The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 8 (February 1, 1931)
European Train-Ferries
European Train-Ferries.
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.