Metro In Five Minutes

Copenhagen is building a Metro that will link parts of the Danish capital in a new way. For the first time ever, the large urban areas to the east and west will be linked with the city centre acting as the hub.


The Route

First part of the Metro opens 19. October 2002. This part runs from Nørreport to Lergravsparken and from Nørreport to Ørestad.


In May 2003 phase 2A from Nørreport to Frederiksberg opens. Phase 2B from Frederiksberg to Vanløse opens later that year. The last part of the Metro, running to Copenhagen Airport, opens in 2007. The total distance of the route is 21 km. 10 km elevated or on embankment and the rest in tunnels.


There will be 22 stations. Nine below ground and 13 above ground stations. Metro's lowest point is 33 m below ground level. The tunnel stations are situated between 9 and 18 m below ground.


There is never more than 300 m to the nearest exit in the tunnels. Either to a station or a tunnel shaft (emergency exit).


The Train

There will be a total of 34 train sets on the tracks. In the initial phase, though, there will only be 19 sets. A Metro train consists of 3 cars. The length is 39 m and the width is 2,65 m. There is room for 300 passengers in each train set, corresponding to approx. 5 city buses. 96 passengers will have a seat and 204 may stand. Busses and trains in the capital region use the same ticket system as the Metro.


The Metro has a top speed of 80 km/h and the average travelling speed is 40 km/h, which is 3 times more than that of a city bus. Travel time from the terminus in Vanløse to terminus Vestamager is only 26 minutes.


There is no driver in the trains, as the trains are fully automatic. There is, however, a metro steward in every train set. His job is to check the tickets, provide information and help the passengers.


The trains are designed by Giugaro Design in Italy. Giugaro develops a range of industrial designs from Canon cameras to cars such as Bugatti and VW Golf. Graceful lines and elegant details combined with a high level of functionality characterize the trains.





Timetables

The Metro is designed to run around the clock with headways down to just 90 sec. In the first months of operation, rush hour intervals between trains will be 3 minutes on the main line and 6 minutes on the lines to Ørestad and Lergravsparken. Intervals will then decrease to 90 sec on the main line.


The trains run every 15 minutes throughout the night. During the first months, night service will be available during the weekends only.


Construction and Economy

The Comet consortium is the general contractor for the Metro tunnels, underground stations and elevated railway. Comet is an international joint venture of leading contractors from several fields.
Ansaldo is the railway supplier and has built the Metro trains. It is an Italian corporation with 37 subsidiaries around the World - and 6,000 employees. Ørestad Development Corporation has two assignments - to build Copenhagen's new Metro and to develop the new neighbourhood Ørestad at Amager. The ØDC is a partnership between Copenhagen City (55 %) and the State (45 %) represented by the Minister of transportation.


Metro Service A/S Runs and maintains the Metro during the first five years. The company is a sub contractor to Ansaldo.


The Metro’s budget for the 3 phases is DKK 12.3 billion (2006 price level). The construction is financed by loans that will be paid back in 25-30 years. The funds for the repayment come from the operation, sale of land in Ørestad and through contributions from Frederiksberg City and Copenhagen County.