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Motorail is a rail transport service where passengers can take their automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger cars or in sleeping cars on longer journeys, while the cars are loaded into autoracks, car carriers, or flatcars.

A MotoRail vehicle at the front of the New South Wales Public Transport Commission's Gold Coast Motorail Express

Contents

Examples

Australia

Great Southern Railway provides a Motorail service on their long distance Indian Pacific and The Ghan services.12 The Overland once had a Motorail service but it has been withdrawn.3

Traveltrain in Queensland offer a Motorail service on their Sunlander and Spirit of the Outback trains.4

The Victorian Railways once offered Motorail on their Mildura line Vinelander and Sunraysia services.5 The railways of New South Wales also once offered a motorail service on their long distance lines.

Austria

In Austria, several of the regular day and night trains of the Österreichische Bundesbahnen include automobile transport cars. In English, the service is advertised as "Motorail Trains".

Canada

A North American predecessor to the original Auto-Train was a service run by the Canadian National Railway (CN) that allowed passengers to bring their automobiles along on selected passenger trains. This service proved unsuccessful.citation needed

The Ontario Northland Railway's former Little Bear mixed cargo-freight train had several flatcars that are used to carry vehicles from Cochrane to Moosonee.

Channel Tunnel

The Eurotunnel Shuttle operates though the Channel Tunnel between France and the United Kingdom. Half of the train (the rear rake) carries cars and other low vehicles in double-deck wagons, with the first and last two carriages of the section containing the access ramps. Coaches, buses and other high vehicles travel in the single-deck rake at the front of the train.

Chile

In Chile, EFE (Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado) operates a service called "Autotren" (website) between Santiago and Temuco.

France

In France, the SNCF's Auto/train (English: Auto-Train) service (website) comprises several overnight automobile-carrying trains throughout France, with some service to neighboring countries as well. In the past, all of the Auto/trains also carried sleeping cars. Many no longer allow passengers to travel on the same train as their automobiles. Typically, passengers drop off their car any time during the day and then use a separate train to reach their destination, where they can pick up the car any time the following day. This service is available between 18 railway stations : the Gare de Bercy in Paris is the main auto-train terminal. There are also terminals in the stations of Avignon (separate station), Auray, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Briançon, Brive, Fréjus-St-Raphaël (separate station), Lille-Seclin, Lyon-Perrache, Marseille-Saint-Charles, Mulhouse, Metz, Nice, Narbonne (separate station), Nantes, Strasbourg, Tarbes, Toulon and Toulouse6. The automobiles are carried in open railcars, and for that reason the SNCF offers passengers a free car wash in the arrival city.

Finland

In Finland, VR (website) has a popular automobile-carrying service on its night trains between the south and the north; the service transports 35,000 automobiles a year. VR recently bought 15 new auto carriers for €8 million.

Germany

In Germany, DB AutoZug (website) has services from sixteen stations to cities in France, Italy, Austria, and Croatia. These are very popular, with 200,000 automobiles transported yearly and half a million passengers. In 2005, DB AutoZug celebrated 75 years of automobile-and-person-carrying trains.

Switzerland

In Switzerland the term Autoverlad is used for the many cases for the transport of motor vehicles by rail through tunnels and other short stretches of track for which there is no suitable road alternative. The vehicles are driven onto and off the train by the driver (as in the Eurotunnel Shuttle), and occupants stay in the vehicles during the short journey. Unlike the Channel Tunnel, the vehicles have open sides and the vehicle occupants are not allowed to get out of the vehicles. (except in the Albula over the Oberalp, the trip there lasts more than 1 hour and the carriages have no roofs).

United Kingdom

Further information: Motorail (British Rail)

British Rail in the United Kingdom operated the Motorail services from 1955. These lasted into the post-privatisation era, with the final one, First Great Western's Night Riviera service between London Paddington station and Penzance, operating until September 2005.

Between Folkestone, England, and Calais, France, Eurotunnel provides a frequent service through the Channel Tunnel. Passengers remain in their cars for the 35-minute trip.7

United States

Further information: Auto Train

Amtrak operate their dedicated Auto Train between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando), a distance of 855-mile (1,376 km).

References

  1. ^ "Indian Pacific Motorail". www.gsr.com.au. Retrieved on 2008-08-16.
  2. ^ "The Ghan Motorail". www.gsr.com.au. Retrieved on 2008-08-16.
  3. ^ "The Overland Motorail". www.gsr.com.au. Retrieved on 2008-08-16.
  4. ^ "Australian Adventures with Rail - Traveltrain Holidays - Motorail - Overview". www.traveltrain.com.au. Retrieved on 2008-08-16.
  5. ^ "AX automobile transport". www.victorianrailways.net. Retrieved on 2008-08-16.
  6. ^ (French)Guide auto-train 2008
  7. ^ Eurotunnel.com Passenger home page

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