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.
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The Varna-Odesa (Ukraine) train ferry line served by 4 boats (13,000tonnes 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.[8] 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.[9]
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.[10]
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 1,435mm (4ft8+1⁄2in) standard gauge and Bolivian 1,000mm (3ft3+3⁄8in) 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.[14]
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 1,067mm (3ft6in), the railcars coming from the Russian mainland needed their bogies changed; this was done in Kholmsk.[15] This break of gauge was removed once the Sakhalin railways had been converted to the Russian 1520mm 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.[16] The current Marmaray Tunnel project, which was completed in 2013, partially replaced 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 96km (60mi) long while a rail alternative on the north side would be 250km (160mi) long in mountainous terrain. There are four ferries each of 16 coach capacity capable of making three trips per day.[18] Other sources describe the ferries' capacity as 450 tons (9 to 14 railcars).[19]
Tekirdağ-Derince Ferry: The ferry service had started at the end of 2013 connecting Europe to Asia by rail.[16] 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 (2,600ft) 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 1,000mm (3ft3+3⁄8in) gauge network of the Uganda Railway at Port Bell with the 1,000mm 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.[20][12]
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.
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 – 1,000mm (3ft3+3⁄8in) gauge across the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh – passenger services superseded by Jamuna Bridge, 2003; 1,676mm (5ft6in) and 1,000mm (3ft3+3⁄8in)dual gauge. Limited freight transportation continued until 2010.[23]
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[34])
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, 1,520mm (4ft11+27⁄32in) – Mukran, Germany, 1,435mm (4ft8+1⁄2in) (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.[37]
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 1,435mm (4ft8+1⁄2in))
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.[46]
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[51]
"The Water Front, Port Burwell, Canada". Maritime History of the Great Lakes. Retrieved 2011-11-14. The Pennsylvania-Ontario Transportation Company railroad car ferry ASHTABULA lies in the harbour.
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.