Car train

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lines of motorail trains in Germany and Austria from December 2018
110 348 with Autozug in the anniversary parade 150 years of German railways in Nuremberg
A car train from Munich to Dortmund in Ingolstadt

A car train , abbreviated to ARZ or AZ , is a type of long-distance passenger rail transport . These are special passenger trains that are offered by certain railway companies on longer journeys . In addition to people who carry in special car coaches and the passenger cars or motorcycles of accompanying passengers .

Areas of application

A car train is not to be confused with a car loading , in which the driver usually remains seated in the car and is only transported over relatively short distances in the shuttle traffic. Depending on the operator and route, there are special features of the areas of application; for example short distances for tunnel transport. Motorail trains, on the other hand, are used to transport rail travelers and their vehicles over longer distances, on some routes for more than 24 hours at a time.

Transport options in motorail trains are available for various types of vehicles (motorbike to mobile home). As a rule, the trains have couchette , sleeping and dining cars in addition to the normal passenger coaches . Motorail trains usually connect the metropolises with popular holiday regions overnight, so that you arrive at your destination relaxed the next morning. Occasionally day connections between metropolitan areas were also offered. A high travel speed is achieved with just a few intermediate stops. There are also regular passenger trains that carry car transport vehicles in a certain section.

Motorail trains to and from Germany

Motorail trains 2018/2019

With the exception of one connection, all motorail trains that run in Germany are night trains with sleeping and couchette cars, in which the vehicle owners and their fellow travelers can stay overnight.

In 2018/19 there will be motorail trains from three providers. The Euro-Express car trains still active in 2017 were discontinued in 2018, so that the number of providers was reduced from four to three. The transport tariffs can be found on the Internet (see the web links). The pricing varies greatly, depending on booking days and special offers. The fare for one person is usually included in the price.

ÖBB Nightjet

The ÖBB , with their night trains ( Nightjet ) daily rides cross-border from Germany to Austria in the following ratios to:

BTE AutoTravelTrain

The Nürnberger BahnTouristikExpress GmbH is continuing the traditional Hamburg – Lörrach car train as BTE AutoReiseZug . The same train temporarily had additional reservation contingents (without vehicle transport) with Flixtrain as a pure night train with additional stops.

  • Hamburg-Altona-Lörrach (winter (October, December, January) & entire summer half-year with up to 5 times a week)

Train4you Holiday Express

Seasonal and bi-seasonal trains from Hamburg-Altona and from Düsseldorf are offered by the Cologne-based Train4you under the name Holiday Express :

  • Hamburg-Altona– Lörrach (all year round, in cooperation with the BTE AutoReiseZug)
  • Hamburg-Altona– Villach (seasonal in summer)
  • Hamburg-Altona– Verona (seasonal in summer)
  • Hamburg-Altona– Munich East (summer & winter and up to 4 times a week)
  • Düsseldorf – Verona (seasonal in summer)
  • Düsseldorf – Villach (seasonal in summer)
  • Düsseldorf – Munich East (summer & winter and up to 4 times a week)

A connection from Düsseldorf was introduced in 2018 and significantly expanded to include connections to three destinations in 2019. In contrast, a connection from Hamburg-Altona to Innsbruck that still existed in 2018 was no longer continued in 2019. The Düsseldorf – Munich East connection is only run in summer and is the only car train in Germany that runs during the day and not as a night train.

History of German motorail trains

Deutsche Reichsbahn 1930–1945

In Germany, motorail trains were introduced by the Deutsche Reichsbahn on April 1, 1930 as car-luggage transport . The car was abandoned and transported to the destination station in a separate train on conventional flat or stake wagons. In the 1940s, plans were developed for double-decker, closed car transport vehicles, which were no longer implemented due to the circumstances of the advanced World War II . The idea itself was much older, however. Even at the beginning of the railway age there were ideas to load carriages directly onto railway wagons in order to save changing trains at the train station; an idea that did not take hold.

German State Railways 1949–1990

DDm 915 car transporter

In 1956, the then Deutsche Bundesbahn took up the concept of the motorail train and built special, double-decker, closed autotransport wagons of the type DPw4ümg-56. These were equipped with an eccentric turntable and, in principle, could be loaded with eight cars at each loading ramp. On June 25, 1956, the first ARZ connection “Car in the Passenger Train” between Hamburg and Chiasso was offered and served four times a week. In 1956, 930 cars were transported. From 1961, open double-decker car loading wagons of the type Offehss 68 (later Laeqrss 545, three-axle double wagons) and from 1969 four-axle type DDm 915 were built, which are loaded via front ramps. There are bridges between the cars. By 1973 the number of car train connections had increased to 163 connections. In the year of the first oil crisis (1973), 185,500 vehicles were transported, a maximum.

Historic transport tariff from 1963, route Düsseldorf – Villach, one way: VW Beetle 158 DM, Opel Kapitän 181 DM.

In 1988 the DB Autozug offer comprised a total of 2,929 auto trains and 484 D-trains with car transport. This opened up 93 connections, 26 of them within Germany (including Berlin) and 61 internationally. To this end, 19 loading points were operated in the area of ​​the DB and one station in Berlin. 18 target stations were served abroad. In 1987 around 397,000 travelers with around 145,000 cars and motorcycles took advantage of the offer. This just covered the marginal costs . Like other long-distance trains, car trains also had names, for example AZ 1306/07 “Black Forest”, AZ 1316/17 “ Timm Kröger ”, AZ 1358/59 “Brandenburger Tor” or AZ 1384/85 “Autotraum”. The Deutsche Reichsbahn also had motorail trains on offer. The international connection Dresden-Neustadt - Budapest Keleti pu was known .

Deutsche Bahn 1990–2016

In the 1990s, connections to Greece and Turkey were still offered, for example in 1994 the AE 13193 from Cologne-Deutz (deep) to Istanbul (travel time 21h 50min), the AE 13273 from Berlin-Wannsee to Istanbul (travel time 27h 48min) and AE 13291 "Optima-Express Chalkidiki" from Munich East to Thessaloniki (journey time 29h 30min).

Logo of DB Autozug in 2011

From 1996 to 2013, Deutsche Bahn operated the trains under the name Autozug and, in addition to couchette cars, used the double-decker sleeping cars of the types 171.X and 172.X as well as sleeping cars of the type 173.1. Almost all international DB Autozug connections have a dining car. In 2007 and 2008, the railways in Germany greatly thinned out their range of connections. In 2009 further connections were given up again. In September 2013, DBAutoZug GmbH, Dortmund, was merged with DB Fernverkehr AG, Frankfurt am Main. From the 2014 summer timetable, only the Hamburg – Hildesheim – Munich and Hamburg – Hildesheim – Lörrach routes were operated within Germany. Apart from these two connections, car train trips with Deutsche Bahn were only possible to international destinations until they were completely discontinued.

Historical tariff examples for the use of motorail trains: Tariff example 2008 Düsseldorf – Villach (approx. 930 km), one-way route: standard car from 9 euros (Appendix: special price offer “Quick-book vehicle transport for 9.00 euros”) to 264 euros

In July 2014, Deutsche Bahn announced that it would discontinue the car train service by 2017. The offer was ultimately unprofitable; For every euro in sales in 2013, there were around 1.40 euros in costs for car travel. The capacity utilization of the trains has been just over 60 percent in the high season in recent years and around 30 percent in the remaining months. On October 29, 2016, Deutsche Bahn moved a motorail train for the last time. On October 29, 2016, Deutsche Bahn ended its involvement in the field of motorail trains after decades of operation.

Provider since 2017

Nevertheless, there were car trains from, to and from Germany operated by four providers in Germany in 2017, but these were already reduced to three in 2018, which will also run in 2019.

  • The ÖBB offered with their night trains ( Nightjet ) several times a week trips from Hamburg-Altona and Dusseldorf each to Vienna and Innsbruck on. The same applied in the opposite direction. All trips were cross-border between Germany and Austria. This offer was changed at the end of 2017. Now only trips from Hamburg-Altona to Vienna and from Düsseldorf to Innsbruck are offered, but daily; also in the opposite direction.
  • The Nürnberger BahnTouristikExpress GmbH continued the tradition-steeped motorail train Hamburg-Altona-Lörrach on its own. This connection was the only year-round car train connection between two German destinations. For the first trip on December 16, 2016 from Hamburg-Altona to Lörrach, the so-called “BTE AutoReiseZug” transported around 40 vehicles with 80 people.
  • In 2017 there were also seasonal motorail trains from Euro-Express Sonderzüge GmbH & Co. KG, which ran between Düsseldorf Hbf and Verona and between Düsseldorf Hbf and Livorno (from July 2017) in the summer months . These trains ran in close cooperation with the Dutch company Treinreiswinkel (German: Bahnreiseladen), the trains from Düsseldorf represented a full replacement for the Dutch motorail trains that were discontinued in 2015. These motorail trains were discontinued at the end of 2017.
  • Seasonal and bi-seasonal trains from Hamburg-Altona were offered in 2017 under the name Urlaubs-Express from Cologne's Train4you to Lörrach, Munich East, Villach and Verona. In 2018, there were also holiday express trains from Düsseldorf to Munich East, Villach and Verona. The offer from Hamburg-Altona to Lörrach was merged for 2018 with the motorail train operated by Bahnouristikexpress GmbH. In 2018 there was also the motorail train from Hamburg-Altona-Innsbruck, which was discontinued at the end of 2018.

Motorail trains to and from Austria

There are three car transport companies active in Austria: ÖBB from Vienna with the ÖBB Nightjet (NJ) and the German company train4you from Cologne with the Urlaubs-Express (UEX) and Optima Tours GmbH from Munich with the Optima Express .

ÖBB Nightjet

Within Austria, ÖBB offers three daily car transport connections to and from Feldkirch , all of which run in combination with the company's ÖBB Nightjets (EuroNight trains):

  • Graz –Feldkirch (daily)
  • Villach – Feldkirch (daily)
  • Vienna – Feldkirch (daily)

The ÖBB offers are completed by international car transport between Austria and Germany and between Austria and Italy:

  • Vienna – Hamburg-Altona (daily)
  • Innsbruck – Düsseldorf (daily)
  • Vienna– Livorno (seasonal, summer months)

The car portals from Vienna – Verona (seasonal, summer months), which were still offered in 2018, have been discontinued for 2019.

Train4you Holiday Express

The train4you holiday express also runs between Germany and Austria:

  • Villach-Hamburg-Altona (seasonal, summer)
  • Villach – Düsseldorf (seasonal, summer)

The Innsbruck – Hamburg-Altona (seasonal, summer) route was discontinued at the end of 2018, while the Villach – Düsseldorf (seasonal, summer) route was offered for the first time in 2019.

Optima Express

The Optima Express of the Munich company Optima Tours runs in the tradition of the "Optima-Express" operated by the German Federal Railroad from the 1980s and 1990s. The trains run between Austria and Turkey :

  • Villach– Edirne , Turkey (seasonal, from April to November)

Motorail trains in the rest of Europe

The number of motorail trains in Europe has decreased in recent years for various reasons:

  • The privatization of railway companies is accompanied by a concentration on “core business”, which usually does not include motorail trains.
  • Motorail trains often only have a seasonal demand, which makes it difficult to use rolling stock economically .
  • The motorail train business is closely linked to the night trains, which have been discontinued by the railroad companies in the hope that travelers will use the new fast daytime services instead.

Offers in Europe 2019

The densest network of motorail trains is also in Europe in 2019 . In addition to the motorail trains to and from Austria and / or Germany, there are also:

  • Italy (see Germany and Austria for connections to and from Italy)
  • Croatia : car trains for up to 155 cm tall vehicles operate within Croatia as a hostel on Wheels and from
  • Montenegro All motorail trains in Montenegro are international, from Montenegro to Serbia and vice versa. The trains run daily, in summer also twice per day and direction
  • Serbia : All motorail trains in Serbia are international, from Serbia to Montenegro and Greece and vice versa
  • Czech Republic / Slovakia : All motorail trains in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are international, from the Czech Republic to Slovakia and vice versa. The Autovlak run to and from:
  • Turkey (see Austria for connections to and from Turkey)

Former offers in Europe

  • Belgium: auto-train operation stopped in 2003
  • France: The Paris-Nice car train has stopped running since December 15, 2019, the French state railway SNCF has discontinued the connection.
  • Greece: agency operation
  • Great Britain: Motorail (operated from 1955 to 2005)
  • Italy: Viaggiare con auto al seguito (also: Traveling with car on board ) until 2011
  • Netherlands: Motorail / Autotrein currently discontinued
  • Switzerland: Motorail train (SBB offers discontinued)

Worldwide motorail trains

The following well-known offers are available in 2019 on other continents than Europe:

Terminals

Entrance to the DB Autozug terminal in Berlin-Wannsee station
Loading platform for motorail trains, Neu-Isenburg

The stations at which loading facilities for the motorail trains are available are called terminal stations or terminals .

Germany and Austria

DB Station & Service operates national terminals in the following train stations: Düsseldorf , Hamburg-Altona , Munich East and Lörrach . Terminals currently closed are Berlin-Wannsee , Hildesheim and Kornwestheim .

The ÖBB operate terminals in Feldkirch , Graz Hbf , Innsbruck Hbf , Villach Hbf and Vienna Hbf . A terminal that has now been closed and is no longer in operation is located in the Schwarzach-St. Vitus .

Rest of Europe

Other terminals (selection) that are operated in Europe:

Web links

Commons : Transport of vehicles by rail  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Motorail train  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tunnel transport in Switzerland
  2. ↑ Eurotunnel to Great Britain
  3. ↑ http://www.bahntouristikexpress.de/
  4. ↑ http://www.urlaubs-express.de/
  5. ^ A b c Thomas Siefer: The car on the train - Thoughts on the car train (ARZ) . In: R. Kracke (Ed.): Railway on New Paths - Research and Innovation for Rail Transport of the Future ( Scientific Work , No. 30), Institute for Transport, Railway Construction and Operation of the University of Hanover, Hanover, 1987.
  6. ↑ Ralf Roth: Between competition and dependency: A long and complicated relationship between road and rail with many failed innovations . In: Christoph Siepermann, Michael Eley (Ed.): Logistics - yesterday, today, tomorrow . Festschrift for Richard Vahrenkamp on the completion of the 65th year of life. Berlin 2011, 15-42, 34f.
  7. ↑ Horst J. Obermayer / J. Deppmeyer: Paperback German passenger coaches (Deutsche Bundesbahn). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-440-04589-7 , page 190
  8. ^ Horst J. Obermayer: Paperback German freight cars. Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-440-04855-1 , page 126
  9. ↑ Horst J. Obermayer / J. Deppmeyer: Paperback German passenger coaches (Deutsche Bundesbahn). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-440-04589-7 , page 193
  10. ^ Anke-Petra Becker: The holiday traffic in long-distance passenger rail traffic . In: Die Bundesbahn , 9/1988, pp. 797-800.
  11. ↑ http://www.dbautozug.de/autozug/service_und_faqs/buchungsoeffnung_sommer.html
  12. ↑ Conditions of carriage for the use of trains from the DB Autozug product (PDF file; 220 kB)
  13. ↑ Deutsche Bahn stops car trains. Handelsblatt, July 4, 2014, accessed on July 5, 2014 .
  14. ↑ a b Martin U. Müller : Train to nowhere. In: Der Spiegel . November 25, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Farewell trip with the DB Autozug . Süddeutsche.de . October 29, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  16. ↑ http://www.bahntouristikexpress.de/
  17. ↑ http://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/altona/article207741965/Bahn-stell-Autozug-Verbigung-deutlich-frueher-ein.html
  18. ↑ Südkurier / dpa: First private motorail train travels from Hamburg to Lörrach ( memento of the original from December 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 16, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.suedkurier.de
  19. ↑ http://www.urlaubs-express.de/
  20. ↑ https://www.bahnreiseladen.de/autozug/frankreich/paris-nizza
  21. ↑ Hamburg-Munich route seasonally via train4you Vertriebs GmbH. Retrieved January 24, 2017 .
  22. ↑ https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/berlin---muenchen-der-letzt-autoreisezug-faehrt-ab-3270690