A Danish solution to high rail passenger numbers

Photo taken in the Danish Railway Museum, Odense.

Daylight and artificial light are very different, when they appear together in a photo it is not possible to eliminate the yellow tones of the area in artificial lighting. However, they have been considerably reduced here.


This fascinating, well presented museum has displays and activities to interest all ages. Labels and explanations in Danish and English; thorough explanations of the development of the Danish railway system since 1844; detailed models and videos of the technology used in the relatively recent (1991 - 1998) contruction of the Great Belt Fixed Link; model railways; real steam train rides. A thrilling experience for all the family.

The photograph shows a late 19th century locomotive and carriage. To accommodate high passenger numbers another storey has been added to the carriage. The addition has a central corridor with low headspace and wooden seats. The running board running the whole length of the carriage was used by the conductor during travel to check the tickets of the passengers below through the windows of their the separate compartments. He would then have climbed the wooden ladder to deal with tickets in the open-plan compartment on top. The two-storey idea was not repeated, perhaps the lack of private space was part of the problem.

The first Danish railway was built in 1844 between Altona and Kiel - towns then on Danish territory -to preempt plans by British and North German interests for a Hamburg to Luebeck line running entirely across German territory. The purpose of the link was to facilitate and speed the carriage of goods between the North Sea to the Baltic. (Hamburg and Altona are on the North Sea; Kiel and Lubeck on the Baltic.)


The development of the Danish railway system, which started as early as 1844, was a major factor in improving communications and transport within the country.

Denmark's geography is complicated. From west to east, its principal components (including today's connecting bridges, which carry both trains and vehicles) are:
Jutland, part of the European mainland; principal city Aalborg
- then a 1 mile bridge (completed 1935) over the Little Belt to
the island of Funen; principal city Odense
- then a 13 mile bridge (completed 1997) over the Great Belt to
the island of Zealand; principal city and Danish capital Copenhagen.
From Zealand an 8 mile bridge (completed 2000) crosses the Oresund further eastwards, into Sweden.

Long before the constuction of the two Danish bridges, train ferries were in operation across the two Belts. Both services started in 1883 and were discontinued only when the bridges were completed.

A train ferry has rails which are used to transport the train carriages and their passengers; a different locomotive is used at the end of each crossing. [A train ferry is usually known to transatlantic blippers as a "car ferry" and a car ferry is an "auto ferry".]