DSB, an abbreviation of ''Danske Statsbaner'' (, ''Danish State Railways''), is the largest

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

train operating company, and the largest in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on most of the Danish railways, goods transport and railway maintenance are outside its scope. DSB runs a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

system, called the

S-train The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...

, in the area around the Danish capital,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, that connects the different areas and suburbs in the greater metropolitan area. Between 2010 and 2017, DSB operated trains in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. DSB was founded in 1885 when the

state-owned companies A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

''De jysk-fynske Statsbaner'' and ''De sjællandske Statsbaner'' merged.

History

The first railways in Denmark were built and operated by private companies. The railways in

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

and

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

were built by

Peto and Betts Peto and Betts was a civil engineering partnership formed in 1848 between Morton Peto and Edward Ladd Betts that was mainly involved with the construction of railways in the UK and abroad. At times, for particular projects, they joined in partners ...

who also supplied the locomotives (built by

Canada Works Thomas Brassey (7 November 18058 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about o ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

). Most of the technical staff was also recruited from Britain, notably from the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English Rail transport, railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on t ...

. When Peto and Betts went into

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

, the Danish state took over ''Det danske Jernbane-Driftsselskab'' (The Danish Railway Operating Company) as of 1 September 1867 under the name ''De jysk-fyenske Jernbaner'' (the Funen and Jutland Railways), from 1874 ''De danske Statsbaner i Jylland og Fyn'' (The Danish State Railways in Jutland and Funen). The network was extended by new construction and by acquisition of the privately operated lines from

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Danish town with a population of 49,747 (1 January 2022).Herning Herning () is a Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 50,565 (1 January 2022)Grenaa Grenaa (or Grenå) is a Danish town and seaport on the east coast of the Jutlandic peninsula. Tourism, education and commerce are important sectors in the economy of Grenaa. It is the only larger town on Djursland. Grenaa is the municipal seat, an ...

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

(1 April 1881). The Danish state took over ''Det sjællandske Jernbaneselskab'' (the

Railway Company of Zealand Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

) on 1 January 1880, forming ''De sjællandske Statsbaner'' (the State Railways of Zealand). With the majority of railways on both sides of the

Great Belt The Great Belt ( da, Storebælt, ) is a strait between the major islands of Zealand (''Sjælland'') and Funen (''Fyn'') in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits. Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Be ...

thus owned by the Danish state, it was not until 1 October 1885 that the companies of Jutland/Funen and Zealand merged into one national railway company, ''De danske Statsbaner'' (the Danish State Railways), the merger being finalised on 1 April 1893. After the merger, new lines were constructed and a new generation of rolling stock and locomotives were introduced by chief mechanical engineer

Otto Busse Otto Emil Franz Ulrich Busse (; December 6, 1867 – February 3, 1922) was a German pathologist. Busse was born in Gühlitz, Prignitz, Germany. He studied medicine at the University of Greifswald, and subsequently became an assistant to Paul ...

. After Busse's retirement, however, DSB ceased to design its own locomotives and increasingly came to rely on outside suppliers, mainly

Borsig Borsig is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (1867–1897), German entrepreneur * August Borsig (1804–1854), German businessman * Conrad von Borsig (1873–1945), German mechanical engineer * Ernst Borsig Ernst August Pau ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

The 1930s were a decade of innovation and modernisation for DSB. New railway bridges were built across the

Little Belt The Little Belt (, ) is a strait between the island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits that drain and connect the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait, which drains west to the North Sea and Atlant ...

(1935), the Storstrøm (1937) and

Oddesund Oddesund is a strait in the Danish Limfjorden. The Oddesund Bridge ( da, Oddesundbroen) spans the fjord connecting the mainland of Jutland with Thy. According to the Heimskringla, a battle took place in Oddasund between the Swedish king Jorund a ...

(1938), eliminating the costly and time-consuming process of transfer by steam ferry. The suburban lines in and around Copenhagen were electrified for multiple-unit operation at 1,500 Volts DC (''S-trains''). Early experiments with Diesel propulsion led to the development of the all-purpose MO class heavy diesel-electric railcar equipped for

multiple-unit A multiple-unit train or simply multiple unit (MU) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined together, which when coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by a single driver, with multiple-unit train contr ...

operation, after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

also fitted for push-pull operation with a driving trailer. Several classes of mainline diesel-electric locomotives were also built as prototypes by

Burmeister and Wain Burmeister & Wain was a large established Danish shipyard and leading diesel engine producer headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded by two Danes and an Englishman, its earliest roots stretch back to 1846. Over its 150-year history, it ...

of Copenhagen and

Frichs Frichs is a Danish company based in Horsens, founded in 1854 in Aarhus. Frichs today produce ship engines but started out in the 19th century producing a long range of farm and industry equipment, ships, church bells, cranes and later through th ...

of Aarhus, but further development was cut short by the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

and the consequent shortage of oil supplies, forcing DSB to rely on coal-burning steam locomotives for mainline duties. Coinciding with the opening of the

Little Belt Bridge The Little Belt Bridge ( da, Lillebæltsbroen), also known as the Old Little Belt Bridge ( da, Den gamle Lillebæltsbro), is a truss bridge over the Little Belt strait in Denmark. It spans from Snoghøj on the Jutland side to Middelfart on Fune ...

in 1935, DSB introduced their new

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than Local train, local trains that stop at most or all of the s ...

concept known as ''lyntog'' ("lightning trains"). These diesel-powered three- and four-coach trains, having a power car at each end with a power pack identical to that of the MO railcar series, featured a then-impressive top speed of 120 km/h as well as a high level of comfort, and they proved themselves DSB's most commercially successful initiative of the 1930s. World War II left DSB with a fleet of outdated and worn-out trains, and apart from a series of second-generation MO railcars and the class MT multi-purpose centercab engines built by

, domestic industry was unable to provide the kind of motive power required. Instead, DSB looked to foreign suppliers.

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

' diesel-electric locomotives had proved themselves in the US and Canada before the war. DSB's MV class A1A-A1A diesel locomotives, built on license from GM and delivered from

NOHAB NOHAB (Nydqvist & Holm AB) was a manufacturing company based in the city of Trollhättan, Sweden. History The company was founded by Antenor Nydqvist, Johan Magnus Lidström and Carl Olof Holm in 1847 as ''Trollhättans Mekaniska Verkstad'' as ...

starting in 1954, were found to be very reliable and economically feasible compared to the steam locomotives, eventually putting the age of steam to an end as well as being a decisive factor in DSB's choice of motive power for nearly three decades. They were followed by the equally successful MX class with a lower axle load for branch line services and the MZ class for heavy express services. Based on three

diesel-hydraulic A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

shunting locomotives built by

Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicle ...

and acquired by DSB,

developed their own version of the class MH shunter, which replaced the steam-powered shunting engines. After the success of the

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...

DB Class VT 11.5 The trainsets of Class VT 11.5 (often simply called TEE) were diesel multiple units built by Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) in 1957 and used for Trans Europ Express (TEE) services. Perceived as flagships of the DB rolling stock, they carried first-class ...

class on

Trans Europ Express The Trans Europ Express, or Trans-Europe Express (TEE), was an international first-class railway service in western and central Europe that was founded in 1957 and ceased in 1995. At the height of its operations, in 1974, the TEE network compri ...

services, DSB acquired eleven power cars and matching intermediate cars to replace the first-generation ''lyntog''. The 1960s were marked by an increasingly poor economy for DSB, leading to a steady staff reduction throughout the decade. However, this was also accompanied by the appearance of new technology, notably the utilisation of electronic equipment, improving the safety and efficiency of DSB's railway traffic. In 1972, along with the celebration of the 125th anniversary of railways in Denmark, DSB introduced a new corporate design by architect Jens Nielsen, inspired by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

and

Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

, with red as the dominant colour (with engine rooms of locomotives painted black), replacing the traditional maroon livery with yellow winged wheel symbols. DSB's position was additionally strengthened by the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...

. Following the lead of the

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and the ...

, British Rail and

, DSB in 1974 introduced a fixed interval timetable for its long-distance locomotive-hauled

Intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

trains as well as the commuter services to and from Copenhagen. On regional services in

and

, the prewar design MO class

railcars A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a drive ...

were displaced by MR class DMUs, a licensed version of the Deutsche Bundesbahn class 628. In 1990, after a delay of several years, the

IC3 The IC3 (or class MF) is a Danish-built high-comfort medium/long distance diesel multiple-unit train. The sets were built by ABB Scandia (later purchased by Adtranz, which itself was subsequently acquired by Bombardier Transportation) in Rand ...

trains came into use, initially as ''lyntog'', and in 1991 as ordinary intercity trains. The IC3 trains, being a specimen of the Flexliner type of multiple units, have a distinct appearance due to the rubber-framed ends, allowing access between trainsets when coupled together. The re-engined Flexliners are now (2014) nearing the end of their service life, but due to problems with the

Ansaldo Breda Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the dea ...

built successor class

IC4 The IC4 is an inter-city rail train built by the Italian train manufacturer AnsaldoBreda for the trans-Great Belt routes of Danske Statsbaner (DSB), Denmark's national railway operator. Under DSB's 'Good trains for everyone' plan ('Gode tog til ...

they are expected to remain in service for another five to ten years. The

Great Belt Fixed Link The Great Belt Bridge ( da, Storebæltsbroen) or Great Belt fixed link ( da, Storebæltsforbindelsen) is a multi-element fixed link crossing the Great Belt strait between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen. It consists of a road suspension ...

was opened for railway traffic in 1997 (a year before road traffic), replacing DSB's railway ferries. In 1997, infrastructural duties were branched off into a new agency under the Danish Ministry of Transport, Banestyrelsen (now:

Banedanmark Banedanmark (; previously Banestyrelsen) is a Denmark, Danish company that is responsible for the maintenance and traffic control on all of the state owned Rail transport in Denmark, Danish railway network. History In 1997, Banedanmark came into ...

), leaving DSB with the task of train operation. A new design was presented on 30 April 1998, as well as the announcement of the "Good Trains for All" plan, seeking to replace old and less comfortable trains by 2006/2007. DSB was turned into an independent public corporation on 1 January 1999. The goods department of DSB, DSB Gods, was merged with Railion (now

DB Cargo DB Cargo (previously known as Railion and DB Schenker Rail) is an international transport and logistics company. It is responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (the DB Group) both ...

) in 2001, and DSB now solely manages passenger rail service, including the operation of railway stations. In 2003,

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

Tønder Tønder (; german: Tondern ) is a town in the Region of Southern Denmark. With a population of 7,505 (as of 1 January 2022), it is the main town and the administrative seat of the Tønder Municipality. History The first mention of Tønder might ...

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

- Struer, Skjern-

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

, Struer-

Langå Langå, is a railway town in central Denmark with a population of 2.811 (2022), located in Randers municipality in Region Midtjylland in Jutland. It was the site of the municipal council of the now former Langå municipality, until 1 January 2007. ...

and Struer-

Thisted Thisted is a town in the municipality of Thisted in the North Denmark Region of Denmark. It has a population of 13,461 (1 January 2022)Øresundståg Øresundståg (, ) is a passenger train network operated by Skånetrafiken and Transdev in the transnational Øresund Region of Denmark and Sweden. The name is a hybrid of the Danish ''Øresundstog'' and the Swedish ''Öresundståg'', both meani ...

services were hived off into a separate company,

DSBFirst DSBFirst was a railway company that operated rail franchises in Denmark and Sweden. It was a joint venture between Danish state railway operator DSB and British transport group FirstGroup. FirstGroup had a 25% shareholding in DSBFirst Denmar ...

, but the contract was terminated in 2011 after financial problems. DSB operated services from 2009 in Sweden. In 2010, it purchased a 50 % shareholding in German operator

Vias The Vias GmbH (stylized VIAS) is a rail service company based in Frankfurt (Germany). The name of the company was taken from the Latin word via for ''way'' and the letter ''S'' for service. It operates rail services in the states of Hesse, Rhine ...

from Frankfurt Transport Company. All the operating companies in Sweden and Germany were sold between 2013 and 2019.

Logo history

File:Former DSB logo Copenhagen.png, Former DSB logo Copenhagen File:DSB (railway company) logo.png, DSB's third and previous logo used from 30 April 1998 to September 2014 File:DSB company logo.svg, DSB's fourth and current logo since September 2014

Corporate structure

DSB is an independent public state-owned corporation under the Danish Ministry of Transport and Energy. This has been the case since 1999, and is the result of a former political desire to privatise the Danish railways. Thus, DSB now operates on a for-profit basis, although it retains certain public service commitments via contracts with the Ministry of Transport and Energy. In March 2015, the ongoing privatization process was put on hold until at least 2024, as part of a broad centre-left political majority agreement on passenger rail-transport. As of 2005, DSB employs about 9,000 people. Keld Sengeløv became president and CEO in February 2004, after a career in the DSB organization since 1997, but died from an undisclosed illness while travelling with friends in Scotland on 3 September 2006. His successor was Søren Eriksen, who was dismissed in March 2011 following the discovery of financial and contractual irregularities. He was largely exonerated in a subsequent inquiry. His successor, Jesper Lok, was announced in December 2011 and took office in April 2012, but resigned in 2014. Since 2015, former fighter pilot Flemming Jensen has been CEO for the corporation.

Divisions

DSB SOV (Selvstændig Offentlig Virksomhed / Independent Public Company) * DSB Commercial (sales and marketing) ** DSB International (train operations abroad), DSB Detail a/s (management of shops on DSB stations) * DSB S-tog a/s (operation of the

network) ** DSB Sales * DSB Long-Distance & Regional Trains ** IC4 Programme, Sales, Onboard Service, Traffic, * DSB Finance ** DSB Property Development, DSB Property * DSB HR & Organisation ** Financial Management, IT, CSR * DSB Vedligehold A/S (Train Maintenance)

Services

As an originally state-owned company, DSB has experienced several reforms since its establishment in 1885. In particular, the large scale

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

reforms of Denmark in the 1990s, has resulted in the selling and

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

of many railway lines and services across the country. DSB currently operates several types of passenger trains, varying in number of stops and motive power. Apart from the

s, types available for the general public include: *

Regional train Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster servi ...

s (RØ in Eastern Denmark, RV in Western Denmark; ØR in the

Øresund Region The Øresund Region ( da, Øresundsregionen ; sv, Öresundsregionen ), also known as Greater Copenhagen for marketing purposes, is a metropolitan region that comprises eastern Denmark and Skåne in southern Sweden. Centred around the Øresund ...

) * Inter-regional trains (IR) *

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

trains (IC) *

InterCityLyn An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations alo ...

(L) (express InterCity trains) * InterCityLyn Nonstop (IL) (IntercityLyn calling at fewer stations) *

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

trains (EC)

References

Sources

* Koed, Jan (1997). ''Danmarks Jernbaner i 150 år''. Forlaget Kunst og Kultur. .