High-speed electric trains by 2025

The high-speed trains are expected to be 300 metres long, reach speeds of 250 kmh and have a passenger capacity of up to 900 people

admin

Sep 20, 2013

The Danish railway network is set for a major 28.5 billion-kroner upgrade after the government reached a deal with Dansk Folkeparti and Enhedlisten to fund improvements to the nation's rail infrastructure.

According to a still-unreleased report from the traffic authorities, Trafikstyrelsen, by 2025 Danish railways will have high-speed electric trains zipping across the nation at speeds of 250 kmh.

While the details are not expected to be in place for another few weeks, the ambition is to significantly improve Denmark’s railways so that travel time from Copenhagen to Odense will be an hour, as will the time from Odense to Aarhus, and Aarhus to Aalborg.

Denmark is following in the footsteps of Sweden, France and Germany in establishing a high-speed train network (Photo: Trafikstyrelsen)

IC4s get supporting role
The decision to invest in electric trains seems to send a clear signal that the government wants to push the scandal-ridden IC4 trains into a supporting role.

“With the IC3 trains, reaching a top speed of 180 kmh, travel time between Odense and Aarhus is 61 minutes non-stop,” the report stated. “At 200 kmh, the electric trains can make it in 57 minutes and in just 55 minutes at a speed of 250 kmh.”

Trafikstyrelsen’s report, titled ‘Timemodellen – højhastighed på den danske jernbane’ (’The Time Model – high speed on Danish railways’), also revealed that the country’s railway grid will be improved to handle speeds of up to 300 kmh.

Chasing top European standards
The high-speed trains are expected to be 300 metres long and have a passenger capacity of up to 900 people. The plan requires 45 150-metre train sets to function.

The railway upgrade will place Denmark onto Europe’s high-speed train map, Trafikstyrelsen wrote, pointing to high-class train infrastructure already being established in countries like France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Sweden.

The 28.5 billion kroner needed to fund the upgrade is expected to come from the harmonisation of North Sea oil taxation.

DONG Energy looks to be among the energy companies that will face heavier taxation while oil companies such as Maersk, Shell and Chevron will be exempt thanks to a recent decision to keep their North Sea oil deal unchanged until the year 2043.

The taxation changes have already led to two companies – Bayerngas and Hess – threatening to pull out of their North Sea investments.

TOP STORIES

Danish politicians will double life science exports in a few years

“Strategy for life science” is a policy agreement to support the pharmaceutical industry’s opportunities to double exports to DKK 350 billion towards 2030
Royal House unveils new portraits of King Frederik and Queen Mary

Ten months after Frederik went from crown prince to king, new civil portraits of the new royal couple have been taken.
“Without internationals, we wouldn’t have the people we need,” says Fujifilm

Fujifilm’s Hillerød facility thrives with a diverse workforce, employing over 1,800 people from more than 65 nationalities. Morten Munk, Director of Global Alliance Management, highlights how the company’s rapid growth relies on attracting international talent due to Denmark’s limited pool of scientific professionals.
Denmark’s green transition is world class – according to the global climate index

No country has an ambitious enough climate policy to be awarded first, second or third place in global climate policy. Denmark holds 4th-place ranking in the Climate Change Performance Index
“Now the biggest challenge is to retain internationals”, says Ferring

Mads Hougaard, senior HR director at the pharmaceutical company, explains that “it is also a challenge for society itself. I think collaboration between institutions, companies, and stakeholders could be beneficial.”
“How on earth do you learn all those lines?”

This is the question actors are often asked. Actors dread it because they always hope that their performance was what mattered most, not the mechanics of getting there

Connect club

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.

5 Dec: A guided tour of Christiansborg

Career

“Without internationals, we wouldn’t have the people we need,” says Fujifilm

Fujifilm’s Hillerød facility thrives with a diverse workforce, employing over 1,800 people from more than 65 nationalities. Morten Munk, Director of Global Alliance Management, highlights how the company’s rapid growth relies on attracting international talent due to Denmark’s limited pool of scientific professionals.
“Now the biggest challenge is to retain internationals”, says Ferring

Mads Hougaard, senior HR director at the pharmaceutical company, explains that “it is also a challenge for society itself. I think collaboration between institutions, companies, and stakeholders could be beneficial.”
Only 0.3% of people enrolled in the tax course are unemployed, Københavns Professionshøjskole says

According to a screening conducted by Københavns Professionshøjskole (KP) among its graduates, those with the highest chance of success in finding a job are tax specialists: after graduation, only 0.3% of people enrolled in the tax course are unemployed. Very close to them are the professionals who graduated in Midwifery (with 0.4% unemployment).

Want to advertise your job with CPH Post?

Jobs