Kystbanen ("The Coast Line") is a

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

between

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northe ...

(Elsinore) and

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 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. It was opened in 1897, and it is today the busiest railway line in Denmark. Kystbanen, along with an extensive network of railways in

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

, are run by DSB Øresund, part of

DSB DSB may refer to: Science, technology and devices * DsbA, a bacterial member of the Dsb (disulfide bond) family of enzymes * Double strand break, a break in both DNA strands, part of DNA repair * in telecommunications, double-sideband transmission ...

. Its original terminus was Østerport Station, but when the station was connected with

Copenhagen Central Station Copenhagen Central Station ( da, Københavns Hovedbanegård , abbreviated ''København H'') is the main railway station in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the largest railway station in Denmark. With more than 100,000 travellers every day, it is the ...

in 1917, the terminus moved there. When the

Øresund Bridge The Öresund or Øresund Bridge ( da, Øresundsbroen ; sv, Öresundsbron ; hybrid name: ) is a combined railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is the longest in Europe with both roadway and rai ...

opened in 2000, service extended to

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

in Sweden, though the section between Copenhagen and Malmö is a separate railway, the

Øresund Line The Øresund Line ( sv, Öresundsbanan, da, Øresundbanen) is a railway between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden via the Øresund Bridge. It operates 24/7, and a journey between the two cities takes 35 to 40 minutes. On the Swedish sid ...

. The railway services some well-known sights and locations such as

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and cont ...

in Humlebæk,

Kronborg Castle Kronborg is a castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet'', Kronborg is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was inscribed on the UNE ...

in Elsinore, and

Dyrehavsbakken (), commonly referred to as (), is an amusement park in Lyngby-Taarbæk Kommune, Denmark, near Klampenborg (Gentofte municipality), about north of central Copenhagen. It opened in and is the world's oldest operating amusement park. With 2 ...

Klampenborg Klampenborg is a northern suburb to Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located in Gentofte Municipality, directly on Øresund, between Taarbæk and Skovshoved. Like other neighbourhoods along the Øresund coast, Klampenborg is an affluent area with many ...

. From 2023 Kystbanen will no longer be served by Øresund trains to Sweden, and will instead be integrated into DSB's regional train network with trains continuing from Copenhagen to stations on

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

History

Plans for a railway between Copenhagen and Helsingør (Elsinore) had been proposed since the childhood of railways. The North Line was built though Helsingør in 1864 and in 1863 the connection between Copenhagen and Klampenborg Station as a sort of daytrip and tourist route. In 1890 the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Hans Peter Ingerslev Hans Peter Ingerslev (3 May 1831 – 20 April 1896) was a Danish politician and minister. He was born in 1831 on Marselisborg Manor in Aarhus, owned by his parents Caspar Peder Rothe Ingerslev and Marie Meulengracht. Hans Peter Ingerslev gradu ...

( Conservative People's Party), a proposition of a state railway between Klampenborg and Helsingør, but it went four years of discussion and negotiations before the surveyors could stop their work and the construction workers enter the field. The

Ministry of War Ministry of War may refer to: * Ministry of War (imperial China) (c.600–1912) * Chinese Republic Ministry of War (1912–1946) * Ministry of War (Kingdom of Bavaria) (1808–1919) * Ministry of War (Brazil) (1815–1999) * Ministry of War (Estoni ...

wanted to have a railway to

Vedbæk Vedbæk is a wealthy suburban neighbourhood on the coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It belongs to Rudersdal Municipality and has merged with the town of Hørsholm to the north. The area has been inhabited for at least 7,000 years, as evidenced ...

, as long as it wasn't built so close to the coast that it could be bombarded by a foreign

naval fleet A fleet or naval fleet is a large formation of warships – the largest formation in any navy – controlled by one leader. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land. Purpose In the modern sense, fleets are usually, but not ne ...

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width ...

, and as long as the railway could be removed quickly. The Forestry Department didn't have any objections against the railway as long as not even a single tree was cut down. A number of citizens also were active in the debate about the choice of route and placing of stations. Because of rules decided by the Ministry of War, the railway had to go in a large curve out over the lakes to Nørrebro and onwards towards the Øresund Coast at

Hellerup Hellerup () is a very affluent district of Gentofte Municipality in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. The most urban part of the district is centred on Strandvejen and is bordered by Østerbro to the south and the Øresund to the east. It compr ...

Hellerup station Hellerup station is a regional and S-train railway station]serving the district of Hellerup in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is served by regional trains on the Coast Branch, as well as S-trains. History The station was designed by V.C.H. Wolf and o ...

was built in the 1860s because it was where the North Line and the Klampenborg Line split, and not because there was a need for a station at the place. The stretch between Østerport and Hellerup was first taken into use with the opening of the Coast Line in 1897. Østerport was the initial

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

of the line, was originally called Kystbanestationen, Østerbro, København Ø and Østbanegaarden. Architect Heinrich Wenk, who drew many of the stations on the railway, was also responsible for the Eastern Station, that after decree from the Ministry of War was constructed as a temporary building. First 20 years later the line between

and Østerport was taken into use, and the Coast Line got its present form on 1 December 1917.

Change to DSBFirst

In 2007 the Danish government in cooperation with

Skånetrafiken Skånetrafiken is the regional public transit district in Skåne län, in the south of Sweden. Skånetrafiken was founded in 1999 when the two counties Kristianstads län and Malmöhus län were merged into one region, causing the two respe ...

announced it would invite transportation companies to take over the Coast Line. Several European operators most notably SJ,

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Connex, and DSBFirst. DSBFirst won this bid due to their plan of introducing 7-Eleven to the majority of stations, keeping the current system of permanently staffed trains, and promising better scheduling. Moreover, there was a sense that it was more convenient because DSB already had trains suited to operate under the two different volt systems used for railway electrification in Denmark and Sweden. Despite serving food and coffee for passengers on their first Monday of operation, they did not win over passengers as the trains were delayed and packed. For the next few months the trains had an average delay percentage of 10, causing outcry among frequent passengers and a massive drop in rating. As of June 2009, DSBFirst managed to regain much passenger support through fewer delayed trains due to a change in timetables and better education of the train managers.

Rolling stock

The unique feature of the Coast Line is that despite that there is only between three and six minutes between each station, it has not been operated by

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 c ...

s. Lately the line has been operated by modern and comfortable trains, including DSB's first

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

s, litra EA (on the Coast Line since 1986) and the new electric regional train litra ER, started service the Coast Line in the mid 1990s. Today the main service on the line is Oresund trains that operate between Helsingør via Copenhagen and

Copenhagen Airport Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup ( da, Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup, ; ) is an international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, Zealand, the Øresund Region, and southern Sweden including Scania. It is the second largest airport in the Nordic ...

in Sweden and ER trains between

Nivå Nivå is a town with a population of 7,997 (1 January 2022)Kastrup Kastrup () is a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, on the east coast of Amager in Tårnby Municipality. It is the site of Copenhagen Airport. In Danish, the airport is often called ''Kastrup Lufthavn'' (Kastrup Airport) or ''Københavns Lufthavn, Kast ...

. In rush hour, these trains are supplemented with higher speed

commuter train 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 cons ...

operated with various stock. The replacement of steam locomotive with diesel multiple units started in 1935, but was first completed in 1965. Originally the Coast Line was operated by litra K and litra O steam engines and later by litra S engines that were acquired in the 1920s. From about 1960 the main stock was the

diesel electric locomotive 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 ...

s MX, MY and later MZ and ME.

Electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

of the railway started in

Nivå Nivå is a town with a population of 7,997 (1 January 2022)litra EA locomotives.

Stations

References

{{reflist Rail transport in the Capital Region of Denmark Railway lines in Denmark Regional rail in Denmark Railway lines opened in 1897 1897 establishments in Denmark Rail transport in the Øresund Region