Transport in Denmark

The Great Belt Fixed Link connecting the islands of Zealand and Funen across the Great Belt was opened in 1997

Transport in Denmark is developed and modern. The motorway network now covers 1,111 km^[1] while the railway network totals 2,667 km of operational track.^[2] The Great Belt Fixed Link (opened in 1997) connecting the islands of Zealand and Funen and the New Little Belt Bridge (opened in 1970) connecting Funen and Jutland have improved the traffic flow across the country on both motorways and rail. The airports of Copenhagen and Billund provide a variety of domestic and international connections while ferries provide services to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom as well as routes to the Danish islands.

Railways

Main article: Rail transport in Denmark

Copenhagen Central Station, standing S-trains

The largest railway operator in Denmark is Danske Statsbaner (DSB) — Danish State Railways. Arriva operates some routes in Jutland, and several other smaller operators provide local services.

The total length of operational track is 2,667 km, 640 km electrified at 25 kV AC, 946 km double track (2008).^[3] 508 km is privately owned and operated. Track is standard gauge.

The railway system is connected to Sweden by bridge in Copenhagen and ferry in Helsingør and Frederikshavn, by land to Germany in Padborg and ferry in Rødby and to Norway by ferry in Hirtshals.

Roads

Motorways in Denmark

Main article: Road traffic in Denmark

Further information: Motorways in Denmark

The road network in 2008 totalled 73,197 km of paved road, including 1,111 km of motorway.^[4] Motorways are toll-free except for the Great Belt Bridge joining Zealand and Funen and the Øresund Bridge linking Copenhagen to Malmö in Sweden.

Bicycling

Main article: Bicycling in Denmark

Bicycling in Denmark is a common and popular recreational and utilitarian activity. Bicycling infrastructure is a dominant feature of both city and countryside infrastructure with bicycle paths and bicycle ways in many places and an extensive network of bicycle routes extending more than 12,000 kilometres (7,500 mi) nationwide^[5] (in comparison Denmark's coastline is 7,314 kilometres (4,545 mi)). As a unique thing, Denmark has a VIN-system for bicycles which is mandatory by law. Often bicycling and bicycle-culture in Denmark is compared to the Netherlands as a bicycle-nation.

Air

Aalborg airport in the north of Jutland

In 2008, a total of 13,051,000 passengers departed from Danish airports compared to 13,036,000 in 2007.^[6]

Copenhagen Airport is the largest airport in Scandinavia, handling 9,691,000 departing passengers per year (2008). It is located at Kastrup, 8 km south-east of central Copenhagen. It is connected by train to Copenhagen Central Station and beyond as well as to Malmö and other towns in Sweden.

For the west of the country, the major airport is Billund (1,261,000 departing passengers in 2008) although both Aalborg (519,000 departing passengers in 2008) and Aarhus (287,000 departing passengers in 2008) have smaller airports with regular connections to Copenhagen.

List of airports

Further information: List of the largest airports in the Nordic countries

Denmark's main airports are:

• Copenhagen Airport (CPH), Scandivia's busiest passenger airport located at Kastrup to the south-east of Copenhagen city and handling over 21 million passengers a year.
• Billund Airport (BLL), in central Jutland, one of Denmark's busiest cargo centres as well as a popular charter airline destination and an airport for regular flights serving 2.4 million passengers a year, mainly from the western part of the country.
• Aalborg Airport (AAL), located 5 km northwest of Aalborg, is Denmark's third busiest airport serving around 1,4 million passengers a year in connections with 25 European destinations and one of Europes busiest domestic lines to Copenhagen.
• Aarhus Airport (AAH), located 39 km northeast of Århus, serves some 540,000 passengers a year.

Other airports include:

• Karup Airport (KRP) near Viborg in the west of Jutland, mainly serving Copenhagen with some 200,000 passengers a year.
• Bornholm Airport (RNN) 5 km from the centre of Rønne in the southwest of the island of Bornholm, with several regular flights to Copenhagen a day.
• Esbjerg Airport (EBJ), a small airport in the west of Jutland with regular flights to Aberdeen and Stavanger (although primarily serving North Sea Oilrigs).
• Sønderborg Airport ([SGD), in the very south of Jutland with connections to Copenhagen.
• Roskilde Airport (RKE), 7 km southeast of Roskilde and some 38 km southwest of Copenhagen, serves mainly airtaxi and private business traffic.^[7]

Sea

Rødbyhavn ferry terminal on Lolland

Denmark's ports handle some 48 million passengers and 109 million tonnes of cargo per year.^[8]

Passenger traffic

Passenger traffic is made up partly of ferry crossings within Denmark, partly of international ferry crossings and partly of cruise ship passengers.

Among the most important ports for passenger traffic (thousands of passengers per year in 2007) are:

• Helsingør 10,966
• Rødbyhavn 7,058
• Frederikshavn 2,894
• Sjællands Odde 2,233
• Esbjerg 1,827
• Gedser 1,612
• Aarhus 1,583
• Rønne 1,522
• Ebeltoft 962
• Copenhagen 872

Map of Denmark major cities/ports: Aalborg (top), Esbjerg, Struer (left), Aarhus, Fredericia, Kalundborg, Odense (map center), Grenå (upper center), Køge (right center).

In 2007, 288 cruise ships visited Copenhagen.

Cargo traffic

Among the most important ports for cargo traffic (millions of tonnes per year in 2007) are:

• Fredericia 15,326
• Aarhus 12,189
• Copenhagen 7,379
• Helsingør 4,480
• Esbjerg 4,476
• Kalundborg 3,714
• Frederikshavn 3,200
• Aalborg Portland 2,999
• Aalborg 2,749
• Odense 2,616

Waterways

There are no manmade waterways in Denmark. There is however a 160 km route through the Limfjorden in northern Jutland linking the North Sea to the Kattegat.^[9]

Pipelines

Figures for 2007:

Crude oil

110 km

Petroleum products

578 km

Natural gas

800 km

Merchant marine

Total

336 ships (with a volume of 1,000 gross register tons (GRT) or over) totaling 5,190,227 GRT/

6,815,128 metric tons deadweight (DWT)

Ships by type

Bulk carrier

12

Cargo ship

132

Chemical tanker

22

Container ship

70

Liquified gas

26

Livestock carrier

6

Petroleum tanker

24

Rail car carrier

1

Refrigerated cargo

13

Roll-on/Roll-off

19

Short-sea passenger

8

Specialized tanker

3 (1999 est.)

^[10]

See also

• Denmark
• Road traffic in Denmark
• Hydrogen link network
• Transport in the Faroe Islands

References

1. ^ Road network by type of road and time (2008). Statistics Denmark. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
2. ^ Railway network 1st January by unit, railway system and time (2008). Statistics Denmark. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
3. ^ Railway network 1st January by railway system and unit (2008). Statistics Denmark. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
4. ^ Road network 1st January by part of the country and type of road (2008). Statistics Denmark. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
5. ^ "Cykelruter og regioner" (in Danish). VisitDenmark. http://www.visitdenmark.dk/danmark/da-dk/menu/turist/inspiration/aktivferie/cykel/cykel-ruter-og-regioner.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-16. 
6. ^ Departing passengers from major manned, public airports by airport, type of transport and flight. Statistics Denmark. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
7. ^ Countrywise Airport Codes
8. ^ Call of vessels, passengers and throughput of goods in traffic ports by seaport and unit. Statistics Denmark. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
9. ^ World Canals - Denmark. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
10. ^ Denmark has created its own internal register, called the Danish International Ship register (DIS); DIS ships do not have to meet Danish manning regulations, and they amount to a flag of convenience within the Danish register (1998 est.)

External links

• Public transportation Route Planner
• Online Map, Address lookup
• Copenhagen Airports
• S-train and Danish train schedules
• Copenhagenize - Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog
• Metro information
• All railway tracks
• City of Copenhagen: City of Cyclists
• Truck transport Denmark