Copenhagen–Ringsted Line High-Speed Railway

Copenhagen–Ringsted Line (High-Speed Railway)

The Copenhagen–Ringsted line is a high-speed railway on Zealand, Denmark, connecting Copenhagen via Køge with Ringsted. The line was inaugurated on 31 May 2019, and started operating on 1 June as the first high-speed railway in Denmark. It supports speeds of up to 250 km/h (155 mph) for passenger trains as well as a maximum of 24 trains per hour along its length. As of 2023, the speed limit is 200 km/h.

The construction of the Copenhagen–Ringsted Line was largely as a consequence of the conventional Copenhagen–Fredericia/Taulov Line between the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Ringsted having become highly congested. During 1999, the first proposals for the route, prepared by the national Rail Planning Committee, were rejected by the Danish Parliament, leading to further studying and refinement. In 2009, the government formally discounted the idea of simply building an extra track alongside the traditional line and, during the following year, opted to authorise the building of a higher-speed line along a new alignment. National railway infrastructure agency Banedanmark intentionally divided the project's work into individual packages, worth between €30 million and €200 million, which were competitively bid for by multiple consortiums and individual companies.

On 12 September 2012, the construction phase of the programme officially began. In addition to the line itself, other engineering works are also being performed, including the building of two new stations, one at Ny Ellebjerg and the other at Køge North which has now been completed, while additional infrastructure is also being installed at existing stations. By late 2017, reports emerged of severe difficulties having been encountered with the new line's signalling system, according to project officials, initial operations are to be limited to only one train per hour for the first year while remedial work is performed.

Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Development

Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Background and Options

During the late 1990s, the conventional railway between the Danish cities of Copenhagen to Ringsted became highly congested, forming a bottleneck along that section of the Copenhagen–Fredericia/Taulov Line. Recognising the necessity of addressing this situation, Danish officials began to consider various methods intended to resolve this. In 1993, the first proposals for improving railway transportation between Copenhagen and Ringsted were formalised, one of the early options to be explored was the construction of new main line-standard tracks between Hvidovre and Taastrup. During 1994-1997, the Rail Planning Committee decided to expand the railway lines in order to meet passenger capacity between Copenhagen and Ringsted and suggested various specific methods, such as expansion with two new tracks.

During 1997, the Planning Act was passed, which incorporated a plan for the construction of a new line between Copenhagen and Ringsted. Furthermore, the act provided three different solutions for the project, these involved either the expansion of the existing tracks via the construction of a pair of new tracks alongside the existing lines or construction of two tracks along a new alignment between Copenhagen and Ringsted via Køge, which included an option for building a new station at Køge. A combination of both expansion and new construction were also considered. During March 1999, these proposed solutions were rejected, thus efforts were made to refine these proposals ahead of another review. International consultancy firm NIRAS was involved in the production of preliminary design and project propositions.

According to official documentation published during 2005, the projected time for the line's completion was eight years from its authorisation, of which construction will take five years. Reportedly, the Copenhagen–Ringsted Line was estimated to incur a one-time cost of $1.83 billion to complete.

Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Selection and Approval

During March 2007, following a review of the studied options, the Danish parliament decided to restrict further research activity to two of the potential solutions, the so-called 'greenfield solution' and the 'fifth-track solution'. In late 2009, the fifth-track solution was officially rejected, although it was projected that this option would have been cheaper. During May 2010, the greenfield solution for the line received approval from the Danish Parliament in the form of the Construction Act.

The greenfield solution's aim is the diversion of all trains which do not service local destinations between Copenhagen and Roskilde or between Roskilde and Ringsted, onto a newly built line, which later became known as the Copenhagen–Ringsted Line. By building the Copenhagen–Ringsted Line, it was anticipated that local traffic could then be expanded on the existing railway, while those trains which traveled on the new line would benefit from reduced travel times between Copenhagen and Køge, where a new station will be constructed at Køge North, to be reduced by 15 minutes. In total, a 60 km (37 mi) section of new dual-track electrified railway, capable of handling speeds of up to 250 km/h (155 mph) for passenger trains, is to be built, reportedly, this undertaking would be the largest rail programme to ever be performed by national railway infrastructure agency Banedanmark.

The decision to construct a new high speed railway line that it led to the forming of an initiative, known as the one hour target, which is a stated aim of reducing travel times across Denmark's major cities, such as Copenhagen, Odense, Aarhus and Aalborg, to just one hour. The Copenhagen–Ringsted Line shall help reduce some of these intercity journey times to one hour or less, although it is also acknowledged that further higher-speed lines shall need to be constructed in order achieve all of the desired reductions.

København-Ringsted Line Overview

Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Termini:
Copenhagen Central
Ringsted
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Service Type: Main line
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Operator(s): DSB
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Opened: 31 May 2019
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Line Length: ca. 60 km (double track)
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Number of Tracks: Double
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Electrification: 25 kV 50 Hz AC
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Operating Speed:
200 km/h (124 mph)
Copenhagen–Ringsted Line Train Protection System: ATC (until 2023)
ERTMS (from 2023)