Train Ferry Denmark to Germany

[STEVIEBOY1]

I may be travelling between Denmark & Germany next year.

I was wondering if part of the international journey there is still using the rail ferry that goes between Rodby & Putgarten, where the whole train goes on the boat, rather like the old Night-Ferry, that went between London & Paris/Brussels.

If so, there can not be many such services still remaining now.

 

[blackfive460]

I used it earlier this year and it was an interesting experience.
The Rødby - Puttgarden train ferry should still be in use for some time as the plan to build a bridge seems to be making slow progress.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

I used it earlier this year and it was an interesting experience.
The Rødby - Puttgarden train ferry should still be in use for some time as the plan to build a bridge seems to be making slow progress.

Tks, good photo, can they get a full long ICE or similar train on board then, or are only shorter formations possible.? It must be a large ship. Can the passengers get on the train on the boat, or do they have to remain on board?

 

[class303]

I did this summer of 2012 when inter-railing. Had no idea at the time and was very surprised when everyone started climbing off the train and onto a boat! Crossing takes about and hour and there is duty free etc. fun times!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Tks, good photo, can they get a full long ICE or similar train on board then, or are only shorter formations possible.? It must be a large ship. Can the passengers get on the train on the boat, or do they have to remain on board?

You have to get off the train. As i found out to my surprise!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Tks, good photo, can they get a full long ICE or similar train on board then, or are only shorter formations possible.? It must be a large ship. Can the passengers get on the train on the boat, or do they have to remain on board?

The trains are 4-car ICE-TD sets, and just fit on the ferry.
They have DSB logos as well as DB ICE, and are jointly operated. Trains every 2 hours Hamburg-Copenhagen.
You stay on the train as it drives on/off the ferry, but have to exit to the ship during the crossing (the train is locked).
My train was absolutely stuffed from Hamburg, even in First. A second unit was added in Denmark at Nykøbing.
It's a great trip. Apart from the ferry the most surprising thing was the detailed Danish customs check on the train approaching Puttgarden.

 

[starrymarkb]

I believe evacuation requirements mean passengers can't stay on board.

The ICEs that use the ferry are ICE-TD - These are 4 car units much like a Voyager (Infact they have the same QSK-19 engines) - I believe this is the longest that will fit on the ferry - this will combine with another set at Hamburg for the trip to Berlin.

 

[306024]

The trains are 4-car ICE-TD sets, and just fit on the ferry.
They have DSB logos as well as DB ICE, and are jointly operated. Trains every 2 hours Hamburg-Copenhagen.
You stay on the train as it drives on/off the ferry, but have to exit to the ship during the crossing (the train is locked).
My train was absolutely stuffed from Hamburg, even in First. A second unit was added in Denmark at Nykøbing.
It's a great trip. Apart from the ferry the most surprising thing was the detailed Danish customs check on the train approaching Puttgarden.

I've never known a customs check so that seems unusual. It is a popular route, anyone using staff FIP facilities in the summer should check the DB list of restrictions.

 

[30907]

A couple of seasonal workings (EC in the timetable) are still booked for DSB IC3 DMUs - 2 of them fit on the ferry (just!).

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The ferries are of an unusual design, with a 'bow' at each end so they can sail in either direction - this enables the train to drive straight in and out and the ferry does not need to reverse out of port. This makes for a very speedy transit. Sadly I am old enough to have travelled on the overnight 'Nord Express', from Ostend to Copenhagen, with additional through coaches from Paris being added at Liege. There was even a through 'SJ' car to Stockholm via the Helsingor - Helsingborg train-ferry. Extensive re-marshalling at Puttgarden and Rody was required to get this magnificent ensemble on the train-ferry! Those were the days....! All the once extensive marshalling yards for freight are now derelict - this traffic is now routed via the 'Great Belt' Bridge.

 

[Bald Rick]

Done that myself in (ahem) 1991; Oslo, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Hamburg in one go taking about 16 hours. In those days you didn't have to leave the train on the Rodby - Puttgarden ferry, as I slept through it !

 

[gordonthemoron]

The Berlin-Malmo night train also uses a ferry between Mukran (Ruegen) and Trelleborg (Sweden), however you can stay onboard the train during the crossing

 

[jopsuk]

The ferries are of an unusual design, with a 'bow' at each end so they can sail in either direction - this enables the train to drive straight in and out and the ferry does not need to reverse out of port. .

Ferries configured like that, of all sizes, are quite common on shorter routes in calmer seas. Looking at the map, this is an 18.5km/11.5mile crossing. Much more than that and what you gain in swift turnaround you lose in the less efficient drive systems. More common I'll admit in small, open-decked ferries.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I've never known a customs check so that seems unusual.

"Are you carrying more the €10000 in cash?"
"How long are you staying in Scandinavia"?...
From a Danish team who boarded at Oldenburg.
Not quite as fearsome as a crossing into the DDR used to be, but thorough enough.

 

[stut]

Is that legal for an intra-EU journey?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Is that legal for an intra-EU journey?

You can theoretically have such checks anywhere in the EU.
But it's the first time I have encountered any in recent times.
Scandinavia is a bit different (different currencies, sovereignty issues etc), and the non-EU status of Norway withing the Scandic region probably complicates things.

I also noted customs checks at Chiasso crossing from Switzerland to Italy in September on a Zürich-Milan train (not an internal EU border, I know).
My neighbour and several others had to turf out their bags for inspection. That might have been about drugs I suppose.

He was an Italian American visiting family, and was scathing about the Italian customs people and government in general.
I then got a lecture about how Berlusconi was the "least worst" option for the government.

 

[gordonthemoron]

There are often customs checks on Munich-Italy EC trains

 

[Robinson]

I did the Copenhagen train + ferry route during the summer as part of a bash around Europe . Going out to Copenhagen I travelled on the through service from Berlin, on the way back I used an afternoon service to Hamburg and had a couple of nights there (en route to Munich).

The outward leg was short-formed (only 1 unit showed up, there should have been a 2nd unit detached for Aarhus), meaning 2 train-loads having to share with each other as far as Hamburg. Even in 1st I was glad of my seat reservation! The train carries a "Panorama" section of seating (just behind the driver's cab; if the glass is switched to transparent passengers can enjoy the view of the line ahead) - our driver on the German side declined this option but the Danish crew were a bit more generous.

I didn't run into any customs checks in either direction. Although earlier in the trip, I was approached by policemen on the RailJet train from Zurich to Vienna asking me what the purpose of my trip was, and checking my passport...

 

[anme]

I've experienced worse coming into the UK from France.

 

[dutchflyer]

Is that legal for an intra-EU journey?

Mind you-your very own British border guards-or whatever they happen to be called now- can do the very same, and will often at airports, also for people arriving from EU. Dutch people are very, very suspect as they are notorious for drug smuggling-thats in their handbooks or so.
Italians @ CHiasso are on the lookout for tax-evaders with big sums of money-anyone knows about Swiss banks, or not? I have seen recently many complaints on fora like Tripadvisor about assumed very impolite behavior from them.

 

[stut]

Mind you-your very own British border guards-or whatever they happen to be called now- can do the very same, and will often at airports, also for people arriving from EU. Dutch people are very, very suspect as they are notorious for drug smuggling-thats in their handbooks or so.
Italians @ CHiasso are on the lookout for tax-evaders with big sums of money-anyone knows about Swiss banks, or not? I have seen recently many complaints on fora like Tripadvisor about assumed very impolite behavior from them.

There are, however, some subtle differences. Switzerland is non-EU, so they are entitled to carry out customs inspections. Drugs are illegal, so they are entitled to do a search if they have suspicion of you carrying something illegal (and yes, as a very frequent traveller to/from the Netherlands in my 20s, I was frequently pulled aside on the airbridge after landing at Heathrow...)

What customs do not have a right to do is to search you for legal goods within the EU. And immigration have no business asking how long an EU citizen is going to stay in an EU country - we have freedom of movement.

Yes, I agree that the UK is one of the more aggressive nations when it comes to immigration and customs. In fact, Belgian police ended up threatening to arrest UK Border Force employees at Brussels-South for breeching Schengen rules. But when I'm coming home to the UK, I have the confidence to politely decline further information if I feel they are overstepping their mark, just as I would with a police officer. When I'm a guest in another country... Less so.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

To address some of the points raised here:

• frontier controls remain in place to and from the Schengen countries (which include CH and Liechtenstein), even when entering from EU countries. Although there is freedom of movement throught the EU-28 for members of EU member states, so called 'transitional' arrangements limit the ability of nationals of some former Eastern Block countries from working/drawing benefits in the remaining EU member states.
• Member states retain the right to examine identities at all intra-Schengen frontiers if they wish to, eg. for the purposes of detecting crime (eg. illegal immigration or possessing drugs). France, for example, temporarily imposed border checks with Italy last year in response to the number of presumed-to-be illegal refugees from Libya that Italy had permitted to enter.
• At Brussels Midi, travellers to Lille do not have to have their identity checked as they travelling wholly within Schengen. However, it seems that the UK Border Agency staff were asked to do this a couple of years back to stop people slipping past the UK Border Checks by claiming they were only going to Lille. This caused a diplomatic ruckus. The outcome is that a separate 'Schengen' entrance is now being created at Midi for such travellers and they wlll travel in their own, separate coach at the Eastern end of the train....a return to the 'corridor' trains of the past.
• In any case, in many member states, police have and always have had the right to examine identities of anyone at any place in the country although this is rarely done. In many countries, police can impose on the spot fines if you cannot prove your identity when challenged....
• To combat tax evasion and money laundering, EU law now requires individuals to declare the movement of monetary sums greater than 10,000 EUR when entering the EU frontier. Some member states also (legally) impose their own rules on transport of money across their frontiers, even if this is intra-Schengen (this is primarily done to combat tax evasion.) Failure to do so allows the authorities to detain invididuals and investigate individuals further. It seems that this is what happened to the German national with the previously unknown art collection in Munich, who was stopped on one of the SBB EC trains going to Zurich and found to be carrrying a substantial cash sum. The rest is history...

So, all in all, a little way off a 'frontier-free' Europe...

 

[jonty14]

The friendliest border guards I have come across are the Dutch and the British. Unfriendlyest were the Germans. This is at airports though.

 

[anme]

The friendliest border guards I have come across are the Dutch and the British. Unfriendlyest were the Germans. This is at airports though.

The least friendly in my experience:
- UK. Used to be fine, but now passport control is often bad, and customs even worse. The conditions non-EU visitors frequently endure at Heathrow is a national disgrace, and the UK visa process is bureaucratic, expensive and humiliating for many nationalities. I frequently find myself apologising for it.
- US was bad 8-10 years ago, especially in New York. It seems much improved recently and staff are now generally polite and even friendly.

Friendliest - eastern Europe is normally good, also the Netherlands and New Zealand. East Asia has the most polite immigration and customs officers.

 

[gordonthemoron]

never had a problem with German passport control. UKBA is poor at some airports (Stansted, Luton) but OK at others, had a terrible grilling at Waterloo International some years back by UKBA for no discernable reason

 

[blackfive460]

The Rødby - Puttgarden train ferry should still be in use for some time as the plan to build a bridge seems to be making slow progress.

Not a bridge apparently, it's going to be a tunnel according to this.
I was sure I read that they'd agreed that a bridge was the way to go...

Anyway, if construction runs to time, you've only got 'til 2021 to use the train ferry!