13.11.2025
The Italian government’s decision to build a €13,5 billion bridge between the mainland and Sicily could soon bring an end to the era of Europe’s last train ferry – the one that takes passenger trains on a twenty-minute sea crossing across the Strait of Messina. The news has prompted Estonians on social media to reminisce about their journeys on this rare ferry and to discuss whether, with the new wave of rail travel, a similar connection could return to Finnish waters and towards Estonia. “There has been talk of a train ferry connection in Finland recently, both in the short and long term,” confirms Petteri Portaankorva, CEO of East Railway Ltd. “At the moment, maritime transport is extremely important for Finland, as over 95% of the country’s foreign trade is carried out by sea.”
Finland had train ferries operating for the last decade, but until the eventual revival of this mode of transport on the Baltic Sea with the completion of Rail Baltica, Europe’s last train ferry will run from Villa San Giovanni in southern Italy across the Strait of Messina to the Sicilian city of Messina, for more than a century. The idea of replacing this connection with a bridge is not new – Italian politicians have been talking about building a bridge between Sicily and the mainland since the late 19th century, and various governments, including Silvio Berlusconi’s, have repeatedly launched and then stopped the project. However, the current government has allocated 13,5 billion euros and confirmed that this time it plans to complete the bridge, which would mean the end of train ferry traffic.
"Like in an old adventure book" — unforgettable moments of Estonians at sea
However, the ferry is so popular that some railway fans have traveled to Italy just to travel on it. Many Estonians have also come on the train ferry adventure with their entire family or loved ones.
Inga Bel-Lilium took the trip a few years ago with her family: her husband and three children.
“I have a lot of anxiety about flying, so I want to find as many alternatives as possible for getting around,” she admits. So she and her husband and three children – Mia, 13, Mila, 7, and Mikael, 6 – decided to take the train from Rome to Messina, Sicily, on an October trip.
“An eight-hour journey, alternating between picturesque views and pleasant peace,” she recalled. The surprise came when the Intercity train maneuvered itself onto the ferry and passengers were allowed to disembark from the carriages for the sea voyage. “When the train pulled onto the ferry, it felt like we had entered an old adventure book: the sea all around, the train in the “belly” of the ship, and the sky shimmering in a way typical of Sicily.” For children, for whom traveling usually tends to become a test of suffering, this journey was exceptionally exciting. “The train was surprisingly comfortable, the children bravely endured, and even the little ones didn’t get bored,” confirms Inga-Bel. The trip confirmed the family’s principle that the journey should be as exhilarating as the destination. “This trip confirmed our belief that if you’re going to go, then go for it!” says Inga-Bel, who hadn’t been able to travel by train much until now, but definitely plans to do so more in the future.
Siim Sut also had only good memories to share from a trip in May: "The main memory is the beautiful views and the delicious arancini, which was probably bought on the ferry."
The Black Mediterranean Sea cannot be seen at night.
Marko Matvei, who took the night train from Catania in Sicily to Naples with his girlfriend a few years ago, was convinced that it was a brilliant “two in one” solution: accommodation and transport in one. The reality turned out to be much more surreal. “The beginning was really quite fun – we drank white Italian wine in our compartment, played Chinese turaca and laughed and listened to good music,” he recalls. The train conductor, who “wanted to come into the room with some kind of link-like object in his hand”, was sent away due to the language barrier. It later turned out that the man was just trying to lower the beds for them. When Marko finally ate the last salted nuts under the window with red eyes at around 4 am and looked at the top of Vesuvius, he was struck by a realization: you could definitely forget about sleeping on a night train.
For Ann-Marii Nergi, who also traveled solo, the night train from the mainland to Sicily was her first and probably last experience. “The bed was rock hard, I couldn’t sleep,” she recalls. And since the train ride to the ferry and the sea voyage took place on a pitch-black night, when the black sky and the black waves of the Mediterranean merged into one, the most comforting component – the views – was also missing.
Train ferries were also seen closer to home
The debate surrounding the Messina train ferry also prompted Estonians to share memories from other European rail ferry lines. Liili Laan recalled a trip to Scandinavia in the 1990s in the Reisihullude Facebook group: “I once took a ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingör, which also carried trains across.” Veiko Põldsam often took the same trip, which he remembered as very special: “I was often right next to the train on the car and train deck with my truck.”
Train services on the line ended when the Öresund Bridge was completed. After that, the Puttgarden–Rødby line was still available in Northern Europe until the end of the last decade, but it was also closed and the ferry line is being replaced by a tunnel.
The Golden Age and Lost Sea Routes
Train ferries once played a crucial role in unifying Europe. The first regular train ferries appeared in the late 19th century, but the concept really took off in the early and mid-20th century, reaching its peak after World War II, when industrial growth required the rapid and uninterrupted movement of wagons between countries. On the Baltic Sea, some of the most important lines of the 20th century included the Sassnitz–Trelleborg connection between Germany and Sweden, the Turku–Stockholm (SeaRail) service connecting Finland and Sweden, and later the Mukran–Klaipėda line between East Germany and Soviet-occupied Lithuania, which was established between the East German and Soviet railway systems despite their different gauges and was actively operating from 1986 to 1990.
By the early 21st century, most of these services had disappeared, losing ground to faster road transport, new bridges and tunnel connections, such as the Channel Tunnel or Eurotunnel between Britain and France. Rising costs and declining passenger numbers eventually pushed the train ferries to the sidelines, making them more of a sideshow in the history of maritime transport.
Could train ferries return... and specifically between Finland and Estonia?
In Finland, the train ferry connection between Sweden and Turku remained on the Stockholm–Turku route until 2011, when VR and the Swedish company Green Cargo decided to terminate the service because transport volumes had decreased and the service was no longer economically viable; the continuation of the operation was also made difficult by the different railway systems in Finland and Sweden and the increase in costs, which made maintaining the service inefficient. The use of the Finnish track gauge in rail ferry connections has not been considered practical, explains Petteri Portaankorva, whose company is responsible for planning and developing Finland's new eastward high-speed railway (Itärata) and creating the conditions for international rail connections, including Rail Baltica and continental Europe.
“In the long term, the introduction of the European standard gauge in Finland would increase the possibilities for direct rail transport to continental Europe along Rail Baltica, using rail ferry connections,” says Portaankorva.
The northern neighbors have discussed the transition to European standard gauge railways, similar to the Baltic countries, but currently, Finland has not yet made a national decision on the introduction of European gauge. However, the train ferry idea could perhaps have some substance again — If Rail Baltica opens to train traffic in 2030, it would be possible to travel from Warsaw not only to Tallinn and the port of Muuga, but also to continue from the port all the way to Lapland.
Although maritime transport is very important for Finland, Portaankorva says that this is not the only direction to work on: “However, it is important to improve the resilience of international transport connections, including permanent land connections.” He adds that in the even longer term, Finland has also discussed the development of permanent international connections, such as a tunnel between Helsinki and the Muuga cargo port.
The article was first published on November 12, 2025 as a content marketing story in Õhtuleht.
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