Train to Naantali, ship to Stockholm

In March 1967, a streamlined Swedish ship called S/S Starke built in the 1930s arrived in the Port of Naantali. The vessel started train ferry traffic of Finnish and Swedish State Railways from Naantali to Stockholm. The starting of the ferry traffic had an important effect on the development of the Port of Naantali. Over the years, the route was also operated by M/S Drottningen and M/S Trelleborg. Train ferry traffic employed at best nearly one hundred people in Naantali.

The profitability calculations made by the Swedes did not turn out to be good enough, however, although Finnish State Railways VR would have liked to continue the transports. Traffic between Naantali and Stockholm ended in December 1976.

Photo: Rautavuori. S/S Starke and  ice-breaker and tugboat M/S Naantali in the port of Naantali in 1967.