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Train services to ferry terminals

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Mcr Warrior

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Which train services to/from UK ferry terminals still attract (in normal circumstances) a decent amount of passenger traffic, and which, by contrast, are scarcely still worth running?
 
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Mag_seven

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Does Heysham still get a decent amount of passenger traffic. The last time I went to Ardossan Harbour hardly anyone got on the train after the ferry arrived.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Does Heysham still get a decent amount of passenger traffic.
Under 10,000 rail passengers a year according to latest available statistics, but there again, Heysham Port station does, normally, only receive the one service per day.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Can we count Southampton?
Don't see why not. I've previously got the Isle of Wight ferry from Southampton after a rail journey to Southampton Central. Bit of a schlep from the railway station to the ferry terminal, but I wasn't the only person making the transfer.
 

Horizon22

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Can we count Southampton?
Don't see why not. I've previously got the Isle of Wight ferry from Southampton after a rail journey to Southampton Central. Bit of a schlep from the railway station to the ferry terminal, but I wasn't the only person making the transfer.

Quite a stretch from Central up the hill and down the hill again, although last time I was there was a relatively cheap bus (£1 even maybe?). Not the nicest walk either
 

alistairlees

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Surely it's just Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head that provides through rail to ferry foot passenger traffic these days? There are many services (under normal circumstances), many through fares, and it's within easy reach of London and other sizeable origin / destination markets in the south east. Ryde Pier Head had 155,000 interchanges in 2018/19 (latest data on ORR website), plus also 204,000 station entries / exits (most of whom must surely have been either travelling onwards by train on IoW, or arrived by train at Portsmouth Harbour - you can't get a rail fare for the ferry only (it wouldn't be in the ORR's data). So that is perhaps 300,000 a year, or 600 a day (roughly).

Other rail-served locations (such as Lymington Pier) will have far fewer passengers.
 
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Bald Rick

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That depends what you mean by ‘decent amount’

Based on absolutely no evidence but a hunch, I’d say that Portsmouth Harbour sees the greatest number of ferry passengers interchanging, but that the stations with the highest proportion of ferry passengers will be Mallaig and Fishguard Harbour, but both on very low numbers.

(I’m excluding the IoW line for this).
 

cakefiend

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These are all pretty busy, given they're lifeline services.

  • Mallaig for Skye, Eigg, Muck, Canna, and Rùm.
  • Oban for Barra, South Uist, Coll, Tiree, Lismore, Mull, and Colonsay.
  • Gourock for Kilcreggan, and Dunoon.
  • Wemyss Way for Bute.
  • Largs for Cumbrae.
  • Ardrossan Harbour for Arran, and Campbeltown.
  • Aberdeen for Orkney, and Shetland.
 

swt_passenger

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Whenever I’ve been to Lymington Pier almost everyone on the train has carried on to the ferry terminal, although I’ve usually been on a walk back to the Town station. There’s little or no point in going there except for the ferry, unlike say Portsmouth Harbour. As a proportion of total passengers Lymington Pier will surely be very high?
 

Tetchytyke

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Under 10,000 rail passengers a year according to latest available statistics, but there again, Heysham Port station does, normally, only receive the one service per day.

I'd say 99.99% of those passengers will be connecting to/from the Steam Packet, though, as there is literally nothing else within about two miles of the station.
 

si404

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Quite a stretch from Central up the hill and down the hill again
Why on earth would you do that? It's not only flatter, but slightly more direct to stay down the hill.

Other than "Not the nicest walk either" differences - going through the in-town out-of-town retail park is even worse than the back of everything along Portland Terrace.
although last time I was there was a relatively cheap bus (£1 even maybe?).
The shuttle (every 30 minutes - designed to connect with the half-hourly ferry to West Cowes) is free for Red Funnel ticket holders, or those with through train tickets involving the ferry.

Though if not, it's £2 - which is obscene for the distance of just over a mile (but slightly cheaper than the £2.20 flat fare on Bluestar within Southampton).
 

Ianno87

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Are we including the Thames River piers in this?

NR-Boat transfers at Waterloo and London Bridge must be fairly significant.
 

Horizon22

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Why on earth would you do that? It's not only flatter, but slightly more direct to stay down the hill.

Other than "Not the nicest walk either" differences - going through the in-town out-of-town retail park is even worse than the back of everything along Portland Terrace.
The shuttle (every 30 minutes - designed to connect with the half-hourly ferry to West Cowes) is free for Red Funnel ticket holders, or those with through train tickets involving the ferry.

Though if not, it's £2 - which is obscene for the distance of just over a mile (but slightly cheaper than the £2.20 flat fare on Bluestar within Southampton).

Yep just remembered was thinking I had to go via the centre the last time. Couldn't quite be sure if it was free but thanks for the reminder!
 

HamworthyGoods

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Larne Harbour station connects well with the ferries, don’t think there’s much else there as people for the town use the town station.
 

Astro_Orbiter

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Surely it's just Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head that provides through rail to ferry foot passenger traffic these days? There are many services (under normal circumstances), many through fares, and it's within easy reach of London and other sizeable origin / destination markets in the south east. Ryde Pier Head had 155,000 interchanges in 2018/19 (latest data on ORR website), plus also 204,000 station entries / exits (most of whom must surely have been either travelling onwards by train on IoW, or arrived by train at Portsmouth Harbour - you can't get a rail fare for the ferry only (it wouldn't be in the ORR's data). So that is perhaps 300,000 a year, or 600 a day (roughly).

Other rail-served locations (such as Lymington Pier) will have far fewer passengers.
I'm sure you can get rail sail tickets from any GA station to any NS Dutch station including the ferry from Harwich?
 

dan4291

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Wemyss Bay station and ferry terminal are in the same building, and plenty of people get off the train and head straight to the ferry to Rothesay, Isle of Bute.
 

BayPaul

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As the OP didn't specify national rail services, almost all of the steam railway passengers arriving in Kingswear transfer to the ferry to Dartmouth.
 

theironroad

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Don't see why not. I've previously got the Isle of Wight ferry from Southampton after a rail journey to Southampton Central. Bit of a schlep from the railway station to the ferry terminal, but I wasn't the only person making the transfer.

It may have stopped but there used to be a free bus from the station to town quay.

Still think plenty of people do the London to Cowes trip at the weekend , especially in summer.
 

Ianno87

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As the OP didn't specify national rail services, almost all of the steam railway passengers arriving in Kingswear transfer to the ferry to Dartmouth.

Or Lakeside on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway.
 

hermit

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It may have stopped but there used to be a free bus from the station to town quay.

Still think plenty of people do the London to Cowes trip at the weekend , especially in summer.
[/QUOTE]

The bus between the ferry terminal and Southampton Central is not running during the COVID period, but in normal times it is well used. Indeed, in recent times it has been served by a double-decker rather than the original single-decker, which suggests that patronage is growing. Mind you, a lot of passengers use it to go to the West Quay shopping centre rather than the station.

Red Funnel sometimes advertise this route as being the fastest route to London from Newport and many other parts of the island. The trains from Southampton to Waterloo are considerably faster (and often more comfortable than those from Portsmouth Harbour. The downside is that, if there is heavy traffic on the bus route, making a tight connection can be a nail-biting business; and the bus service finishes at about 8pm, so the options thereafter are walking or a taxi.
 

swt_passenger

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When I last used the Southampton bus, maybe last summer, it was still free for through Ferry ticket holders but they’d started charging for intermediate calls, eg shoppers.
 

route101

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Last year quite a few got connected to and from the ferry at Ardrossan Harbour , it was a summer day.
 
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