Oresund Line

Oresund Line
The Oresund Bridge
Overview
Type	High-speed railway
System	Danish railways Swedish railways
Termini	Fosieby Copenhagen Central Station
Stations	4
Operation
Opened	2000
Owner	Swedish Transport Administration Banedanmark
Operator(s)	DSB DSBFirst SJ Skåne commuter rail Railion
Character	Passenger and freight
Rolling stock	X2 X31 EG
Technical
Line length	38 km
Track length	76 km
No. of tracks	Double
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC 25 kV 50 Hz AC

Oresund Line (Swedish: Öresundbanan, Danish: Øresundbanen) is a railway between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden via the Oresund Bridge. On the Swedish side the railway infrastructure is managed by Swedish Transport Administration, on the Danish side the railway infrastructure is managed by Banedanmark.

The railway line continues from the Continental Line south of Malmö and heads west passing over the Oresund Bridge on the lower section, the artificial island Peberholm, under Copenhagen Airport to Copenhagen Central Station. In Malmö, the City Tunnel has been built to connect the railway directly to Malmö Central Station, without having to operate it as a terminal station.

Since 11 January 2009, Oresundtrains are operated by DSBFirst between Copenhagen and Malmö, with connections to Gothenburg, Kalmar and Karlskrona. On the Danish side, many trains continue northwards on the Coast Line to Helsingør. DSB operates Oresundtrains to Ystad with ferry connection to Bornholm. SJ operates X 2000 high-speed trains between Stockholm, Malmö and Copenhagen, and Oresundtrains between Gothenburg and Copenhagen. Freight trains are operated by Railion using EG locomotives.

History

Plans for connecting Scania and Zealand with a bridge had been raised throughout the entire 20th century, but in 1991, a company was created to start the work. Construction of the Oresund Bridge and Oresund Railway started in 1995 and was completed in 2000.

City Tunnel

Since December 2010, Oresundtrains go through the new City Tunnel in Malmö, with the new stations Hyllie and Triangeln. It saves one minute for passengers to Malmö C, and about 15 to 20 minutes for passengers to points north thereof.

Border technicalities

One of the challenges with the line was incompatibility between the railway electrification between Denmark and Sweden. Denmark uses 25 kV 50 Hz AC while Sweden uses 15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC. The signalling system is also different between the two countries. The problem was solved by switching the signalling system on Peberholm, while the entire bridge uses the Danish electrical system. All the trains that operate on the line must therefore be equipped with dual electrical adaption systems, and dual signalling system, including a minority of the X2 trains operated throughout Sweden by SJ.

Also, on double tracks in Denmark, trains run on the right hand side and in Sweden on the left. On the Oresund Line, trains runs on right, changing side at the Malmö terminus station.

Line

• Sweden
  • Fosieby (0 / 38 km) – line leaves Continental Line
  • Malmö South Station (4 / 34 km)
  • Lernacken (10 / 28 km) – Enter the Oresund Bridge, switch of electric current.
• Denmark
  • Peberholm (21 / 17 km) – Change of signaling system
  • Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup Station (29 /9 km)
  • Tårnby Station (31 / 7 km)
  • Ørestad Station (32 / 6 km) – Metro crosses the Oresund Railway
  • Copenhagen Central Station (38 / 0 km) - terminus

X2000 trains only stop at Malmö C, Copenhagen Airport / Kastrup and Copenhagen H. Oresundtrains stop at all stations.

External links

• Banverket page on Öresundbanan
• Järnväg.net page on Öresundbanan