Like every good European transit city, Copenhagen has two main rail transit networks – one a local metro, and a regional S-train system. But unlike other cities, both of Copenhagen’s rail networks are unique, and they complement each other nicely.
Special thanks to Copenhagen Rail Productions, DrDewott, & Trainspotter Carl-Frederik for helping with this video!
Copenhagen Rail Productions: https://www.youtube.com/user/emilglentvor
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Ever wondered why your city’s transit just doesn’t seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!
Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.
32 Comments
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Still waiting for Thessaloniki to be built
Not all Europeans can get to Copenhagen by land routes. I can if I don't mind travelling all day and passing through 4 countries before getting there (not counting my own and Denmark).
Typical English speaker – it might be spelt S-Tog, but it's pronounced S-Tow.
CORRECTIONS:/CLARIFICATIONS 1. The 8-car sets are made up of 2 4-car half sets and not a full 8-car set. 2. The lead cars have 2 axles, all other cars have only 1 axle at the rear of the coach. All but 1 axle in each half set is unpowered (the fourth from the driving cab in each half sst. 3. The F-Line links with the A-line (Hundige-Hillerød line), C-Line (Vanløse-Klampenborg) and E-Line (Holte-Køge) at Heĺlerup. All Litra (Danish for Type or Clasification) SA and SE can operate on all lines and can move from the F-Line under their own power to the main depot at Høje Taastrup. Whilst there are no other services on the F-Line and full automation would be easier to achieve, it would mean dedicated rolling stock, sufficient to cover all services plus spares that could not be used elsewhere on the network without risking serious disruptions if there are failures on the F-Line. The F-Line was also a freight route for trains heading to Helsinør and the ferry to Sweden before it was joined by the S-tog service. When the Øresund Bridge opened the line was redundant and went over to just the S-tog with services extended to Ny Ellebjerg. Parts of the original F-Line, between Vanløse and Frederiksberg, closed around 1998 and became part of the Metro.
The light rail route will be effectively replacing the 300S bus service, which already does everything the light rail will be doing.
I'm planning to move to Denmark, and probably Copenhagen, and this video is so helpful and interesting.
Thank you for the great content!
Thank you for the wonderful and very informative video. I think that what in particular makes the S-tog unique is the fact that you can bring your bike for free and how certain sections of the train have been designed to accommodate just this. As someone who rarely uses public transit but prefers to go by bike, this enables me to make use of the S-train without leaving my bike at home. This makes it so much more convenient to use the S-train service!
I do enjoy the Copenhagen public transport, but I would like if we also got some more services outside of the capital, theres not a single InterCity like that does not terminate in Copenhagen even tho there logically could be at least one going from the south to the north of Jutland and such.
But no mention of the Lokaltog services 🙁
The Lokaltog are overlooked as a network that serves the suburbs around CPH with transfers to S-Tog. And the Nærumbanen is quite cool!
On the topic of 30tph. When can we get a video about Munich please.
Funny things is. It is people from Copenhagen who complains the most a about not having enough public transport.
All the while when they have a magnificent combined set of services
The “g” in “tog” is silent. “Tog” is pronounced like “toe” in the English.
Thanks for a wonderful video. Nb.: It's not called S-Tag but S-Tog (Tog means Train) Kind Regards form Copenhagen 🙂
I would love it if you made videos about the transit network in Bergen and Trondheim! Bergen is currently doing some huge light rail expansions, and Trondheim is just a spaghetti bowl of bus lines with one tram line and a few trains sprinkled around
Very nice video. The only thing I think is missing, is a slide showing the bus network and how it connects to the train/metro networks.
What a wonderful video! I live at the south end of the m1 line, and I love the convenience! The metro is wonderful. I do wish Copenhagen reopened their tram network, and established car free days, but those are probably just silly dreams 🙂
Petition to cover the extended rail services that were missed in the Stockholm video
Great! I wonder how they finance this! Amount spent per capita and how much is from fares and taxes compared to other places? More mass transit is the future and people get that, in any case. Also, probably less expensive per individual.
The wide cars are fun. Best cars I’ve been in were French TER cars between Colmar and Mulhouse- like a designer’s dream come true.
So interesting to see local variations on mass transit- same task, many ways to do it. Cheers thanks
I see you didn't went up to the museum Louisina and further up to Elsinore where you would have found out that the train-system have been downgraded a lot the last years and you cannot any more go direct from the airport up to Elsinore by one train ride but have to make complicated change to another train.
I think the video is a bit superfucial it doesn‘t really explain how the swiss integrated time table actually works.
How it connects big cities and smaller villages.
A short explanation would be that the less connection a point has the more likely he is integrated into the main tact which is hourly.
But some connection are tacted on 1/4 hour.
Meaning it is also importent to balance the system and have a focus on the main tact since that is the one most people will use.
The interesting thing about the line A and E line timetable is that it dates back to the steam era. Until the 60's the northern part of the line was served by normal steam and diesel-hauled express trains (today's line A), while the "stop service" from Holte (today's line E) were served by the first generation S-Trains. When the northern part of the route became part of the S-Train network, the original timetable was kept. Up until the 90's the A-line didn't stop at all between Holte and Østeport. The original reason for having this timetable was that the weatlhy passengers on the northern part of the line saw S-Trains as a form of transport for the lower classes, so we ended up with this weird S-Train/Express train hybrid that lasted for decades. The original S-Trains on line A also had first class, which was a major headache for DSB, because it meant that they had multiple S-Train sets that could ONLY be used on that line, and when the southern route of the A-line was opened, they had to lock the first class carriage while the train was operating on that section. A troublesome and expense solution just to make a minority of passengers happy, but that's how it was back then.
Great video, but unfortunately you’ve misunderstood how the express/local services works. At 9:28 the E line doesn’t go all the way up to Hillerød. It starts down in Holte. Conversely, only the E line goes to Køge on the southern side, with the A line terminating at Solrød Strand. Evenings, weekends and holidays the E line disappears and the A line stops at all stations because the frequency is reduced.
Good video, with a lot of good information about the S-train and Metro service in Copenhagen.
However – there are also some incorrect information.
1: The metro trains of line M1, M2, M3 and M4 are not the same. Trains for line M1 and M2 are 1. generation driverless trains from ansaldobreda. Lately, the Metro also received 8 new (6. generation) trains in addition to the 1. generation trains. They have their own Cleaning and Maintenance Center at Vestamager station. Trains for M3 and M4 are 5. generation driverless metro trains (also from ansaldobreda). They have their own Cleaning and Maintenance Center at Otto Buses Vej / Vabygade.
2: The shape of the S-trains are NOT inspired by the shape of the DSB logo! The current DSB logo is from 2014, while the first of the current generation of S-trains was delivered in 1995. The shape of the current logo is however taken from the logo of the S-train network, which have been around since 1934 in different revisions. However, the shape of the S-trains are not in any way inspired with the shape of either the current DSB logo or S-train logo. The shape was chosen solely to get the widest width of the cars, while complying with the allowed maximum clearance profile.
The part about the a and e s-tog was soooooo wrong
You got all the good parts right, the Metro and the S-trains have totally changed how we travel inside Copenhagen. But you left out the bad part: Connectivity with the buses.
Most buslines have been changed, so they no longer run along the routes they have followed since forever, making it a nightmare for copenhageners used to the old routes to figure out which bus to take. This is not a big problem, though, over time we will learn the new routes and get used to them as well. The problem is that the planners wanted to optimize bus transport now they were at it, and force as many passengers as possible onto the new trains to make them economically viable. This however resulted in that quite a few parts of the city, which have no Metro or S-trains nearby, are now a lot less less connected to the rest of the city than before.
I have a kilometer to the nearest train station, and i used to have five different bus routes to choose from; now my neighborhood is served by only two. So I find myself waiting a lot more than I used to. And when the bus shows up at last, it takes a totally ridiculous route just to ensure that it does not duplicate the train routes and thus takes away some passenger traffic from the trains.
So while the infrastructure plan as a whole is quite good, and public transport generally have been much improved, it still suffers from certain constraints, that are caused by stupid economic decisions rather than a commitment to ease of use and maximized user satisfaction. If you don't live near a Metro or S-trainstation, you are basically fucked and worse off as a Copenhagener than you ever were since the introduction of busses and trams.
Yea, Copenhagen has a great and solid transportation system. The rest of the country, not so much tho…
Please make a video about the Rotterdam metro system
Great great video, and super odd seeing my own suburbs station 😅
I loved the Copenhagen public transit network when I visited; easy to navigate and use, and took us pretty much everywhere we wanted to go. And that was (just) before the M3 and M4 lines had opened! Visiting the 8 House/Mountain House/etc along the M1 branch and seeing how the city/development was planned to work with public transit was great to see as well. 🙂
Reece! After Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki, I now wait for a video on Gothenburg which is changing a lot right now! 😎😎😎
I really like seeing trams come back in Copenhagen. My dads uncle was the driver of the last tram in Denmark, Line 5 from the depot to the terminus, then rode shotgun on the final trip back. This was April 22 1972. He would be pleased to see the trams coming back.
Good video (watched the 24 hour availability one aswell). I'm a control room operator on M1/M2 and can agree with a lot of your points. The trains on M3/M4 are totally different in technology and operating them. M1/M2 is like generation 1 and M3/M4 generation 8 or something. I couldn't operate their trains and vice versa, same for the technicians. We do have to close down from time to time to do full system maintenance which is like 5 weekdays every 8th week or so. As you say it's very important to have the system built for 24 hour service from the start, with power sections, track separation and so forth. One thing you left out is independent switch-coupling, disengaging the flank protection on crossovers. Nighttime is ofcourse the busiest time in the metro actually, even though we have the least passengers (sometimes so little you might think it would be more economic to just get them a taxi).