the completion of the
Kanmon Tunnel on 1 July 1942, the service was discontinued and the ferries were transferred to the Ukō Ferry operation.
Lithuania
Klaipėda, 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) –
Mukran,
Germany, 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (1986-2016). Freight only.
Bogie exchanges take place in Mukran. Service abandoned in 2016.
The Netherlands
From 1886 to 1936, train ferries sailed between
Stavoren and
Enkhuizen across the
Zuiderzee. After completion of the
Afsluitdijk in 1932, goods transportation went from train to road.
From 1914 to 1983 a ferry carried freight carriages from the Rietlanden shunting area to the Amsterdam-Noord railway network, which was not connected over land to the rest of the Dutch railway network.
Nigeria
A temporary ferry was used at the crossing of the
Niger River due to delays finding foundations for a bridge.[17]
similarly at
Makurdi on the
River Benue, replaced by a road-rail bridge in 1932.
Stockholm –
Naantali, Finland (1967–1975), normal gauge on board, break-of-gauge in Naantali, freight only
Malmö – Travemünde, Germany (from the mid-1980s until a few years after 2000)
Hargshamn (Sweden) – Uusikaupunki (1989–96), normal gauge on board, break-of-gauge in Uusikaupunki, freight only
Stockholm – Turku, Finland (SeaRail, ended 2012, normal gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in))
Never opened
Trelleborg – Travemünde, the ferries were built (Nils Dacke and Robin Hood 1988–89) but the service never opened, as the "Iron Curtain" fell. The ferries were supposed to offer an alternative, which was not going through East Germany, to the ferries from Rostock and Sassnitz, which were in East Germany. With reunification that aim became obsolete.
The Firths of Tay and Forth in Scotland were crossed by train ferries (Tayport–Broughty Ferry and Granton–Burntisland) until their replacement by bridges.[26]
Chesapeake Bay –
Bay Coast Railroad from Norfolk to Cape Charles, Virginia. The shortline railroad had two ferries (25 & 15 cars each) that crossed the Chesapeake Bay about twice a week.
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 Viking and Arthur K. Atkinson as the final ships on the fleet.
Pittsburg, California San Francisco–Sacramento Railroad
Sacramento Northern Railway – the trolley-wire-powered "South End" operated from Sacramento south through farmland, marshes, over river by its own ferry, to Pittsburg, through the Contra Costa County hills and tunnel to Oakland and the Key System ferry pier. In 1928 the San Francisco-Sacramento Railroad (formerly the Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway, and originally the Oakland and Antioch Railway) became the Southern Division of the SNRy.
New York City – Havana, Cuba
Detroit Train Ferry Yard – Google Maps Aerial Photo of the former yard[31]
The
Varna-
Odesa (
Ukraine) train ferry line served by 4 boats (13,000 tonnes
deadweight (DWT) 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.
Guangdong–Hainan Railway: Part of this railway is the Yuehai (粤海, i.e. Guangdong-Hainan) Ferry which crosses the
Qiongzhou Strait, between
Zhanjiang,
Guangdong and
Haikou,
Hainan. The line has operated since January 2003, carrying both freight and passenger trains, enabling direct train service between the mainland and the cities of Haikou and
Sanya on Hainan Island.[38] As of the late 2010, two ferry boats were in operation; the third boat, Yuehai No. 3, was launched in
Tianjin in September 2010, and was going to be delivered to the ferry company in December 2010.[39]
Bohai Train Ferry:
Yantai in
Shandong Province to
Dalian in
Liaoning Province. This short-cut line, operated by
Sinorail, has been running since November 2006. As of 2020, it only carries freight trains, but passengers can also be on board the ship.[40]
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.
Both Sicily and Sardinia services are operated by Bluvia that is 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.
The
Interislander runs a train ferry (called rail ferries locally),
Aratere, across
Cook Strait between
Wellington and
Picton, carrying both road and rail cargo on separate decks.
Kaitaki and
Kaiarahi also serve this route, but carry road vehicles only.
Peru
Link with
Bolivia across
Lake Titicaca. The
car floatManco Capac has
dual gauge tracks for both Peruvian 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge and Bolivian 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) meter gauge. There are small stretches of dual gauge trackage at
Puno in Peru and
Guaqui in Bolivia. Car loading and unloading are done at
docks. The British-built steamship Ollanta is no longer maintained, but
PeruRail, in charge of the vessel, is trying to develop a tourist project soon.[44]
Russia
Vanino - Kholmsk, connecting
Sakhalin Island with the mainland. (Since 1973). The ferry line is operated by the
Sakhalin Shipping Company. Since Sakhalin railways use the Japanese gauge of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in), the railcars coming from the Russian mainland needed their
bogies changed; this was done in
Kholmsk.[45] This break of gauge was removed once the Sakhalin railways had been converted to the Russian 1520 mm gauge in the late 2010s.
Bosphorus: Train ferries used to connect 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. Closure of lines within Istanbul in both sides due to Marmaray project caused these ferry services to become useless since the beginning of 2012. Ferry service between Tekirdağ and Derince replaced this ferry service which started at the end of 2013.[46] The current
Marmaray Tunnel project, originally to be completed in 2015, will replace partially the ferry connection with an underwater railway tunnel running between the two sides.
Lake Van – Tatvan — Van. The Istanbul — Tehran "Trans-Asya-Ekspresi" operates and the Damascus–Tehran passenger train operated from each terminus to the ferry ports. Only the luggage van takes the ferry due to capacity restrictions, the passengers have to change at both ends. 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 are reports of financing discussions between the governments of Turkey and Iran. The ferry route is 96 km (60 mi) long while a rail alternative on the north side would be 250 km (160 mi) long in mountainous terrain. There are four ferries each of 16 coach capacity capable of making three trips per day.[48] Other sources describe the ferries' capacity as 450 tons (9 to 14 railcars).[49]
Tekirdağ-Derince Ferry: The ferry service had started at the end of 2013 connecting Europe to Asia by rail.[46] The service is given by TCDD where a maritime company is the subcontractor. The ferry is MF Erdeniz, which used to carry wagons between
Eregli and
Zonguldak ports. She is now carrying wagons between
Tekirdağ Port and
Derince Port, İzmit. Ferry has 5 lines which are in total, 800 meters (2,600 ft) long. It can travel between Tekirdağ and Derince in 8 hours.
Tekirdağ-Bandırma Ferry: TCDD is constructing another ferry ramp at
Bandırma Port and is planning to give ferry service between Tekirdağ and Bandırma ports. This service will connect Agean Region of Turkey to Europe by rail.
A train ferry on
Lake Victoria links the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge network of the
Uganda Railway at
Port Bell with the 1,000 mm gauge network of
Tanzania at
Mwanza. In June 2008, the Ugandan budget allocated $US8.5m for an additional train ferry for Lake Victoria to replace one that sank after a collision.[50][42]
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.
^Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith; Bell, Alan (1984). Branch Line to Hayling including the Isle of Wight Train Ferry. Midhurst, West Sussex, UK: Middleton Press. p. 47.
ISBN0-906520-12-6.
^Gordon, William (1910). Our Home Railways. Vol. 1. London: Frederick Warne and Co. p. 154.
^Searle, Muriel (1982). "Vehicles of Vectis". Lost Lines. Andover, England: Cavendish. p. 76.
ISBN0-904568-41-5.