page_title: Train ferry
section_title: Norway
hierarchical_section_title: Train ferry / Examples / Norway
caption_attribution_description: steam-ferry Ammonia, Mæl, Norway, Rjukanbanen
context_page_description: A train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as distinguished from "auto ferries" used to transport automobiles. The wharf has a ramp, and a linkspan or "apron", balanced by weights, that connects the railway proper to the ship, allowing for the water level to rise and fall with the tides.
  While railway vehicles can be and are shipped on the decks or in the holds of ordinary ships, purpose-built train ferries can be quickly loaded and unloaded by roll-on/roll-off, especially as several vehicles can be loaded or unloaded at once. A train ferry that is a barge is called a car float or rail barge.
context_section_description: Historically the lake Tinnsjø railway ferry (1909–1991) linked the Tinnoset Line and Rjukan Line, transporting goods to and from Rjukan and the Norsk Hydro heavy water factory, as seen in the film The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas.
  Hirtshals, Denmark–Kristiansand, Norway, 1958–1996, freight only
caption: The Tinnsjø railway ferry, Norway
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