Loading the train ferry to Sicily 

Unless and until a fixed link (bridge or tunnel) is built across to Sicily, Italian railways will have to use passenger train ferries.

@@Fan652w Couldn't passengers switch to another train the way we did when we crossed the English Channel in the old days before Eurostar?

Passengers could indeed travel train-boat-train as used to be the case across the English Channel. But through trains are far more convenient, especially for families and people with luggage, I am sure there would be an outcry in Sicily if these train ferries were withdrawn. Remember Sicily is part of italy, whereas Calais ceased to be ruled by England in about 1550!

You would not want to piss off mafia members.😂😂😂😂

You could do that for literally, years. I was about six when first time experienced the train on a ship on this exact spot :D And it was 20 yeats ago.

These lucky Italians. Italians thrive on pure luck and zero work.😂😂😂😂

These train ferries have been in use for decades. Those ferries are huge!

You can see something like this in Poland (Masuria*). *Masuria (in Polish Mazury, in German Masuren) is a region in north-eastern Poland, between the Vistula and the Baltic, close to the border with Belarus, Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia). It roughly corresponds to the current Voivodeships of Warmian-Masuria and Podlaskie; the main city is Olsztyn. Very famous for the notable presence of lakes of glacial origin (around 2000) and rivers; furthermore with a notable presence of native vegetation which covers approximately 30% of the territory.

It would be awesome if it would. It will be an experience.

The Intercity night 1955, which left yesterday evening from Rome Termini, arrived in Catania even earlier this morning (8:07 instead of 8:20)

I suspect it's not just the only place in Europe this is done with passenger trains - it's the only place in the world.

@@rjs_698 having just looked, wikipedia does have a list of both current and former train ferries- it isn't entirely clear at a cursory glance how many of the current ones are freight only

Pretty sure it’s the only one left in Europe since the train ferry from Rødby to Puttgarden was discontinued. When I caught the latter the short train loaded as a single unit.

@@MercenaryPen I have had a quick look at the Wikipedia list, and it is reasonably clear that this Sicily ferry is the only regular PASSENGER train ferry left in Europe. The others are freight only. I believe Trelleborg-Rostock took Stockholm-Malmo-Berlin trains until relatively recently. However the new services between Stockholm and Berlin go via the Oresund and Storbaelt bridges, with the advantage that they also serve Copenhagen and Hamburg. See European Rail Timetable table 50.

Iginia

@@paolopiccardo7054 Thanks 👍

Unfortunately, ‘faster’ here would be largely irrelevant, knocking an hour off an 8 hour journey makes little difference to the competitive position. But replacing a convenient through service with disjointed train, ferry and train requiring 2 changes with luggage and kids would destroy the attractiveness of the service and lose customers. People want a through service above all else. The most sensible improvement - but not as fun - is of course the planned bridge!

@@seat61 not sure if I agree, sure, you can leave your items at your seat when going up in the ferry, but those dinky stairs aren't the most comfortable, and you have to leave everything behind for the duration of the sailing, so you will have to take those stairs at least twice as well. A comfortable terminal building with escalators and lifts, shops and a waiting room (when you're late and missed the previous sailing) could take off quite a bit of the stress and discomfort. Not if you have to do it in the middle of the night, sure, but I wasn't the only person not very happy we couldn't even leave the train for a moment in VSG because we weren't at a platform, just sitting there for over half an hour. You can still market the entire connection as a through service, too, with the same reserved seats at either end, but I believe it would probably improve not just speed, but also reliability/delays if you let the easiest cargo to transport, i.e. people, transport themselves. On a trip from Rome to Palermo, an hour isn't all that impactful, but there are people who might want to travel from e.g. Naples to Messina, or Lamezia to Catania, and then, it starts to weigh a lot more.

Yes. But I bought an advance purchase fare (travel+single-bed sleeper) for €84, because if I’d used a pass I’d have to pay a sleeper supplement of about €112 on top of the cost of the pass.

This view is not shared by other commentators. I have also heard friends comment on how expert the staff are at getting the trains on and off the ships.

rubbish