Greater Copenhagen Light Rail
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|
| Hovedstadens Letbane | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Overview | |||
| Locale | Metropolitan Copenhagen | ||
| Transit type | Light rail | ||
| Number of lines | 2 (in development) | ||
| Number of stations | 27 | ||
| Website | www.dinletbane.dk | ||
| Operation | |||
| Operation will start | 2025[1] | ||
| Operator(s) | Ringby-Letbanesamarbejdet | ||
| Train length | 4 cars - 36.9 m (121 ft 3⁄4 in) | ||
| Technical | |||
| System length | 27 km | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
| Electrification | 750 V DC Overhead lines | ||
| Average speed | 30 km/h (19 mph) | ||
| Top speed | 70 km/h (43 mph)[2] | ||
| |||
Greater Copenhagen Light Rail (Danish: Hovedstadens Letbane, lit. 'The Capital City's Light Rail') is a planned electric light rail system crossing the lines of the S-train in Greater Copenhagen, Denmark, parallel to but outside the borders of Copenhagen Municipality. Its first stage is known as the Ring 3 Light Rail, for which construction started in 2018. It will go from Lundtofte Park north of Copenhagen to Ishøj station in the southwest, and it is expected to open in 2025,[1] with an annual ridership of 13-14 million projected.[1] The line will be owned by the Ringby-Letbanesamarbejdet (Ring city-Light rail cooperation), which is a collaboration between the municipalities serviced or affected by the line.
Background
[edit]
Currently the rapid transit network of greater Copenhagen consists of a metro system serving the city centre, south-eastern suburbs and one western suburb, and a well-developed S-train network consisting of radial lines and one inner ring line relatively close to the city centre. Further from the city centre, transport between the radials consists of bus lines. Since the suburbs along the radials are expected to grow, a better quality public transport solution between them will be needed.[2] Furthermore, some high passenger volume destinations such as the Technical University and two hospitals are not yet directly accessible through rail transit. From the perspective of time-used-in-public-transport the addition of another public rail transport system incompatible with S-train or Metro will cause more switching time between means of transport causing longer transport time. For flexibility in transport planning and allowing new routes depending on mass citizen needs - it could have been more preparing for the future by making the light rail compatible with one of the other rail systems as well as minimizing the number of level crossings.
Alongside the rolling stock, Siemens was contracted to deliver a turnkey solution involving electrification, signalling, communications, workshop equipment as well as overall management of the project.[3]
Ridership is expected to reach 14.7 million passengers per year by 2030.[4]
Services
[edit]Trains will depart every 5 minutes from both terminals, and every 10 minutes on evenings, Sundays and public holidays.[2][4] The trip between the terminals will be completed in 55 minutes.[5][The table says 58 minutes.]
Stations
[edit]In total the line will have 29 stations, six of which will have a connection to the S-train network.[2]
| Station | Image & S-train connections |
Est. cumulative travelling time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southbound | Northbound | ||
| Lundtofte | 0 | 58 | |
| Rævehøjvej | 1 | 57 | |
| Anker Engelunds Vej | 3 | 55 | |
| Akademivej | 5 | 53 | |
| Fortunbyen | 7 | 51 | |
| Lyngby Centrum (Nærum Line) |   |
10 | 48 |
| Lyngby station |    |
11 | 47 |
| Gammelmosevej | 15 | 43 | |
| Buddinge station |   |
17 | 41 |
| Gladsaxe Rådhus (Town Hall) | 18 | 40 | |
| Gladsaxevej | 20 | 38 | |
| Gladsaxe Trafikplads | 21 | 37 | |
| Dynamovej | 23 | 35 | |
| Herlev Hospital |   |
25 | 33 |
| Herlev Bymidte (Centre) | 27 | 31 | |
| Herlev station |   |
28 | 30 |
| Herlev Syd (South) | 30 | 28 | |
| Rødovre Nord (North) | 31 | 27 | |
| Glostrup Ejby | 33 | 25 | |
| Glostrup Nord (North) | 36 | 22 | |
| Glostrup Hospital | 38 | 20 | |
| Glostrup station | |
43 | 15 |
| Kirkebjerg | 46 | 12 | |
| Brøndbyvester | 48 | 10 | |
| Delta Park | 51 | 7 | |
| Vallensbæk station | |
52 | 6 |
| Strandhaven | 54 | 4 | |
| Ishøj Strand (Beach) | 55 | 3 | |
| Ishøj station | |
58 | 0 |
Source:[6]
Rolling stock
[edit]
In February 2018, 29 Siemens Avenio 4-car low floor trams (27 base order and 2 options) were ordered. The contract includes options for up to 30 trams and maintenance of the trams for 15 years. The trams will be light green, distinguishing them as a new and "eco-friendly" mode of transport. The trams have 6 x 100W motors and weigh approximately 48 tonnes each. They will have a capacity of 258, including 64 seats. The entrance height is 350 mm above the rail. The trams are 36.9 m in length and 2.65 m wide. They will be equipped with LCD information screens.[7] They were built at the Siemens factory in Kragujevac, Serbia.[8] They were tested at the Siemens Wegberg-Wildenrath Test and Validation Centre and the depot, where they will be maintained, in Glostrup.[4]
The trams will have step-free boarding and level-access inside, with 4 areas for bicycles, pushchairs and wheelchairs.[4]
Financing and ownership
[edit]The line will be owned through the Ringby-Light rail cooperation by the Ministry of Transport, Capital Region of Denmark and the municipalities of Lyngby-Taarbæk, Gladsaxe, Herlev, Albertslund (no station;in Glostrup, bordering Albertslund), Rødovre, Glostrup, Brøndby, Hvidovre (no station), Vallensbæk, Ishøj and Høje-Taastrup (no station). The Danish state will contribute 40% to the construction, the municipalities 34% and the Capital Region of Denmark will contribute 26%.[2]
Further expansions
[edit]Several expansion stages are proposed, including a branch from Park Allé via Brøndby Stadium and Brøndby Strand station to Avedøre Holme. This can also be extended to Copenhagen Airport. Likewise, a northern extension to Kokkedal Station is proposed. This, together with an HH-connection may be a small part of a future ring around the Øresund with rail traffic.
See also
[edit]
- Transport in Copenhagen
- Stockholm Tvärbanan - a similar orbital line operating in Stockholm since 2000
- Helsinki light rail line 15 - a similar orbital line operating in Helsinki since 2023
External links
[edit]- Project website
- The line in the Copenhagen region rapid transit network (in yellow) Archived 2016-03-10 at the Wayback Machine
- Planned course of the line
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Siden blev ikke fundet". Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "L for Letbane". Dinletbane.dk (in Danish). Hovedstadens Letbane. 5 November 2015. Archived from the original on 16 March 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
- ^ "Avenio Copenhagen". Siemens Mobility Global. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ a b c d "København tram delivered". Railway Gazette International. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ "Ring 3 Light Rail, Copenhagen, Denmark". railway-technology.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
- ^ https://www.ft.dk/samling/20181/almdel/tru/spm/457/svar/1571924/2041243.pdf Archived 2019-08-05 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Avenio Copenhagen, Denmark" (PDF). Siemens Mobility.
- ^ "Copenhagen's first Avenio to undergo trials". The International Light Rail Magazine. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2025.