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Train Ferries in Europe

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STEVIEBOY1

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Hi, I was reading an article about a train ferry in Italy which mentions that there are only three train ferries in operation now in Europe, I think I can think of 2, one is from Southern Italy and another goes from Germany to Denmark, (Rodby/Putgarten), but I can not think of any other. (I think there was possibly one on Lake Van in Eastern Turkey, although not sure if that is still in use) Can any one think of any others now? Thanks.
 
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I believe that the third one is the Sassnitz (Germany) to Trelleborg (Sweden) train ferry which is currently used by Transdev Snalltaget on their night time sleeper trains between Berlin (Germany) and Stockholm (Sweden). Hope this helps.
 

MarcVD

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The Van Lake ferry is still active, but currently not for train passengers. Note that when it was, passenger cars did not go on the ferry. Only the baggage van did. Passengers had to alight, and board another train on the other side. That service is currently suspended due to security issues.
 

MarcVD

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Until the Marmaray underground / underwater link is in full use, there is still a ferry opération to cross the Bosphorus. Not used for passengers, but for freight and rolling stock transfers. Terminals are near Sirkeci and Haydjarpasha train stations, very visible on Google Earth.
 

Groningen

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You ask yourself why it is not possible to built a track north or south of the Van lake in Turkey.
 

etr221

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You ask yourself why it is not possible to built a track north or south of the Van lake in Turkey.
Shall we say it's a rather mountainous area - not the easiest of places to build a railway - a train ferry was an easier and cheaper option. Given money, given traffic, it could be done...

Other rail links by train ferry were across Lakes Titicaca, Victoria and Baikal, also the Tinnsjø in Norway, and possibly others.
 
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The southern side of the lake does indeed seem rather mountainous but the northern side is not as bad. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to build a line on the northern side of the lake so that through trains could start to run.

I'm pretty sure there is a way of avoiding the train ferry by taking the line from Turkey - Syria - Iraq - Iran instead. Although who knows what the condition of this line is like these days. It could well have been destroyed in the war. I am not even sure if these lines have ever even had passenger service or have just been for freight.

Of course it will soon be possible to avoid the train ferry by taking the line from Turkey - Georgia - Azerbaijan - Iran instead. The link from Turkey to Georgia should open up this year or very soon but it seems to keep getting delayed (it was suppose to open last year). The link from Azerbaijan to Iran (at Astara) will probably take a bit longer to complete though.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Some recent info on the Van ferry and Azerbaijan-Iran rail link here: https://www.railwaygazette.com/news...continues.html?sword_list[]=astara&no_cache=1
A new train ferry has entered service on Lake Van. The Sultan Alparslan was built at Turkey’s Özata Shipyard and has four 125 m tracks giving a capacity of 50 wagons
Construction of the 164 km Qazvin – Rasht line is reported to be 80% complete, and planning is underway for the 162 km Rasht – Astara line, backed by a US$500m loan from Azerbaijan which was agreed in January
The actual cross-border link between Azerbaijan and Iran was completed last year, but the link onwards to the current Iranian railhead is still under construction.
 

etr221

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I'm pretty sure there is a way of avoiding the train ferry by taking the line from Turkey - Syria - Iraq - Iran instead. Although who knows what the condition of this line is like these days. It could well have been destroyed in the war. I am not even sure if these lines have ever even had passenger service or have just been for freight.

Of course it will soon be possible to avoid the train ferry by taking the line from Turkey - Georgia - Azerbaijan - Iran instead. The link from Turkey to Georgia should open up this year or very soon but it seems to keep getting delayed (it was suppose to open last year). The link from Azerbaijan to Iran (at Astara) will probably take a bit longer to complete though.
AFAIK the only rail link between Iran and Iraq was during WW2 (dismantled 1945), near Basra (when the Baghdad-Basra line was metre guage; subsequently a standard guage line was built)

The Baghdad Railway was finally completed through to Baghdad in 1940, with through portion of the Taurus Express from Haydarpasa - how long this lasted I don't know, I would guess until the late 1970s or 1980s.
Further north, the Turkish system had a link to USSR railways (in Armenia) via Sarikamis and Kars, thence a link from the USSR to Iran... (which would have meant guage changes)
My 1968 Cooks TT shows services for all these, for the adventurous...

But since then wars, revolutions, general political upheaval have all come to destroy railways and close borders ... easier to take the train ferry ...
 

MarcVD

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I did the Van ferry crossing 10 years ago, and I can tell you that both shores, north ans south, seem barely appropriate for a railroad construction, unless there is money for construction of several tunnels.

There were studies for that, but the plan of TCDD seems now to built a new line from Kars to Natchichevan, the Azéri exclave between Turkey and Armenia. From there, what remains of the Moscow-Tehran can be used all the way, via the gauge change point at Jolfa. Ultimately, the line in Natchichevan would be regauged, as it has no more contact with any other 1520 gauge railroad anyway. This scheme avoids Kurdistan entirely.

The détour via Tbilissi and Baku would take far more time and will probably not be available for the next 10 years.

Iran railways have built their part of a rail connection with Irak, near Khorramshar, but there is nothing built on the other side of the border yet.

All lines between Turkey and Syria, south of Gaziantep, seem to be out of service today.
 

Groningen

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Hmm i was afraid of that there is no room for tracks along the lake otherwise they surely would have construced one in the past.
 
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