Former railway ferry Stavoren-Enkhuizen - Stavoren

The ferry service between Enkhuizen and Stavoren is the oldest in the Netherlands; it has sailed between these two towns since 1886.

The railway ferry between Enkhuizen and Stavoren was commissioned on 13 September 1899 to transport freight wagons directly across the Zuiderzee. This initiative significantly improved the connection between the western part of the Netherlands and Friesland. The ferries, such as the ‘Stavoren’ (1899), ‘Enkhuizen II’ (1902) and ‘Leeuwarden’ (1909), could each carry about ten wagons with a total weight of 150 tonnes. Using a 30-metre-long pontoon car, the wagons were driven over a hinged bridge onto the ferry, allowing the locomotive to remain on shore. The crossing took about an hour and forty minutes.

Railway pontoons played an important role in freight transport between North Holland and Friesland. They made it possible to transfer train wagons without transshipment. The wagons were put on the ferry in their entirety, which made transport more efficient. In 1916, more than 43,000 wagons were transferred, a high point!

With the opening of the Afsluitdijk in 1932 and increasing competition from road traffic, the importance of the rail ferry declined. Improved road links made land transport more attractive and efficient. This led to the closure of the rail ferry on 1 April 1936.

However, the passenger ferry service remained and today functions as a tourist attraction between Enkhuizen and Stavoren.