Øresundståg (, ) is a passenger train network operated by
Skånetrafiken and
Transdev
Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020.
History
The group was formed by the merger of ...
in the transnational
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 ...
of
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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
and
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 countries, Nordic c ...
. The name is a hybrid of the Danish ''Øresundstog'' and the Swedish ''Öresundståg'', both meaning "Øresund train". The rolling stock, also known as Class ET in Denmark and X31K in Sweden, are electric passenger trainsets in the Flexliner family.
Operations
Three trains per hour cross 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 ra ...
each way. Trains run at 20-minute intervals between
Østerport via
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 ...
in Denmark 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 popul ...
and
Lund in southern Sweden, increasing to six trains per hour during rush hours. From Lund, the trains continue hourly in three directions, to
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a ...
, to
Kalmar
Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...
and to
Karlskrona
Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to S ...
. After midnight, traffic is reduced to one hourly train between
Østerport in Copenhagen and Lund.
Each train consists of up to three 79-metre-long units coupled together, each with 229 seats, providing a capacity of max 4122 seats per hour. This has turned out to be insufficient, as differences in salaries and house prices between Copenhagen and Malmö have resulted in an unexpected increase of cross-border commuting.
The trains cannot be lengthened because of platform length constraints. And increasing frequency beyond six trains per hour is not possible because there are only two platform tracks to share with other trains at the stations
Nørreport,
Ørestad
Ørestad () is a developing city area in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the island of Amager.
The area was developed using the new town concept, closely linked with the M1 line of the Copenhagen Metro. Economically, income for the plan would be generat ...
,
Kastrup Airport and
Triangeln. Increasingly, people have to stand during rush hours, into Copenhagen in the morning and towards Malmö in the afternoon, which beside the inconvenience also raises safety concerns.
The network covers of railway. In Denmark, the trains run on the
Coast Line and 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 ...
, between
Østerport and the Airport in 10-minute frequency. In Sweden, they run through the
Malmö City Tunnel, and on the
Southern Main Line to Lund. From Lund, most Øresundståg services continue to either
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a ...
,
Kalmar
Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...
, or
Karlskrona
Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to S ...
, using the
West Coast Line, the Southern Main Line, the
Coast-to-Coast Line
The Coast-to-Coast Line ( sv, Kust till kust-banan) is a long Y-shaped electric railway line between Gothenburg via Emmaboda to Kalmar and Karlskrona in southern Sweden.
History
The line was built as five different railways: from Gothenburg ...
or the
Blekinge Coast Line.
Passengers can encounter both Danish and Swedish staff on the trains over the Øresund Bridge. Tickets can be bought from sellers in either country. For travel inside one of the Swedish counties or inside Denmark, the local traffic authority tickets are used. For travel from Sweden to Denmark tickets can be purchased from the regional transit authorities and ticket sales channels which are part of the Resplus system.
Until December 2020, the trains were operated by
Transdev
Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020.
History
The group was formed by the merger of ...
in Sweden and by
DSB in Denmark. In December 2020, Swedish rail operator
SJ Öresund, a subsidiary of the state-owned operator
SJ, took over the operations in Sweden. Due to an early cancellation of the contract with SJ,
Transdev
Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020.
History
The group was formed by the merger of ...
took over as a temporary operator in December 2022. At the same time,
Skånetrafiken took over from
DSB for operations in Denmark.
Operation
On 27 June 2007 it was decided that
DSBFirst was to assume responsibility from 2009 for the running of all Øresundståg services on 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 ...
and connected destinations. DSBFirst started operations on 11 January 2009. In 2011, the Danish and Swedish ministries of transport instructed DSBFirst Sweden to cease operating the Swedish part of the service from 10 December 2011
Veolia Transport
Veolia Transport (formerly Connex and CGEA Transport) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the ...
took over the Swedish side and DSBFirst Denmark's services passed to
DSB Øresund.
The Øresundståg operation has suffered from financial problems as well as delays and cancelled trains on both the Danish and Swedish part of its network, notably during the 2010 winter.
On the Danish side the trains stop often, about every 4 km, like a
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 c ...
. On the Swedish side the trains stop much less often, more like inter-city trains, and they reach stations about 300 km from Copenhagen, such as Gothenburg, Kalmar and Karlskrona. Most travellers in Sweden use it like a regional train for work commuting and similar shorter journeys, and local monthly passes are valid on the train.
The combination of routes of an inter-city nature in Sweden with commuter-like routes in Denmark is often a source of trouble. The long-distance trains from Sweden often accumulate delays during the long journey. But delays cause trouble to commuter passengers having fixed work hours and not wishing to add long margins, since they travel every day. Therefore, DSBFirst nowadays have stand-by trains ready at Kastrup that run to Helsingør if the train from Sweden is delayed. In these circumstances the train from Sweden is terminated early and does not continue to Helsingør.
Because of the complexity involved in the Øresundståg operation and the result of delays on the Danish side of the network, the decision has been taken to split the operations when the current concession ends in December 2021. The Danish services would be tendered by the Danish authorities, while
Skånetrafiken will be responsible for the tendering process for the international and Swedish services.
Competitors
Between Gothenburg and Malmö (until 2012 to Copenhagen, but not to Helsingør),
SJ AB
SJ (formally ''SJ AB'') is a government-owned passenger train operator in Sweden. SJ was created in 2001, out of the public transport division of ''Statens Järnvägar'', when the former government agency was divided into six separate government- ...
(the Swedish national railway) operates competing trains. From 2009 they have different tickets compared to the Øresundståg services. SJ runs
X2000 trains via
Hässleholm, and from 2009-2011 SJ ran intercity
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 ...
(X31) trains using via
Helsingborg
Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cen ...
. Confusingly, the IC3 train type is often referred to as the "Öresundståg". Different tickets are needed. There was a similar situation with DSB's "Intercity Bornholm" trains to Ystad, which did not accept Øresundståg tickets despite the "Øresundstog" rolling stock used.
ID checks from Denmark to Sweden
In response to the
European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the cont ...
the Swedish government mandated ID checks on all trains coming from Denmark from December 2015. As checks performed by the Swedish police took up to 20 minutes per train, timetables were severely disrupted. Beginning on 4 January 2016, transport operators would be fined if any improperly documented people were found to be brought into Sweden. As a result,
DSB restructured the timetable, constructed a fence between the platforms at
CPH Airport station, and introduced its own ID checks in order to gain entrance to the Malmö-bound platform at CPH Airport station. The frequency of trains across the bridge had been reduced to a maximum of 3 tph. Apart from the reduced frequency, services from Sweden to Denmark ran as usual to
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 norther ...
during the day and
Østerport in the evenings, with no ID checks entering Denmark. Since 4 May 2017 the line had changed to perform ID checks only at Malmö
Hyllie station for trains travelling to Sweden.
As of 2023, frequency of 6 trains per hour during rush hour had resumed, and trains are timetabled to wait 6 minutes at Malmö Hyllie where the
Swedish police
The Swedish Police Authority ( sv, Polismyndigheten) is the national police force (''Polisen'') of the Kingdom of Sweden. The first modern police force in Sweden was established in the mid-19th century, and the police remained in effect under lo ...
check ID of alighting passengers.
Rolling stock
ET / X31K
The trains used are the fourth and latest generation of 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 ...
family of multiple units, specifically designed for use in regional traffic in areas connected by the Øresund Line. They are electrically powered, and can run on both the Danish power supply () and the Swedish power supply (
15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC). Named ''Contessa'' by its manufacturer Bombardier, they are designated Litra ET in Denmark and Littera X31K (where X means electric multiple unit, and K means allowed to go to Copenhagen) in Sweden. The chassis is manufactured entirely of stainless steel, painted in a light shade of gray. Roughly half of the trains are owned by DSB and the other half by Transdev.
They are
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 cont ...
s manufactured by
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industr ...
in
Kalmar
Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...
, previously known as
Kalmar Verkstad and later in
Hennigsdorf
Hennigsdorf () is a town in the district of Oberhavel, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated north-west of Berlin, just across the city border, which is formed mainly by the Havel river.
History
The municipality shared its borders with the for ...
by
LEW Hennigsdorf.
Each trainset is 79 metres long and weighs about 157
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States ...
s. The trainset consists of three carriages, giving a weight of about 52 tonnes per unit. Eight of the train's 12 axles are powered, which gives good acceleration. The train's top speed is 180 km/h. Each train costs 67 million
Swedish kronor
The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it b ...
(2006), equivalent to 22 million kronor per unit.
The trainset has a total of 237 seats (79 per carriage), of which some are in a low floor carriage in the middle.
The train type is nicknamed "Øresundstog / Öresundståg" (Danish / Swedish), but they are used not only for services on the Øresundståg network, but also for some local Scania traffic, for the DSB intercity trains Copenhagen-Ystad, and formerly for some of SJ's Copenhagen-Gothenburg intercity trains. Even though these other trains do not in fact form part of the Øresundståg network, they often referred to by that name. In the summertime they are nicknamed ''"the longest sauna in Sweden"'' due to inoperative climate control.
A refurbishment program, including new exterior paint jobs, refurbished seats and new toilet systems for the train sets was started in 2016. The first refurbished train set was entered into service on March 15 2018.
All trains are maintained at the Helgoland depot in
Amager
Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...
and since May 2020 also at a new purpose-built depot in
Hässleholm.
X32
Due to a higher demand for comfort on the long-distance trains serving the line between Malmö and Ängelholm, SJ introduced the short-lived X32, a long-distance version of the X31. It had better comfort at the cost of less capacity. The second class section used seats from the first class section of the X31, while the first class section in the X32 used a more classic interior similar to the X2000 highspeed EMU. These trainsets entered service in 2006 and did not have permission to go to Denmark due to the interior being unsuitable for the commuter services in Denmark.
However, as more passengers started commuting between Denmark and Sweden, there was a need for extra trainsets so in 2007 all X32 were rebuilt into standard X31 sets.
File:20190917 Malmo C Oresundstag 0148 (48835473606).jpg, Malmö Central Station
File:20190920 Oresundstag Copenhagen Airport 0029 (48835646767).jpg, Copenhagen Airport
File:SJ X31-2klas.JPG, Interior
File:ORESUND LINK TRAINS AT KØBENHAVNS HOVEDBANEGÅRD SEP 2013 (9956938363).jpg, Copenhagen Central Station
File:Lund C in winter - panoramio.jpg, Lund Central Station
References
External links
Official Swedish website of ''Öresundståg''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oresundstag
Railway coaches of Denmark
Øresund Line
Passenger rail transport in Denmark
Passenger rail transport in Sweden
Rail transport in the Capital Region of Denmark
Rail transport in Skåne County
International rail transport
Multiple units of Denmark
Multiple units of Sweden
SJ multiple units
Rail transport in the Øresund Region