Why we put our cars on trains 

Autozug is the term for carts carrying new vehicles, the correct term here is Autoreisezug. For trucks, try Rollende Landstrasse. And my google knows all of them.

Tyler Mac all aboard

Interestingly “ferry” as a verb only means “to transport things in a vehicle across a landscape” and it only implies a ship when used as a noun. Considering there isn’t a word for a train carrying cars maybe this should just be called a ferry.

Google *does* know of "car transporter (train)", at least for the Eurotunnel. Maybe the Swiss ones aren't coded correctly?

The road signs near the Autozug also have the usual ferry icon, presumably because there's no Autozug icon. Imagine my surprise when I blindly followed Google Maps up and up towards a supposed ferry, only to find a train!

@@tylermcintyre1454 Engineer? Isn't it kind of overstating their job? Engineers design stuff, have an engineer diploma, etc. Why calling a train driver an engineer? Or is it like sound engineer? Not real engineers but somehow it is a commonly used term?

@@fabr5747 engineer is derived from the word engine, is derived from Latin and had an original meaning of machine or mangle

@@fabr5747 It's an American strangeness. Train drivers are called "Engineers" in America. Most people don't seem to understand what engineers do. For example, they think that scientists design space vehicles and architects design advanced buildings and bridges. Nope. Engineers do that. The scientists and the architects might provide the concepts, but the engineers design the vehicles and the structures to make sure that they are viable and they don't explode or fall down. Of course, the accountants then come in and let the contracts to manufacturers for the least possible cost, compromising safety for the sake of a cent and people get killed.

@@roadie3124 with the meaning of "engineer" having evolved so much, why not renaming them to "train driver / pilot / operator"? Less prestigious? But absurd.

That's the first thing I thought of. Is the creator unaware of this, despite being quote close to it? 🙂

In the 1970's we used to have a car shuttle train going from the Netherlands to Italy. Drive your car on, go to your seat in the train coaches. Enjoy food, drink and travel to your holiday destination in comfort. Some were even sleeper night trains.

Tyler Mac we are ready too see the world

And before that, motorail

Buses, too.

Der Lokführer hier spricht Walliserdeutsch. Da brauche selbst ich als Nordwestschweizer manchmal Untertitel xD

Then maybe your English isn’t good enough. I have no issues understanding this chap. English with a charming Swiss accent.

​@@marcd6897 I think hes refering to the locomotive engineer

As a non speaker it almost sounds dutch to me

@@konsultarvode6527 To me as a native Dutch speaker it sounds Nordic. I couldn't understand it well without subtitles.

America still has it but it's so few that I don't even think most people know about it. In fact, I didn't know anything about it until I watched something from Peter Dibble its called AutoTrain, has a little bit different from us and that you still ride the train. I wish people would talk about the British busway guide system. I'm not sure why people don't. I think it's pretty cool. I like that it's kind of a good in between a light rail and bus. It predates these autonomous bus lane, which use regular roads. But because it would be on the track, it would be much better suited for autonomous busways. Part of it's just very expensive to do something like that, on the operators part. * Car ferry trains But I know a lot of people who love driving their cars. They don't want to not be able to drive then. I feel like it gives some people who want to have their car on their travel, a feeling of control. Ah, but the United States is also lacked behind on its passenger rail. My frustration.

Tyler Mac hello everyone

Tyler Mac and the company

Tyler Mac hurry up

I feel like the Auto Train is qualitatively different. This is about using a train tunnel to bypass a single geographic barrier. Hence the comparison to a ferry makes sense. The Auto Train is more about long distance travel. You could always drive that distance, but it takes hours and drivers do have to stop and rest sometimes. But it's also a product of US car dependency...after all why should you feel the need to take your car along at all? You can certainly make similarly distant trips by train in Europe but most people would just leave their cars at home then.

@@kevadu The reason we (Americans) need cars at the end points is that most places we want to travel to are not serviced by public transportation. It really makes sense, though, to have auto-trains in the US because of the great distances between major hubs. I personally would love to take my camper trailer out west to do some camping! Remember, in Europe, 100 years is a very short time, but in the US, 100 miles is a very short distance!

The natural barrier crossed by the Auto Train is distance, not a mountain range. I believe comparing the two operations could be interesting precisely because they are different, while both accomplishing the same broad purpose - move people and cars on a railway.

I was thinking about the Autotrain too. It is a more complex system as it utilizes the double decker train cars, which need ramps and a whole team of drivers to put the cars in individual cars that are then linked together - passengers can't load their own cars themselves. It is a much longer process than the train in this video where people drive their cars right onboard.

Nah, we must stay discreet 🤫

Austria has it too, you can use the Autobahn A10 from Salzburg to Kärnten - but you can also use the Autozug from Bad Gastein to Kärnten through the high alps.

Oberalp is not running anymore!

​@@felixtheswissWould you like to edit Wikipedia (page Car Shuttle Train) or provide a source?

@@TimothyEBaldwin Where on Wikipedia is that? If you put Autoverlad Oberalp into google, the first result is a page where the MGB explains the cancelation

​@@TimothyEBaldwini confirm, i work in Andermatt! It doesnt exist anymore! MGB Is rushing to modernise withouth much common sense!

Si c’est juste c’était en septembre, il y a bien longtemps….je faisais régulièrement la liaison Valais Tessin…et c’est la première fois et la seule où j’ai dû dormir dans le haut Valais 😢 le matin je suis repartie avec ma petite justy avec les pneus neige que je ne changeais jamais…et j’ai dépassé toutes les BMW et Mercedes sur le bord de la route😅😅😅

Thanks! Could you elaborate?

@@sandro-here no problems. I know you as ‘the ski lift creator’. I view most of my videos in the subscriber tab, so I don’t look for your name (which is your channel name) but I always want to bookmark your content as I throughly enjoy it. When this video popped up in my subscriptions I thought ‘what’s this’ not yes I want to watch it because it’s from you. Maybe a name for the series or something in the thumbnail (logo) that you repeat and is recognisable, similar to what plainly difficult and other channels do. Thank you again for the videos, I appreciate it and my kids love your detail in the ‘how to works’.

@kalsan15 That happened to me too. I'm glad I clicked on the video eventually when YT kept recommending it to me. Then I checked the channel and saw that it's the one with great behind the scenes videos that I really enjoy :D So maybe, putting something on the thumbnails would be good. Thanks for the awesome videos. It's always really interesting!

@@nedt Thanks for the explanation! That's a good idea. I'll think of a way to make the thumbnails stand out in all configurations, perhaps even retro-fitting them.

@@Rednesswahn Thanks! This is valuable input. I'll see how this can be addressed.

Thanks! Bookmarked it and will watch soon.

Thank you very much, much appreciated! It is quite a struggle to be honest - some of these words only exist in Switzerland and I have to come up with my own English translation.

​@@sandro-here i guess the best way to do it is to first translate it into standard german and then into english

Thanks a lot for the corrections! :-)

Yeah. And its shit. Like every train service in the US. Because you still mostly use tracks from the 1940s and earlier. Nobody is investing any money to repair and maintain your rails. Which results in trains being no alternative to car or plane. Thank your shitty government since the 50s for that. Building giant highways and neglecting mass transit.

There are Auto Trains in many countries around the world, most of these are not aimed at closing a gap in the road network, but more as an alternative and convenient way to road travel for those wanting to have their own car with them on holiday but not having to drive the whole distance themselves. You can't really call these ferries, they don't cross a gap in the road. And that's what makes the Swiss Auto Zug and Channel tunnel so special, they close gaps in the road network trough mountains and under seas, and they do transport passengers IN their cars and not WITH their cars, the seats in the control car are only for the bikers which place their motorbikes and cycles in the luggage space of the same car. This solution is chosen as the electric train doesn't cause pollution in the tunnel and so less or no ventilation shafts are needed, and because it saves building another long tunnel

@@Tom-Lahaye Also the Autozug to Sylt, well it's not a tunnel but you can't just drive to Sylt

@@DoDo-dq7yf Yes, I forgot that one, and I have even filmed these trains 20 years ago.

Didnt there also used to be some kind of rail ferry service thru a mountain in Alaska before they improved the highway ?

the tesla driver clearly couldnt drive properly. there was lots of space on the other side

Eurostar only carries passengers. LeShuttle is the service that carries vehicles under the sea in the eurotunnel

SNCF used to operate many such long distance services, paired with sleeping cars, until 15-20 years ago. It was called "service auto-train". Given the large size of the country it was a very useful service for those who wanted or needed to cross the country with their car, instead of driving for 10 hours or more (even with the very extensive French motorway system). You'd have services like Lyon to Rennes, Nice to Paris, Lille to Marseille, Metz to Bordeaux, all trips that'd take a full day if you where to drive. I'm not sure the suppression of this service has any effect on alleviating problems at the destination, as many people will simply drive the car all the way there when they think the train is inconvenient (say, a family with young children who goes camping needs the carrying capacity of the car and the convenience of avoiding the terrible TGV connections in Paris, which are very stressful and physically exhausting). I think this may be the kind of service that's so convenient it can turn people into train users, and eventually consider switching to public transport when it's more convenient.

It isn't actually sensible. The sensible approach is to build a road tunnel. Just that the swiss have an "anti-car" culture.

@@jimmydesouza4375 You're joking right? The Railway is far more efficient in moving loads long distances than roads are where the vehicles ie cars and goods, all need their separate engines and drivers and are not controlled so are more likely to have accidents. Where the road comes into it's own is at either end of the journey to millions of different destinations so it makes sense to put them on a train for the bulk of the journey. I don't think Swiss have ever been anti car but they have a mountainous country and roads can be dangerous.

@@rodneycooperLMSCoach The railway is not more efficient. Railway is only more efficient with specific types of load (extreme weight or extreme volume), neither of which a car ferry counts as (think instead hopper cars full of coal and things of that nature). Also switzerland is fairly famous for its people hating cars (or it would be more correct to say being propagandised into thinking public transport is superior). That is why they shut down the road infrastructure programs that would have solved this problem in the first place, for example.

@@jimmydesouza4375 Maybe I didn't express myself so well. Imagine a motorway with 100 lorries all with medium or light loads but all going in the same direction for the bulk of their journeys and all with separate engines and drivers. All of that on one train that is why they are more efficient. If run correctly public transport is less polluting and more cost effective than private. If they are not run properly then private transport wins hands down.

@@rodneycooperLMSCoach 100 lorries would take about 15 minutes to cover the ground this ferry takes 45 minutes to cover if they had an equivalent tunnel. "If run correctly public transport is less polluting and more cost effective than private." No it is not. Which is the reason why all public transport is subsidised to ridiculous amounts. Public transport is always less efficient and less effective because of inherent limitations within the system. For example the density of people per square foot you need to make passenger rail affordable would be fatal to everyone involved, so instead you have to raise prices, but then that would make it more expensive than private vehicles so no one would use it anyway so then you're forced to legislate out private vehicle ownership (the phase we're in right now). You're a railfan, so you're emotionally tied to the idea of railway working for public transport (and further from that public transport working in general). It simply doesn't. You're from the UK, you should know this. Peak subsidies of 35 pence per passenger per mile in the 80's and it still was a lossmaker.