Cruise firms dismiss Southampton-London boat train plans

Major cruise ship operators have indicated that they have no plans to operate dedicated boat train charters from Southampton to London while the ship is docked, despite Network Rail specifically mentioning the use of boat trains as an area of interest in its Control Period 6 (CP6, 2019-24) document.

“Network Rail is keen to work with stakeholders to identify new opportunities for development of the charter market to aid local economies. One opportunity is to engage with Local Enterprise Partnerships to promote opportunities for new charter services,” the document said.

“An example of this is the potential to operate day trip services from Southampton to London, providing excursions for visiting cruise ships docking at Southampton, offering passengers the opportunity to visit London for the day while the ship is docked.”

RAIL contacted five of the leading cruise operators that use the port, but none confirmed any interest in running such a service to the capital.

“Cunard do not have any current plans to charter trains from Southampton to London,” a spokesman said.

Princess Cruises told RAIL: “Princess have a relatively small offering of cruises out of Southampton, as we are an American line with the majority of our ships based elsewhere in the world. I can confirm that there are currently no talks or plans for Princess-specific train charters in Southampton. This would be more of an industry-wide initiative.”

P&O Cruises said it had “no current plans to run a boat train”, while representatives of Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean declined to comment.

The railways have a long association with the cruise ship industry. Southern and then British Railways operated a number of boat trains, including named trains such as the Golden Arrow and

The Cunarder all-Pullman service, as well as several unnamed ocean liner specials that were timetabled to connect with ships departing from the docks. And the ‘Merchant Navy’ class of steam locomotives were named after shipping companies.

More recently, Direct Rail Services

operated a number of boat trains from Scotland through to Southampton (between 2008 and 2012), using a rake of Riviera Trains Mk 2 coaches hauled by double-headed Class 47 diesels.

The DRS boat trains offered silver-service meals onboard, . It was also possible to check in for the cruise while on the train, saving passengers time at Southampton. In addition, the cruise would not leave until the boat train had arrived at the docks. RAIL contacted Network Rail to ask for more clarity on the plans, but had yet to receive a reply as this issue went to press.

RAIL also approached Solent LEP, but a spokesman declined to comment.