On Saturday evening, passengers travelling between Vejle and Skanderborg in Jutland were surprised when their train derailed in a manner described as "calm" and "undramatic" by eyewitness Anna Vallgårda to tv2.dk.

She told how she climbed under a table to avoid baggage toppling from above, but said no-one was hurt.

Passengers in good spirits
Vallgårda, an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, said: “There was a bump and you could feel that the train was running off the tracks,” adding that only the front of the locomotive derailed.

“The driver, who was further down the train, said on the loudspeaker that the train had stopped due to signal failure. We all laughed because it was obviously not what had happened,” she told tv2.dk by telephone. “We were travelling slowly, it was not dramatic and I would take the train again tomorrow.” 

DSB officials later cautiously attributed the derailment to a switchpoint, but indicated they will be conducting a thorough investigation to establish the cause.