A car shuttle train, or (sometimes) car-carrying train, is a

shuttle train A shuttle train is a train that runs back and forth between two points, especially if it offers a frequent service over a short route. Shuttle trains are used in various ways, in various parts of the world. They commonly operate as a fixed consi ...

used to transport accompanied cars (

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

s), and usually also other types of road vehicles, for a relatively short distance. Car shuttle trains usually operate on lines passing through a rail tunnel and connecting two places not easily accessible to each other by road. On car shuttle train services, the occupants of the road vehicles being carried on the train usually stay with their vehicle throughout the rail journey. As such, car shuttle train services are to be contrasted with

Auto Train ''Auto Train'' is an scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ''Auto Train'' is the only motorail service i ...

Motorail A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...

services. Unlike a car shuttle train, an Auto Train or Motorail train is a

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self p ...

on which, except in France, passengers can take their car or automobile along with them. On Auto Trains or Motorail trains, passengers are carried in normal

passenger car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

s or in

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. The first such cars ...

s on longer journeys, while the cars or automobiles are loaded separately into

autorack An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new vehicles from factories to ...

s, car carriers, or

flatcar A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...

s that normally form part of the same train.

By country

Austria

Böckstein,

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

–

Mallnitz Mallnitz is a municipality in the Spittal an der Drau District in Carinthia, Austria. Geography It is situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range stretching southwards down to Obervellach on the Möll river and separating the ...

Obervellach Obervellach ( sl, Zgornja Bela) is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography The town is situated in the valley of the Möll river, on the southern slope of the High Tauern mountain ran ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carin ...

: ''Autoschleuse''

Tauern Railway Tunnel The Tauern Railway Tunnel (german: Tauerntunnel) in Austria is the longest tunnel of the Tauern Railway crossing the main chain of the Alps. Currently, it has a length of . The highest point of the tunnel, which is also the highest point in all of ...

operated by the

Austrian Federal Railways Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

(ÖBB)

Between France and the United Kingdom

Accompanied road vehicles are carried in closed railway wagons through the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover ...

between Sangatte (

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, "strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) and Cheriton (

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

). The car shuttle train is unique in that it is fully enclosed, and allows for double decker buses to travel in the same wagons as other regular passenger vehicles. Trucks going on the train travel in separate wagons that resemble cage-like frames, however.

Germany

The SyltShuttle operated by

DB Fernverkehr DB Fernverkehr AG (German for "DB Long-Distance Traffic") is a semi-independent division of Deutsche Bahn that operates long-distance passenger trains in Germany. It was founded in 1999 in the second stage of the privatisation of Deutsche Bahn, ...

and Autozug Sylt operated by

Railroad Development Corporation The Railroad Development Corporation is an American railroad holding company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It operates several short line railroads outside the United States and acts as an investor, with management and institutional inves ...

transports road vehicles on railway wagons over the

Hindenburgdamm The Hindenburgdamm or Hindenburg Dam is an 11 km-long causeway joining the North Frisian island of Sylt to mainland Schleswig-Holstein. Its coordinates are . It was opened on 1 June 1927 and is exclusively a railway corridor. The companie ...

from

Niebüll Niebüll ( Mooring North Frisian: ''Naibel''; da, Nibøl) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea coast and the border with Denmark, approx. 35 km northwest of Husum. Inte ...

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

to Westerland in

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

(or in the opposite direction).

Slovakia

ZSSK offers car shuttles trains (''autovlak''/''motorail'') from

Humenné Humenné (; hu, Homonna; ukr, Гуменне) is a town in the Prešov Region ("kraj") in eastern Slovakia and the second largest town of the historic Zemplín region. It lies at the volcanic Vihorlat mountains and at the confluence of the ...

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of a ...

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the t ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

Slovenia

Car shuttle trains operate on the

Bohinj Railway The Bohinj Railway ( sl, Bohinjska proga, it, Transalpina, german: Wocheiner Bahn) is a railway in Slovenia and Italy. It connects Jesenice in Slovenia with Trieste in Italy. It was built by Austria-Hungary from 1900 to 1906 as a part of a new ...

between

Bohinjska Bistrica Bohinjska Bistrica (; german: Wocheiner Feistritz) is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Municipality of Bohinj, in the Upper Carniola region of northwestern Slovenia. Geography The settlement lies in the Julian Alps sout ...

and Most na Soči through the

Bohinj Bohinj (; german: Wochein), or the Bohinj Valley ( sl, Bohinjska dolina) or Bohinj Basin ( sl, Bohinjska kotlina), is a 20 km long and 5 km wide basin in the Julian Alps, in the Upper Carniola region of northwestern Slovenia. It is trav ...

Tunnel to

Podbrdo Podbrdo (; it, Piedicolle, german: Untereck) is a settlement in the Municipality of Tolmin in the Littoral region of Slovenia. It lies in narrow valley of the Bača River, next to the Bohinj Railway line at the end of the longest railway tunnel ...

Switzerland

The following car shuttle trains operate in Switzerland (mostly through tunnels): *

Andermatt Andermatt ( rm, ) is a mountain village and municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. At an elevation of above sea level, Andermatt is located at the center of the Saint-Gotthard Massif and the historical center cross of north-south and e ...

( UR) - Sedrun ( GR): Oberalp (only during winter while the road is closed) ( MGB) *

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...

( VS) - Iselle di Trasquera (

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

): Simplon ( BLS) *

Kandersteg Kandersteg is a municipality in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located along the valley of the River Kander, west of the Jungfrau massif. It is noted for its spectacular mountai ...

(BE) -

Goppenstein Goppenstein (1,216 m) is a Swiss hamlet in the canton of Valais, located in the lower Lötschental and traversed by the Lonza river. It belongs to the municipality of Ferden. Goppenstein is mainly known for its railway station on the Lötschberg r ...

( VS):

Lötschberg The Lötschberg is an Alpine mountain massif and usually associated with a major, historically important transit axis of the Alps in Switzerland with, at its core, the Lötschen Pass (german: Lötschenpass, Swiss German: ''Lötschepass''). The mo ...

(no road connection) ( BLS) *

( BE) - Iselle di Trasquera (

and Simplon ( BLS) *

Oberwald Oberwald is a village in the municipality of Obergoms in Goms District in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is situated at an elevation of 1,377 m and had a population of 277 in December 2007. It is located at the end of the Goms, direct ...

( VS) -

Realp Realp (archaic : ''Frialp'') is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. History Realp is first mentioned in 1363 as ''Riealb''. Geography Realp has an area, , of . Of this area, 41.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.3% i ...

( UR):

Furka Base Tunnel The Furka Base Tunnel is a Swiss railway base tunnel on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn's Furka–Oberalp line, an east-west railway connecting the cantons of Valais and Uri. Its west portal lies east of Oberwald (VS), at above sea level and its e ...

( MGB) * Klosters Selfranga ( GR) - Sagliains ( GR):

Vereina Tunnel The Vereina Tunnel is a railway tunnel, and the principal part of the Vereina railway line, in the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. It connects the Landquart–Davos Platz and the Bever–Scuol-Tarasp lines. First proposed durin ...

(instead of the drive over the Flüelapass) (

RhB The Rhaetian Railway (german: Rhätische Bahn; it, Ferrovia retica; rm, Viafier retica), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB ...

) * until 2011

Thusis Thusis ( it, Tosana, '' Romansh: Tusàn'') is a municipality in the Viamala Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Mutten merged into the municipality of Thusis. History Thusis is first mentioned ...

( GR) -

Samedan Samedan (, ) is a town and municipality in the Maloja Region in the Swiss canton of Grisons. It is served by Samedan railway station on the Rhaetian Railway network and by the Samedan Airport. History Samedan is first mentioned in 1139 as '' ...

( GR):

Albula Railway The Albula Railway (german: Albulalinie; it, Linea dell'Albula; rm, Lingia da l'Alvra) is a single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the so-called core network of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerl ...

, including the Albula Tunnel (as an alternative to the Julierpass) (

) Until the opening of the Gotthard Road Tunnel in 1980, there was also a car shuttle train through the

Gotthard Rail Tunnel , it, Galleria del San Gottardo , other_name = , line = Gotthard Line , location = Traversing the Saint-Gotthard Massif in the middle of the Swiss Alps , coordinates = , os_grid_ref = , status = , system ...

between

Göschenen Göschenen (German, it, Casinotta, rm, Caschanuttais) a village and municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. It sits at the northern end of the Gotthard tunnel. The Göschenen riots (1875) saw Urner troops opening fire on Italian miner ...

and

Airolo Airolo (''Airöö'' in Lombard, in rm, italic=yes, ) is a municipality in the district of Leventina in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Geography Airolo is located in Leventina valley and the Lepontine Alps, on the southern flank of the ...

. Following the catastrophic fire in the road tunnel on 24 October 2001, this car shuttle train resumed operations for a few weeks.

United Kingdom

The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

introduced a car shuttle service in 1924 to transport cars and their passengers through the

Severn Tunnel The Severn Tunnel ( cy, Twnnel Hafren) is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn. It was constructed by the Great Western ...

between

Pilning Pilning is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, close to Redwick and Severn Beach. Pilning is close to the M4, M49 and A403 roads, and has the South Wales Main Line railway running through it, with a minor station. The civil parish ...

and

Severn Tunnel Junction , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

, which operated from 1926 until 1966. The service survived until it was made redundant by the Severn Bridge in 1966.

also operated on several British Rail routes from 1955 to 2005.

United States

From the 1960s to 2000, the town of

Whittier, Alaska Whittier is a city at the head of the Passage Canal in the U.S. state of Alaska, about southeast of Anchorage. The city is within the Chugach Census Area, one of the two entities established in 2019 when the former Valdez–Cordova Census Ar ...

could be reached by vehicle by way of a train shuttle through the Whittier tunnel. In 2000, the expanded

Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel The Portage Glacier Highway, or Portage Glacier Road, is a highway located in the U.S. state of Alaska. The highway is made up of a series of roads, bridges, and tunnels that connect the Portage Glacier area of the Chugach National Forest and the ...

opened to shared vehicular and rail traffic.

References

External links

Urban commuter concept: increased range for electric vehicles by using trains

BLS Lötschberg Car Transport

DB Autozug SyltShuttle

Eurotunnel

ÖBB Autoschleuse Tauernbahn

{{in lang, de
TransportGator
Road transport CategorY:Intermodal transport

By country

Austria

Between France and the United Kingdom

Germany

Slovakia

Slovenia

Switzerland

United Kingdom

United States

See also

References

External links