Train services to ferry terminals

[Mcr Warrior]

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

Over 130,000 passengers a year use Ardrossan Harbour station apparently according to latest available stats, not much there unless you are travelling to/from the ferry, I suppose. (If you're visiting the town, you'd have probably gotten off at the previous stop(s).)

 

[Wychwood93]

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.

There is also the Gosport ferry from the Harbour station - 2.55 million passengers in the last year, although a drop since Covid. Quite how many go onwards by train I do not know. Also unaware if any through ticketing.

 

[swt_passenger]

There is also the Gosport ferry from the Harbour station - 2.55 million passengers in the last year, although a drop since Covid. Quite how many go onwards by train I do not know. Also unaware if any through ticketing.

Through ticketing does exist, destination “Gosport Ferry” though it’s not been available for that long, but I’d have no idea of sales. I suspect rail passengers are a minority, there’ll be a lot of simple Gosport to Portsmouth travel in the am peak, and vice versa...

 

[jopsuk]

Whilst Harwich does have specific boat trains and tickets, I do wonder how popular it actually is? When I've used it it's seemed like there were maybe double figures per crossing? And that's been night services (which have connections from/to Cambridge), I'd guess the day service is less popular for train+ferry (be they bike or foot)? Figures are obviously muddied as the train services for Harwich International run all day and serve Parkston (and dock workers?)

 

[si404]

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.

It's as I said, as I double-checked what the current situation is (though it isn't running due to covid - presumably the free travel with a ferry ticket option is available via other buses that do similar, eg the U1) - partially because the last time I did it was 12 years ago, and I didn't take the train (though I had a train ticket from Southampton Central to West Cowes to be able to use the railcard discount on the ferry), nor the shuttle bus, as I had a direct bus from right near my house to right by the ferry - though not as close as the shuttle gets.

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).

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.

From what I gleaned, it should be free to/from the intermediate stops with a ferry ticket. There's no requirement for ferry passengers to have onward journeys on a bus or coach (coach through tickets, like rail through tickets, are also accepted) to get free travel and so they can just go to the city centre (not necessarily West Quay).

 

[swt_passenger]

It's as I said, as I double-checked what the current situation is (though it isn't running due to covid - presumably the free travel with a ferry ticket option is available via other buses that do similar, eg the U1) - partially because the last time I did it was 12 years ago, and I didn't take the train (though I had a train ticket from Southampton Central to West Cowes to be able to use the railcard discount on the ferry), nor the shuttle bus, as I had a direct bus from right near my house to right by the ferry - though not as close as the shuttle gets...

My apologies, I hadn’t seen your post, I had only noticed the later one by “hermit”.

They had been through a phase of being free for anyone in the interim. Not sure how long that lasted.

 

[341o2]

Hythe pier

 

[NLC1072]

On the Irish side of things, the Fishguard ferry to Rosslare is useless for connecting with the trains, the ferry company adjusted the times and it now no longer meets the trains on either side of the crossing that it once did... it's an absolutely shocking experience.

 

[Iskra]

The one time I used the Northern Heysham Port Service in the summer, it did a good trade. But based on the stats I’m guessing the flows mainly match the tourist season.

Oban and Holyhead still do a good rail/ferry trade too.

 

[BayPaul]

On the Irish side of things, the Fishguard ferry to Rosslare is useless for connecting with the trains, the ferry company adjusted the times and it now no longer meets the trains on either side of the crossing that it once did... it's an absolutely shocking experience.

I used to work on a ferry into Rosslare, and the old position of the station was a nightmare - any train movements were so slow that debarking traffic backed up from the level crossing right up to the stern door and onboard. It was fantastic when they moved the station, especially as the train was so slow that none of our foot passengers used it anyway.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

I caught the ferry from Gravesend to Tilbury Riverside a few days before it closed in 1992. This was a very easy connection at the Tilbury end, but a bit of a walk in Gravesend. My employer had bought me an onward handwritten ticket, misspelled as "Tilbury River". But I've still never forgiven myself for not buying another short distance ticket to Tilbury Town from the Tilbury Riverside TVM as a souvenir.

When I was a student in Hull in the early 1970s, I remember catching the ferry to New Holland en route to an away match at Gainsborough. But I don't think I did the line from New Holland Pier, much to my regret, nor the Brigg line to Gainsborough Central. I seem to remember having to travel by bus, changing at Scunthorpe. Even then, connections were so bad that I didn't get back to Hull till 11 pm. It would have been far easier to do the whole trip by train via Doncaster or Retford, but I wanted to do the ferry. Sheffield Corporation used to do a late evening bus, no 85, from Gainsborough to Sheffield via Retford station which was very useful for getting back from night games at the Northolme.

 

[theironroad]

On the Irish side of things, the Fishguard ferry to Rosslare is useless for connecting with the trains, the ferry company adjusted the times and it now no longer meets the trains on either side of the crossing that it once did... it's an absolutely shocking experience.

I used it a couple of times a couple of years ago and seem to recall one incoming ferry at rosslare met the train ok but also remember staying overnight twice in rosslare.

 

[unlevel42]

Birkenhead Hamilton Square railway station to Twelve Quays is walkable (also by a courtesy bus) for the Belfast ferries.

 

[Sleepy]

Penzance for Isles of Scilly sees reasonable numbers on the Sleeper - the sleeping car attendant will ask you if your going there when boarding at Paddington.

 

[pompeyfan]

I’m surprised Portsmouth & Southsea hasn’t been mentioned. The Hovercraft drums up a bit of business, as does the continental ferry port. I can’t imagine Poole for the C.I has much foot traffic any more, with regular flights from Southampton to all 3 islands.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I’m surprised Portsmouth & Southsea hasn’t been mentioned.

Do intending ferry passengers use this station rather than, say, Portsmouth Harbour station?

 

[Journeyman]

Ryde Esplanade provides interchange for the hovercraft, and there's a bus shuttle to Portsmouth Harbour station at the other end.

 

[theironroad]

Ryde Esplanade provides interchange for the hovercraft, and there's a bus shuttle to Portsmouth Harbour station at the other end.

The bus from the hovercraft goes to Portsmouth and Southsea station, as pompeyfan said, not to the harbour.

 

[james60059]

On the Irish side of things, the Fishguard ferry to Rosslare is useless for connecting with the trains, the ferry company adjusted the times and it now no longer meets the trains on either side of the crossing that it once did... it's an absolutely shocking experience.

I use to travel that way, the night sailing use to be my favourite as the boat docked at about 01:00, and the then HST departed at 01:35 to Paddington, (I use to get off at Bristol Parkway for a 10 minute change for a service to Birmingham, and then to Coventry, well plenty of trains from BHM. More often than not I would be in Coventry just after 7am.

Sadly nowadays, the night sailing is all but useless for those going further than Swansea (unless you want a few hours wait for the first IET to Paddington), which came about in 2017 when Stena Line altered their sailing times. I remember chatting to the guard on the boat train going for the 13:10 sailing and he said Stena Line really dropped it on ATW as they had already done their timetables for the period.

In fact, it's quite sobering to see more passengers used the station near my work place, which is Bermuda Park, than Fishguard Harbour in the latest 2018-2019 figures (36088 -vs- 13982 respectively).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Going back to my original post on this thread, which train services to/from ferry terminals are perhaps scarcely worth operating.

Noted that Cakefiend previously listed a number of services in Scotland which might well be relatively lightly loaded but would be considered to be lifelines.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

The bus from the hovercraft goes to Portsmouth and Southsea station, as pompeyfan said, not to the harbour.

The bus actually serves both Southsea and Harbour stations. It runs in a circle meaning on the way out you generally catch it at Southsea to the hovercraft on the return when you pick up the bus it drops you off at Harbour first

 

[theironroad]

The bus actually serves both Southsea and Harbour stations. It runs in a circle meaning on the way out you generally catch it at Southsea to the hovercraft on the return when you pick up the bus it drops you off at Harbour first

Thanks for the correction, always thought it was just Southsea but the circular route makes sense.

Ryde Esplanade provides interchange for the hovercraft, and there's a bus shuttle to Portsmouth Harbour station at the other end.

Apologies, you are correct as well!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Folkestone harbour.

Railway station closed for quite some time now?

 

[urpert]

Closed for quite some time now?

Yes, it’s definitely not a current example!

 

[ajs]

Newhaven Harbour has a DFDS service to Dieppe but cannot see this attracting much passenger traffic.

Edited to add comment re suspected lack of passenger traffic.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Newcastle for the Amsterdam ferry

 

[LAX54]

I'm sure you can get rail sail tickets from any GA station to any NS Dutch station including the ferry from Harwich?

RAILSAIL ?
edit... not RAILSAIL, but DUTCHFLYER, £110 return from any GA Station, to any NS Station, or £98 from Harwich.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Newcastle for the Amsterdam ferry

Yes, I sometimes see the 327 outside Central Station. It does seem like quite a long distance for a transfer, but there isn't really a closer option (you definitely wouldn't want ferry passengers having to navigate the Metro with all their luggage).

 

[Mikey C]

The Harwich boat train service survives as it's just a stop on the regular train to Harwich Town, but I miss the dedicated InterCity services! I last used it in 2012, from memory there were a reasonable number of people getting off the train at Harwich International

A long lost ferry connection was Sheerness to Vlissingen, also in Holland, Sheerness station providing a convenient connection

 

[pompeyfan]

The bus actually serves both Southsea and Harbour stations. It runs in a circle meaning on the way out you generally catch it at Southsea to the hovercraft on the return when you pick up the bus it drops you off at Harbour first

through journeys on journey planners and advance tickets are usually routed via Portsmouth and Southsea on both legs.