Oresund Railway

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Oresund Railway
The Oresund Bridge
Info
Type High-speed railway
System Danish railways
Swedish railways
Terminals Fosieby
Copenhagen H
No. of stations 4
Operation
Opened 2000
Owner Banverket
Banedanmark
Operator(s) Danske Statsbaner
SJ
Skåne commuter rail
Railion
Character Passenger and freight
Rolling stock X2
X31
EG
Technical
Line length 38 km
Track length 76 km
No. of tracks Double
Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Electrification 15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC
25 kV 50 Hz AC

Oresund Railway (Swedish: Öresundbanan, Danish: Øresundbanen) is a railway between Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmö in Sweden via the Oresund Bridge. On the Swedish side the railway infrastructure is managed by Banverket, on the Danish side the railway infrastructure is managed by Banedanmark.

The railway line continues from the Kontinentalbanan south of Malmö and heads east passing over the Oresund Bridge on the lower section, the artificial island Peberholm, under Copenhagen Airport to Copenhagen Central Station. In Malmö the tunnel City Tunnel, Malmö is being built to connect the railway directly to Malmö Central Station, without having to operate it as a terminus station.

Oresundtrains are operated by Danske Statsbaner and Skåne commuter rail between Copenhagen and Malmö. On the Danish side, a lot of trains continue northwards on Kystbanen to Helsingør. SJ operates X 2000 high-speed trains between Stockholm - Malmö - Copenhagen. Freight trains are operated by Railion using EG locomotives.

[edit] History

Plans for connecting Skåne and Zealand with a bridge have been raised throughout the entire 20th century, but in 1991 a company was created to start the work. Construction of the Oresund Bridge and Oresund Railway started in 1995 and was completed in 2000.

 It has been suggested that Oresund Bridge#Rail transport be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

One of the challenges with the line was incompatibility between the railway electrification between Denmark and Sweden. Denmark uses 25 kV 50 Hz AC while Sweden uses 15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC. Also the signaling system is different between the two countries. The problem was solved by switching the signalling system on Peberholm while the entire bridge uses the Danish electrical system. All the trains that operate on the line must therefore be equipped with dual electrical adaption systems, including a minority of the X2 trains operated throughout Sweden by SJ.

Also, on double tracks in Denmark, trains run on the right side and in Sweden on the left side. On the Oresund Railway trains runs on right side, and trains change side at the Malmö terminus station.

[edit] Line

[edit] External links