Current status of public transport in Denmark

Although Denmark is the smallest of the Scandinavian countries, it benefits from a highly developed public transport system. This, for instance, is evidenced by the fact that Denmark accounts for one of Europe’s highest market shares in terms of rail transport. Denmark has also gained an international reputation for its bridge building expertise with its world class bridges, which remove the natural barriers created by the sea and, in a figurative sense, as a bridge builder between Germany and Scandinavia.

The importance of public transport

For the Danish government, it is very important to increase the market share of public transport for several reasons. Among them is the wish to alleviate the impact of constantly increasing road traffic as well as for environmental, energy and climate considerations.

The rail network

Frequent departures with small and highly flexible trains are important characteristics of the Danish rail network. 80% of government purchased rail transport is operated by the state-owned DSB which, until 2001, had a monopoly on public service transport in Denmark. An ongoing tendering process, which began in 2001 and accelerated in 2007, is expected to lead to the entire rail transport network being opened to tender at some stage in the future. The rail infrastructure, however, remains government property through the rail administrator Rail Net Denmark.

By contrast, Denmark’s modest geographical size, its lack of heavy industry and an efficient road transport sector, means that rail freight transport is limited and largely confined to international traffic, including freight transport between Sweden and Germany.

Infrastructure upgrades

In the effort to increase the market share of rail transport, it was necessary to raise the quality of the existing infrastructure to improve punctuality. In 2006, the Danish Government allocated DKK 5 billion to improve maintenance and upgrade the railway network. In order to avoid any undue impact on rail transport, the upgrading is being extended over a number of years so that it will be fully upgraded by 2014. The track has, however, already been upgraded on all the major lines and punctuality has improved significantly.

Government objective

The Government’s objective is for public transport’s market share to increase by 50% before 2030. To achieve this objective, the population in general, as well as the business sector, must make better use of the opportunities available. This requires attractive and competitive products with fast, comfortable transport.

A Green Transport Policy

In January 2009, a broad political agreement was signed for the transport sector under the headline “A Green Transport Policy”. The agreement includes investments totalling more than DKK 90 billion – of which two-thirds are related to public transport. If user-financed projects are included, investments in public transport over the next decade will total approximately DKK 150 billion. This will entail a substantial enhancement of the focus on public transport in absolute as well as in relative terms in relation to road transport.

Extra rail capacity

In order to accommodate additional growth in traffic, but also – and in particular – to offer increasingly attractive train departures, it has been decided to remove all existing bottlenecks on the rail network through the construction of extra tracks or new lines. The biggest and most strongly debated issue is capacity on the main lines between Copenhagen and Ringsted (to the west of Copenhagen) which is currently used by local traffic and domestic long-distance traffic as well as international freight traffic. A final decision regarding the solution model will be taken in the autumn of 2009. However, the construction of a new line between Copenhagen and Ringsted running parallel with the motorway via Køge is the government’s preferred solution.

A total of DKK12 billion has been allocated for expanding rail capacity.

Signalling

As part of the “A Green Transport Policy”, it has been decided to upgrade Rail Net Denmark’s entire signalling system in one go by means of new technology based on ERTMS Level 2.

On the S-line, however, the new signalling will be based on a specific city line model. The new system will reduce the number of errors, increase punctuality and enable trains to run faster. By choosing a standardised system, future maintenance costs and reinvestment will be reduced.

All signals and associated safety systems will be replaced by 2021 at the latest. At a total investment of DKK 24 billion this is, by Danish standards, a very substantial initiative and a long preparatory and testing period has been assigned to minimise risk. The system will be rolled out at all state-operated rail lines throughout Denmark between 2017 and 2021.

Urban public transport

The metro and the metro city link

The Copenhagen Metro is now running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a high standard of punctuality. The interval between departures varies according to the time of day and day of the week. In the daytime, trains depart at such short intervals that timetables are unnecessary.

The Danish Government, in partnership with the City of Copenhagen and the Frederiksberg municipality, have decided to expand the metro system by means of a fully automated, unmanned, tunnel-based metro ring line under the centre of Copenhagen – known as the Cityringen. As well as connections to the existing metro at two of the 17 stations, there will also be connections to S-trains and, occasionally, regional trains and long-distance trains at three stations. The tunnel will be approximately 15km long and it will take 24 minutes to travel all the way around.

Cityringen will be a significant leap forward in Copenhagen’s public transport system where 85% of inner city destinations will be accessible by train or metro. Cityringen is expected to be commissioned in 2018.

The S-Line

The current S-line system will be extended through one extra track allowing for fast, through-S-trains overtaking slower trains that stop at all stations. Initially, it was decided to investigate the addition of an extra track between Hellerup and Holte. It has also been decided to examine the opportunities for automating S-train operations by using driverless vehicles.

Outside Greater Copenhagen, funding will be granted for a light railway system in Aarhus.

Buses

Although rail transport is regarded as the backbone of the public transport system, buses are an important element in the overall public integrated transport system. Buses are operated by local authorities, primarily local councils, but, to a certain extent, also by the regions. A small segment is operated as commercial, long-distance coach services.

“A Green Transport Policy” contract provides for subsidies for increasing bus services, better cohesion within public transport and the promotion of schemes and projects aimed at increasing the number of bus passengers.

Taxes

A key component of the Government’s “Green Transport” is a restructuring of road transport taxes. Energy efficient cars will be cheaper to buy, but it will become more expensive to drive on the busiest roads and during peak periods. The aim is to encourage motorists to use their cars only when absolutely necessary.

In general, such tax restructuring is intended to be neutral in terms of the taxation burden. As the cost of using a private car rises, public transport will offer a strong alternative. The overall competitive impact on public transport is, therefore, likely to be positive.

The synergy between bicycles and trains

Bicycles are an important means of transport in Denmark and there is already positive interaction between rail and bicycle traffic. Also, improving the interaction between rail and road transport through initiatives aimed at improving parking facilities is regarded as important.

Other projects

Fehmarnbelt

In September 2008, the Government signed a treaty with Germany for a fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt with related improvements to the associated landworks. The Fehmarnbelt link will constitute an important improvement to rail transport – particularly in respect of international freight traffic. The Fehmarnbelt link will, however, also mean that the main lines between the eastern and western parts of Denmark will see reduced freight transit transport and thus have more capacity for domestic passenger transport.

Danish high-speed trains

As part of the political transport agreement, it was decided to significantly reduce travel times between Denmark’s large cities and towns. The vision is for a rail system which, with scheduled hourly services, will cut travelling time between Denmark’s four largest urban communities to one hour. The investments in high-speed trains will also have a number of derivative benefits for other trains. The model anticipates top speeds of 200km per hour and a certain reduction to the line alignment in Jutland.

Øresund

Co-ordinated between the Danish state and Sweden’s Skånetrafiken, cross-border rail traffic across Øresund comprises approximately 15 million train km in Denmark and Sweden. The tender was secured by DSBFirst with start-up in January 2009. The government intends to extend the tendering process.