Oresundtrain

An Oresundtrain, in "Øresundståg" livery, at Copenhagen Central Station

Oresundtrain or Øresundståg (Swedish: Öresundståg, Danish: Øresundstog) is a regional rail network serving the Øresund Region. They run at 20-minute intervals between Helsingør, Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö, Lund in southern Sweden, once per hour during the night. From Lund most Oresundtrains continue to either Gothenburg, Kalmar or Karlskrona. This schedule is augmented by a weekday service between Nivå and Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup with some rush hour services continuing across the Øresund to Malmö and Lund, effectively giving a 10-minute frequency on the route between Lund and Copenhagen Central Station and even more frequent service between Helsingør and Copenhagen.

Usage

Most of the trains on the Oresundtrain network are operated by DSB Øresund, a joint operation between DSB and First Group, and Veolia but a few are operated by DSB on the inter-city line to Ystad, where they connect to the high-speed ferry to Bornholm. This connection (train + ferry) is considered a DSB inter-city service for ticketing purposes. The travel time to Bornholm has been cut in half (3 hours, as against 6 hours previously) since opening of the Oresund bridge and the introduction of a high-speed ferry, making it more competitive with air travel (35 minutes' flying-time plus 30 minutes' check-in time).

The Oresundtrain units are also used on some regional pågatågen services between Malmö and Helsingborg.

Rolling stock

The trains used are the fourth and latest generation of the IC3 family of multiple units, specifically designed for use in regional traffic in areas connected by the Oresund Railway. They are electrically powered, and can run on both the Danish power supply (25 kV 50 Hz AC) and the Swedish power supply (15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC). Named Contessa by its manufacturer Bombardier,^[1] 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 Swedish Öresundståg company.

They are multiple units manufactured by Bombardier Transportation in Kalmar, previously known as Kalmar Verkstad and lately in Hennigsdorf by LEW Hennigsdorf.

Each trainset is 79 metres long and weighs about 157 metric tons. The trainset consists of three carriages, giving a weight of about 52 metric tons 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 (2006), equivalent to 22 million kronor per unit.

The train has a total of 196 seats (65 per carriage unit), of which some are in a low floor carriage in the middle.

The train type is nicknamed "Oresundtrain", but they are used not only for the Oresundtrain network traffic, but also for some local Scania traffic, for the DSB intercity trains Copenhagen-Ystad, and some of the SJ intercity trains Copenhagen-Gothenburg. This other traffic is not part of the Oresundtrain traffic since that a brand name, but is sometimes called that anyway.

Traffic

An Oresundtrain in Malmö

On the Danish side the trains stop often, about every 4 km, like a commuter train. On the Swedish side the trains stop much less often, more like inter-city trains, and they reach stations about 300 km from Copenhagen, like 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.

Three trains per hour in each direction use the Oresund bridge, increasing to six trains per hour during the rush hour, each train using up to three sets coupled together, creating 237 metre long trains with 588 seats, providing a capacity of 1764 (3528) seats per hour. Increasingly this has turned out to be insufficient, and people have to stand during rush hours (into Copenhagen in the morning and to Malmö in the afternoon). The differences in salaries and house prices between Copenhagen and Malmö have increased interest in cross-border commuting. The trains cannot be lengthened because of platform length constraints. Earlier, the number of trains were limited to three per hour per direction due to the need to reverse at Malmö C restricting capacity. This restriction has been removed by the opening of Malmö City Tunnel in 2010. Still, some stations restrict capacity because there are only two tracks shared with other trains (mainly Triangeln, Kastrup Airport and Nørreport), so increasing frequency beyond 6 trains per hour is not possible.

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 don't want to add long margins, since they travel every day. Therefore DSBFirst nowadays have trains ready at Kastrup that go to Helsingør if the train from Sweden is delayed. In these circumstances the train from Sweden will terminate early and will not continue to Helsingør.

Operators

Passengers can encounter both Danish and Swedish Veolia Transport staff on the trains over the Öresund Bridge. Tickets can be bought from either country and are valid on all trains. For travel inside one of the Swedish counties or inside Denmark, the local traffic authority tickets are used. For travel across county borders special Oresundtrain tickets are used, which are sold by the local traffic authority at selected locations. Security guards accompany all trains after June 2012 following rising levels of threats and violence during ticket checks and sales.^[2]

Competitors

Between Gothenburg and Malmö (until 2012 to Copenhagen, but not to Helsingør), the SJ AB operates competing trains. From 2009 they have different tickets compared to the Oresundtrain services. SJ runs X2000 trains via Hässleholm, and from 2009-2011 SJ ran intercity trains using type X31 via Helsingborg. The X31 train type is often called "Oresundtrain" which was a source of confusion. Different tickets are needed. A similar situation is with the DSB trains to Ystad, which do not allow Oresundtrain tickets despite the nickname of the vehicle.

Line chart and stations

Gothenburg Central StationLine 100 MölndalLine 100 KungsbackaLine 100 VarbergLine 100 FalkenbergLine 100 HalmstadLine 100 KalmarLine 95 NybroLine 95 EmmabodaLine 95 KarlskronaLine 90 BergåsaLine 90 RonnebyLine 90 Bräkne-HobyLine 90 KarlshamnLine 90 MörrumLine 90 SölvesborgLine 90 BromöllaLine 90 KristianstadLine 90 LesseboLine 95 HovmantorpLine 95 VäxjöLine 95 AlvestaLine 95 ÄlmhultLine 95 OsbyLine 95 LaholmLine 100 BåstadLine 100 ÄngelholmLine 100 HelsingborgLine 100 LandskronaLine 100 HässleholmLines 90 and 95 HöörLine 95 EslövLine 95 Lund Central StationLines 90, 95 and 100 City Tunnel, Malmö Malmö Central StationLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 Triangeln Hyllie Öresund BridgeBorder: Sweden/Denmark Copenhagen Airport, KastrupLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 TårnbyLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 ØrestadLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 Copenhagen Central StationLinje 90, 95, 100 and 101 NørreportLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 ØsterportLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 HellerupLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 Only Oresundtrains which originate in Copenhagen Airport (rush hour and night also from Sweden) stop between Hellerup and Kokkedal Klampenborg Skodsborg Vedbæk Rungsted Kyst KokkedalLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 NivåLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 HumlebækLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 EspergærdeLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 SnekkerstenLines 90, 95, 100 and 101 HelsingørLines 90, 95, 100 and 101

The line numbers are the one used by SJ. They are not used by any Danish operator.

Current status

Today three trains, rush hour six per hour both ways run over the Oresund Bridge.

On 27 June 2007 it was decided that DSBFirst was to assume responsibility for running all Oresundtrains on the Oresund Railway and connected destinations from 2009. DSBFirst started operations on 11 January 2009. In 2011, the Danish and Swedish ministries of transportation instructed DSBFirst to cease operations in Sweden from 10 December 2011, but DSBFirst will continue operations on the Danish part of its current network.^[3][4] The Oresundtrain has suffered from both financial issues as well as delays and cancelled trains on both the Danish and Swedish part of the Oresundtrain network,^[5][6][7][8] notably during the 2010 winter.

References

1. ↑ "Contessa Electric Multiple Unit - Denmark and Sweden". Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
2. ↑ Johansson, Linnea (20 July 2012). "Tågvärdar får inte arbeta utan vakt". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 20 July 2012. 
3. ↑
4. ↑
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7. ↑
8. ↑

External links

• Official Swedish website of Öresundståg (English) (Swedish)