The last European train that travels by sea
17 comments
·October 27, 2025cbdevidal
I enjoyed the writing but the few photos left me curious about the ferry transfer. 34-minute video:
swiftcoder
What a delightful technological artefact. Certainly a shame to lose it, even if the bridge would be more convenient/efficient in the long run
AntonTrollback
There might have been occasions where a train ferry transported one of those train that carry cars onboard. I like that thought.
perihelions
I'm struggling to come to terms with the depth of anti-modernity sentiment in the West, that it's considered normal (and not mortifying) to read a BBC piece praising an (unavoidable!) twenty-hour rail journey as a thing of "lyrical beauty", quoting authorities like a "philosophy researcher". Who elevated this flowery nonsense over the common sense of the masses of sane people, with lives and goals and needs and places to be?
n4r9
Is continuous hurry your ideal state of civilization?
gregoriol
I'd thought this would have been somewhere in Denmark or Norway
AntonTrollback
It used be one between Denmark and Germany. Likely that one you are thinking about. Canceled due to the Fehmarn Belt bridge construction.
robin_reala
If that’s a new term to you, more info at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fehmarn_Belt_fixed_link. It’s a new submerged tunnel that’s being constructed between Germany and Denmark, hopefully opening in 4 years time (though that’s looking increasing unlikely at this point).
I’m looking forwards to it as it’ll nearly halve the Copenhagen <-> Hamburg train time, down to 2 hours and 20 minutes.
ncruces
There's a bridge between Denmark and Sweden.
ochrist
That's not the last European train that travels by sea. If you go from Sweden or Denmark towards Germany the train crosses from Denmark to Germany by ferry (that is until the new Femern tunnel is finished): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8DPuDsYe_k https://femern.com/the-tunnel/fehmarnbelt-tunnel/
PinguTS
You should read the whole article before claiming things.
> After the 2019 closure of the Puttgarden-Rødby service between Germany and Denmark and the seasonal Sassnitz-Trelleborg route linking Germany and Sweden in 2020, the Intercity is now the last one running. All the rest were replaced by bridges or tunnels, or proved too expensive to maintain as demand fell in favour of air travel.
ochrist
Yes, sorry. I sometimes pass the connection Rødby - Puttgarden by car, and I have seen trains there recently. But they obviously don't use the ferry anymore.
detaro
The line you mention doesn't run anymore, and hasn't since 2019.
Reason077
Yep. I took that train, Hamburg to Copenhagen, back when it still ran on the the ferry. Lots of fun!
The route actually does still run, of course, but it takes the long way around via land until the Fehmarn Belt tunnel[1] opens around 2029.
ochrist
My bad. Sorry. I see that they changed the route to go via Jutland because of the upcoming tunnel. So yes, the Italian line is probably the last one of its kind. The Danish-German connection will probably not be reestablished, as the new tunnel will replace the ferry.
eesmith
Its closure is also mentioned in the text: "After the 2019 closure of the Puttgarden-Rødby service between Germany and Denmark and the seasonal Sassnitz-Trelleborg route linking Germany and Sweden in 2020, the Intercity is now the last one running."
I've been on this train. The sound of the train being pulled onto the ferry did wake me up to say the least. It was dark outside and the blinds were shut in our sleeping coach. I remember feeling a bit of a weight, being in bed, in a closed coach, inside a large train, deep inside this massive ferry with many floors above us. It wasn't until much later that I realized that the train was open-air and not that big at all. You then wake up a few hours later near Palermo where the train runs just by the ocean – that was lovely.
I've also been on the second-to-last train of this type a few times (Snälltåget from Sweden via Denmark to Germany). That one also got canceled for the same reason – mega bridge construction (Fehmarn Belt). There, you used to get off the train to go up to the canteen for lunch with the truckers.