Two trains per hour between Copenhagen and Hamburg

The fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt will spearhead a major upgrading of passenger traffic between Copenhagen and Hamburg, predicts Deputy Director Ove Dahl Kristensen, DSB Planning and Traffic.

”Passengers can look forward to faster and more comfortable trains and it’s obvious to increase the frequency to two departures per hour," he says. "This would be a significant improvement on the current situation where trains depart for Hamburg every ninety minutes during the summer and four times a day in the winter."

Two departures per hour will be introduced in connection with the transition to hourly services with both high-speed and regional trains. DSB would also welcome extending regional train services from Zealand and Lolland-Falster via Fehmarn to Hamburg.

And with Rail Net Denmark’s announcement that services can run at up to 200 km/hour between Copenhagen and Rødby - assuming political approval - the eventual rail product looks competitive.

”At the new top-speed, it will be possible to travel to Hamburg in three hours and to Berlin in four and a half.”

While currently, traffic mainly consists of leisure customers and tourists, the shorter travelling times are likely to persuade more business customers to leave their cars and travel by train instead.

”I believe that we’ll see growth in business traffic between Hamburg and Copenhagen once the fixed link opens," says Ove Dahl Kristensen. "The shorter journey times are comparable to those between Århus and Copenhagen after the opening of the Storebælt link.

Ute Plambeck, Management Representative of the Deutsche Bahn AG for the Federal States Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, stresses: „The benefit of the new connection over the Fehmarnbelt is manifold: Not only will Hamburg and Kopenhagen move together, but also the holiday areas of the Lübeck Bay, Fehmarn and the Danish isles will get closer to each other as well.“

Fehmarn – a lever for new trains
”Since the Danish line will be electrified all the way to Fehmarn, we have to purchase a new generation of electric trains that match the power systems in both Denmark and Germany. We’re currently deploying diesel trains and we look forward to replacing these with electric trains. One could well imagine that these trains will offer that element of luxury that our customers know from Deutsche Bahn's trains,” Ove Dahl Kristensen said.

He slightly regrets the postponement of the fixed link's opening to 2020 because this removes some of the time pressure, which would have been a forceful driver behind the new developments. Even so, DSB intends to launch some of the services ahead of the opening of the Fehmarnbelt link.

”There is no reason to wait to roll everything out until 2020. We're keen to work with Deutsche Bahn in terms of the commissioning of more Intercity trains. However, Deutsche Bahn generally operates a much lower frequency although with very long trains. At DSB, we focus on high-frequency traffic with shorter trains. We'll be discussing this with our German colleagues.”

For most passengers from Copenhagen, Hamburg is not their final destination. Other European destinations, especially Berlin with its array of attractions, are more attractive. Nevertheless, Ove Dahl Kristensen can clearly see the opportunities in the stronger marketing of Hamburg as a travel destination in itself although it's too early to discuss specifics.

The Fehmarnbelt fixed link will also provide DSB with inspiration for other products such as, for instance, the opportunity to revive the classic night train between Copenhagen and Paris.