Dutchflyer

Dutchflyer rail boat

Map of the Dutch Flyer rail & sea route
over the North Sea
Overview
Main (s): London, East Anglia, South Holland, North Holland
Parent company: Abellio Greater Anglia
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Stena Line
Website: stenaline.co.uk

Dutchflyer is the name given in the UK to an integrated passenger service between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Formerly known as Amsterdam Express, Dutchflyer is a rail/sea/rail service operated jointly by Stena Line, the Dutch state railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen and its UK subsidiary Abellio Greater Anglia.[1]

History

The Dutchflyer service is a successor to former boat trains such as the LNER's Hook Continental service, which operated between London and the Netherlands from 1927 to 1987.[2]

Originally, the Dutchflyer brand was only used to market the service to passengers starting in the UK,[3] while in the Netherlands the service was advertised as GoLondon.[4] Nowadays the Dutchflyer brand is not used so prominently and the service is sold through the Dutch Stena Line website.[5]

Booking

The Dutchflyer service lets passengers travel from any UK railway station served by Abellio Greater Anglia to Harwich International (formerly Parkeston Quay), cross the North Sea by Stena Line ferry, and continue, after arrival at Hoek van Holland Haven to any station in the Netherlands served by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (or in the reverse direction). Trains to and from London and Cambridge are timed to meet the ferry.

Train services

An Abellio Greater Anglia train at Harwich station
The "Stena Hollandica" ferry at Hoek van Holland
A Nederlandse Spoorwegen train at Hoek van Holland Haven station

After arriving in Hoek van Holland, passengers disembark right into the railway station, from where there is a frequent rail service to Rotterdam Central Station. At Rotterdam passengers may change trains to go anywhere in the Netherlands. An example is shown in this table for a connection by rail from Hoek van Holland to Rotterdam and then to The Hague or Amsterdam, or stations in between.

Operator Train Type Route Rolling Stock Frequency
Abellio Greater Anglia Local train ManningtreeHarwich International Class 321/Class 360 1 per hour
Abellio Greater Anglia Boat train London Liverpool StreetHarwich International Class 321 4 per day
Abellio Greater Anglia Boat train Cambridge/Norwich/Bury St Edmunds/IpswichHarwich International Class 170 3 per day
Stena Line Ship Harwich International harbour – Hoek van Holland harbour Stena Hollandica
Stena Britannica
2 per day
Nederlandse Spoorwegen Local train Hoek van Holland HavenRotterdam Centraal SGMm 2 per hour
Nederlandse Spoorwegen Intercity Rotterdam CentraalAmsterdam Centraal VIRM 4 per hour
Nederlandse Spoorwegen Intercity Direct Rotterdam Centraal - Amsterdam Centraal Traxx + ICR 4 per hour

See also

Notes

  1. "Stena Line Dutch Flyer". Stena Line website. Archived from the original on 25 April 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  2. Hughes, Geoffrey (1986). LNER. Shepperton: Ian Allan Ltd. p. 152. ISBN 0 711014280.
  3. "Dutchflyer website (now defunct)". Archived from the original on 11 March 2005. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  4. "GoLondon website (now defunct)". Archived from the original on 28 May 2002. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  5. Dutch Stena Line website.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.