The Gribskov Line or the Gribskov Railway ( da, Gribskovbanen, GDS) is a

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

passenger

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 ...

in North Zealand north of

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 ...

. The line runs north from

Hillerød Hillerød () is a Danish town with a population of 35,357 (1 January 2022)Gribskov Gribskov (Grib Forest) is Denmark's fourth largest forest, comprising c. 5,600 ha of woodland situated in northern Zealand, west and south of Lake Esrum. The forest is owned and administered by the State of Denmark, and a part of the Kongernes N ...

forest and splits into two branches to the

seaside resort A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the Germ ...

towns of

Tisvildeleje Tisvildeleje is the village and coastal part of the area known as Tisvilde located on the north coast of the island Zealand (Sjælland) in Denmark 60 km/40miles north of Copenhagen in Region Hovedstaden. To the West, Tisvildeleje is border ...

and

Gilleleje Gilleleje () is a fishing town and seaside resort on the north coast of the peninsula North Zealand, Denmark. The town is located at the northernmost point of the island of Zealand. It is one of the main towns of the Gribskov municipality in Re ...

. Connecting the wide belt of

holiday home A holiday cottage, holiday home, vacation home, or vacation property is accommodation used for holiday vacations, corporate travel, and temporary housing often for less than 30 days. Such properties are typically small homes, such as cottage ...

s along the northern coast of

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 ...

with Copenhagen is an important role of the Gribskov Line. The railway is standard gauge and

single track Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. It opened in various sections between 1880 and 1924. The distance from Hillerød to either Tisvildeleje or Gilleleje is about , with the total track length being . The railway is currently owned by

Hovedstadens Lokalbaner Hovedstadens Lokalbaner () is a Danish company which owns the trains and tracks of several local railways around Copenhagen: Frederiksværkbanen, Gribskovbanen, Hornbækbanen, Lille Nord, Nærumbanen and Østbanen. It leases trains and trackage ...

and operated by the

railway company A railway company is a company within the rail industry. It can be a manufacturing firm or an rail transport operations, operator. Some railway companies operate both the trains and the track, while, particularly in the European Union, operation ...

Lokaltog Lokaltog A/S ( en, Local Trains Ltd) is a Danish railway company responsible for train operation and related passenger services on nine local railways on the islands of Zealand, Lolland and Falster in Denmark. The company was formed on 1 July 201 ...

. Lokaltog runs frequent

local 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 ...

services from

Hillerød station Hillerød station () is a railway station serving the city of Hillerød north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the terminus of four railways lines: * An S-train line (Nordbanen) from Copenhagen, operated by DSB * Frederiksværkbanen, operated by Lok ...

Tisvildeleje station Tisvildeleje station is the main railway station serving the seaside resort town of Tisvildeleje on the north coast of North Zealand, Denmark. The station is the terminus of the Tisvildeleje branch of the Gribskov Line from Hillerød to Tisvildel ...

and

Gilleleje station Gilleleje station () is the main railway station serving the fishing town and seaside resort of Gilleleje on the north coast of the island of Zealand, Denmark. The station is the terminus of the Hornbæk Line from Helsingør to Gilleleje and of ...

with most trains continuing from Gilleleje along the

Hornbæk Line The Hornbæk Line ( da, Hornbækbanen) is a long standard gauge single track local passenger railway line north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs along the coast of Øresund between Helsingør and Gilleleje, through an area with many holiday hom ...

Helsingør station Helsingør station () is the principal railway station serving the city of Helsingør ( en, Elsinore), Denmark. It is the terminus of the Coast Line to Copenhagen, the Little North Line to Hillerød and the Hornbæk Line to Gilleleje. It also prov ...

History

The railway opened in various sections between 1880 and 1924. The first long section of the railway line from

Hillerød Hillerød () is a Danish town with a population of 35,357 (1 January 2022)Græsted Græsted is one of the main towns of the Gribskov municipality in the Danish Region Hovedstaden. The town is in northern Sjælland, just south of Gilleleje, and has a population of 3,561 (1 January 2022). The whole of Græsted Parish had 4769 ...

opened on 20 January 1880. The next long section from Græsted onwards to

opened on 14 May 1896. On 16 June 1897 the long branch line from Kagerup to

Helsinge Helsinge is the municipal seat of Gribskov Municipality in Region Hovedstaden on Zealand in Denmark. As of 1 January 2022, it has a population of 8,616.

opened. The last long section from Helsinge to

opened on 18 July 1924.

Route

Hillerød - Gilleleje & Tisvildeleje railway

The line runs north from where transfers from 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 c ...

system as well as other Lokalbanen lines are possible, and through the

Gribskov Gribskov (Grib Forest) is Denmark's fourth largest forest, comprising c. 5,600 ha of woodland situated in northern Zealand, west and south of Lake Esrum. The forest is owned and administered by the State of Denmark, and a part of the Kongernes N ...

forest. At near the northern end of the forest it splits into two branches going to and .

Operations

Trains on the Gribskov Line are operated by the

. Lokaltog operates a fairly intensive timetable on the Gribskov Line with light DMUs working a fixed 30-minute frequency most of the day. Most passengers connect from the

Nordbanen Nordbanen is one of six radial S-train lines in Copenhagen. It connects Copenhagen city center with several northern suburbs, and the cities of Hillerød, Birkerød and Allerød Stations Service patterns The weekday service consists of service ...

s at Hillerød. Until late 2007, transfers to and from the

were needed at Gilleleje, but after major changes to Gilleleje station, trains now operate through Gilleleje to Helsingør along the Hornbæk Line, eliminating the need to change at Gilleleje.

Heritage train

During the summer months of July and August, Nordsjællands Veterantog operates weekend steam trains on the Gribskov Line between Græsted and Gilleleje, continuing along coast on the Hornbæk Line to Grønnehave station in Helsingør. This has been a tradition since 1971.

Stations

* * * Kildeport (closed) * *

Tisvildeleje branch

* * (closed) * * * * * * *

Gilleleje branch

* (closed) * * * (closed) * * * * *

Sources

References

External links

Lokaltog
*{{in lang, da}
Gribskovbanen on jernbanen.dk
Hovedstadens Lokalbaner Railway lines in Denmark Heinrich Wenck buildings Railway lines opened in 1880 Rail transport in the Capital Region of Denmark