Europe In Europe, many motorail connections are running cross-border between different European countries. To be mentioned are trains between Austria—Germany, Austria—Italy, Germany—Italy, Czech Republic—Slovakia and Serbia—Montenegro. Some domestic services exist as well. Domestic motorail trains are running within Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Finland. Almost all motorail services are offered in connection with overnight trains with
sleeping cars.
Austria In
Austria, roughly half of the night trains of the
Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) (called
ÖBB nightjet) include car-carrier wagons. Most of the car-carrier wagons are running on a daily basis all-year-round to car terminals located in Austria (Vienna, Graz, Villach, Feldkirch, Innsbruck) and Germany (Hamburg, Düsseldorf). In addition, ÖBB nightjets from Vienna are serving one car terminal in Italy (Livorno) during the summer season. For the motorail services from Austria to Germany, ÖBB took over operations from
DB AutoZug, a German motorail company which ceased operations. Also seasonal is the Optima Express, a three-season service (spring, summer, autumn) between Villach in Austria and Edirne in Turkey with up to four trains each week in summer.
Germany , Germany, 2011 In
Germany,
DB AutoZug offered motorail services for more than 70 years. DB AutoZug ceased to operate in October 2016 as these trains were not considered to be profitable. except for the motorail trains from and to Munich, which are bi-seasonal (summer & winter).
Italy In Italy,
Trenitalia operated national Motorail services, advertised as "Auto e moto al seguito". As of 12 December 2011, all of these services have been withdrawn. After the withdrawal of motorail services by state-owned
Trenitalia the private railway company
Arenaways started overnight motorail trains running from
Turin in the north of Italy to
Reggio Calabria and
Bari in the south.
Talgo train coaches from
RENFE group in Spain were used for the services. The services are reduced in comparison to 2017 and 2018 which saw motorail trains operating from Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Vienna to Verona and Livorno.
Netherlands There were motorail services, called
AutoSlaapTrein, which ran in the summer months from
's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) in the Netherlands to
Koper in Slovenia, to
Alessandria and
Livorno in Italy, and
Frejus and
Avignon in the South of France. EETC (Euro-Express trein charter), the owner of the AutoSlaapTrein, suspended their services in April 2015. Another Dutch company, the travel agency Treinreiswinkel, continued the Autoslaaptrein in May 2015 with a connection between Germany (Düsseldorf) and Verona. All these motorail trains were operated by Müller-Touristik-Group in Germany under the brand name Euro-Express. In 2018, the Euro-Express trains were canceled.
Turkey The only motorail train of Turkey is running between Villach/Austria and Edirne/Turkey mainly for the Turkish workers abroad, passing through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria. The whole journey completes 1400 km in 30 hours. The train is operated by Optima Tours.
Czech Republic and Slovakia Currently, there is a daily all-year-round service between
Prague and
Košice, EN Slovakia, which also carries a motorail car between
Prague and
Poprad (for
High Tatras). There is a seasonal service between Prague and
Split (fasttrain
Jadran) which took 24 hours, in seasons 2003–2005 weekly, in seasons 2007–2009 daily. This was running also in summer 2023. Domestic motorail service between
Bratislava and
Humenné is also available in Slovakia. Trains are jointly operated by
České dráhy and
Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko.
Finland , and then leave the car transport carriages on foot to board the passenger carriages. In
Finland,
VR has a popular automobile-carrying service on its night trains between the south and the north; the service transports 35,000 automobiles a year. The service operates with trains originating from both
Helsinki and
Turku first stopping at
Tampere; from there they follow the same line to the next stop in
Oulu. Thereafter, the line splits with one line going up to
Kolari and another line making stops at
Rovaniemi and
Kemijärvi. These trains also include sleeper cars allowing passengers to sleep well before driving the next morning.
France In France, the
SNCF's Auto/train service comprised several overnight automobile-carrying trains throughout France. In the past, all of the Auto/trains also carried
sleeping cars. Later on, passengers traveled on a separate train to their automobiles. Typically, passengers dropped off their car any time during the day and then use a separate train to reach their destination, where they could pick up the car any time the following day. This service used to be available between 13 railway stations: the
Gare de Bercy in
Paris is the main auto-train terminal. There were also terminals in the stations of
Avignon (separate station),
Biarritz,
Bordeaux,
Briançon,
Brive,
Fréjus-St-Raphaël (separate station),
Lyon-Perrache,
Marseille-Saint-Charles,
Nice,
Narbonne (separate station),
Toulon, and
Toulouse. The automobiles were carried in open railcars. Other services used to be offered to the Auto Train service: a jockey to pick your car up at home, complementary insurances, free bus to leave the arrival station (such as Bercy, Avignon, or Fréjus) and free parking. The service was discontinued in December 2019.
Poland In the early 1980s
PKP offered motorail services between the following stations:
Szczecin Dąbie,
Trzebiatów,
Gdynia Główna,
Warszawa Główna,
Poznań Główny,
Katowice,
Kraków Główny, and
Zakopane. Services ran overnight and passengers were carried in
sleeping cars and
couchettes. By the end of the 1990s PKP operated only a single motorail service on overnight trains between Gdynia and Zakopane. The service never gained essential popularity and ultimately was withdrawn in 2004. Among many factors which led to closure of this service, it was criticised for being too cumbersome: while in Zakopane the passengers' cars were available almost immediately, it took nearly two hours to load or unload cars in Gdynia.
Serbia There is a Motorail service in Serbia along the following routes: Belgrade - Bar (throughout the year), Novi Sad - Bar (summer season only) and Belgrade - Thessaloniki (summer season only).
Switzerland In Switzerland, several
car shuttle trains run, called
Autoverlad; no motorail services exist.
United Kingdom British Rail operated Motorail services from 1955 serving various destinations, but had discontinued them by the time the state-owned body was wound up in the mid-1990s. The privatised train operator
First Great Western went on to revive the service between
London and
Penzance in 1998, operating it until September 2005.
Asia-Pacific Australia Journey Beyond provides a Motorail service on its long-distance
Indian Pacific between Adelaide and Perth, and
The Ghan between Adelaide and Darwin. It formerly offered Motorail on
The Overland services. The
Victorian Railways formerly offered Motorail on
The Vinelander, and
Sunraysia services on the
Mildura line. The
New South Wales Railways (later the
Public Transport Commission) once offered Motorail services on its long-distance lines.
Japan Several overnight "car train" (カートレイン) services were operated by the
Japanese National Railways and its successor
JR Group between 1985 and 1999. The first such service operated between
Shiodome Freight Terminal in
Tokyo and
Higashi-Kokura Freight Terminal in northern
Kyushu. At various times during the 1990s, similar services were operated between
Nagoya and Kyushu, between Tokyo and
Hokkaido through the
Seikan Tunnel, and within Hokkaido. The freight terminal at
Ebisu Station was used as a terminal for car train services prior to its closure for redevelopment as the Ebisu Garden Place complex, at which point such services were moved to
Hamamatsucho Station. There were a number of problems with these services which contributed to their eventual cancellation, including fairly severe size restrictions on the vehicles that could be transported, lack of on-board dining facilities, revenue sharing issues between regional operating companies following the privatization of JR, and competition with both long-distance car ferries and combination air/rental car travel products.
America Canada The
Ontario Northland Railway's Auto Carrier Service has several chain cars that carry vehicles from
Cochrane to
Moosonee. The train used is referred to as the
Polar Bear Express. The train typically carries 15 vehicles. It also allows palletized freight, personal effects, household goods, groceries, building material, and special vehicles (ATVs, UTVs, snowmobiles, boats, and canoes). Spaces are also available for small enclosed trailers, boat and snowmobile trailers. These may be brought on either boxcars or flatcars. 3000 cars are transported yearly, with regular motorail service several times a week. Larger trucks (1 ton and higher) may be brought on the train but through a different service. The
Polar Bear Express is a popular service for those living in communities near the James Bay as no all season road exists to link
Moosonee with the rest of Ontario. The train is also frequented by hunters travelling up North. CN Rail operated the Car-Go Rail and Auto-With-You motorail services around the 1960s, but closed the service a few years after due to low popularity.
Chile In
Chile, EFE (
Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado) operated a service called "Autotren" between
Santiago and
Temuco. It has, alongside most rail services in the country, been discontinued.
United States ''
Amtrak operates their dedicated
Auto Train between
Lorton, Virginia (near
Washington, D.C.) and
Sanford, Florida (near
Orlando), a distance of . The train can carry upwards of 330 vehicles inside fully enclosed bilevel autoracks, allowing vehicles even as tall as SUVs with rooftop cargo boxes to fit inside. Special vehicles such as small trailers, limousines, jet-skis, trikes, and chopper motorcycles may be brought on for an extra fee. The train is commonly used by tourists travelling south for vacation to Florida.
Argentina In Argentina, the transportation of cars by train was very popular for many years, but after the privatization of passenger services in the 1990s, most of the rail services were canceled. Currently this service is provided only on the Tren Patagonico (Patagonian Train), which connects Viedma on the Atlantic coast with Bariloche in the Andes covering a distance of 800 km, and on the Buenos Aires-Mar Del Plata line, connecting the capital of the country with the Atlantic coast in a distance of 400 km. == See also ==