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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 8 (February 1, 1931)

European Train-Ferries

European Train-Ferries.

In and around Russia, train-ferries play a most important part in railway transport. One of the most remarkable of European train-ferries is found on the Trans-Siberian Railway, where the line crosses Lake Baikal, some 28 miles in width. In addition to serving as a transport, the Lake Baikal ferry steamer acts as an icebreaker, being capable of cutting a way
An Anglo-Belgian Transport Link. One of the Train Ferries between Harwich and Zeebrugge.

An Anglo-Belgian Transport Link.
One of the Train Ferries between Harwich and Zeebrugge.

through ice four feet thick. In Western Russia, train-ferries form an important transportation link, and in the Baltic many train-ferries are operated by the railways of the neighbouring lands of Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

Of all the Baltic train-ferries, the most famous is that linking Trelleborg in Sweden with Sassintz in Germany. Twin-screw ferry steamers transport complete trains across the sixty-five miles of open sea between the two points named, the ferry boats being 370 feet long and capable of a speed of 16 ½ knots per hour. Britain's experience of train-ferry operation is confined to the Harwich-Zeebrugge train-ferry, operated by the L. and N.E. Railway and the Belgian State Railways, between England and Belgium. This ferry, however, is employed exclusively for freight movement. Now that the Channel tunnel scheme between England and France has been turned down by the experts, it is not improbable that train-ferries will shortly be seriously considered as a means of moving passengers and freight between Britain and the mainland of Europe.