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LEARNING DANISH

Sporarbejde? The words that will help you navigate public transport in Denmark

Commuting to work is hardly the most joyful of experiences whatever the scenario, but when your train hasn't shown up and the PA announcements are in a language you don't speak, it can go from mild annoyance to major frustration.

Published: 4 September 2023 15:41 CEST
Updated: 2 March 2024 17:15 CET
Sporarbejde? The words that will help you navigate public transport in Denmark
This guide won't stop your train from being delayed, but it might help you navigate the travel chaos. Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

Types of transport

Firstly, it’s key to be aware that the types of public transport in Denmark vary from city to city, and may be different to what you’re used to in your home country.

Most of Denmark’s towns and cities are served by bus (bus, plural busser) and train (tog, plural tog). In Copenhagen, there’s an underground Metro and a metropolitan overground train, the S-tog (S-train). The second- and third-largest cities, Aarhus and Odense, both have recently-constructed light rail networks, called letbane in Danish.

In Copenhagen, the rejsekort, the pre-pay card used for public transport all over Denmark, is also valid on the havnebus or harbour bus that can sometimes ferry commuters across the city quicker than other transport forms – or at least provide some nice surroundings while doing so.

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 The different kinds of train are also worth a mention. For longer distances, you can choose regional trains (regionaltog), which serve mid-distance routes, and fast trains which only stop at larger cities (intercity lyntog). Local trains are often given individual names, like the kystbanen (“coast rail”) service that runs between Copenhagen and Helsingør.

Common announcements

The phrase you’ll sometimes hear when you get on board one of Copenhagen’s underground trains is dørene lukker (the doors are closing).

On distance trains, loudspeaker announcements often encourage passengers not to efterlade personlige ejendele uden opsyn (leave personal belongings unattended). Such items risk being fjernet uden ansvar (removed at no liability).

Regular announcements will let you know the næste station (next station), and if it’s the last station on the service, you’ll be told toget kører ikke videre (this train does not continue onwards).

On a bus, the display might read næste stoppested (next stop), or simply the name of the stop.

Delays and problems

Two phrases to look out for are tog aflyst and togtraffiken påvirket (train cancelled and rail services affected) and forsinkelser (delays).

Some of the most common issues are a signal failure (signalfejl), a problem with one of the carriages (vogne) such as a door not working, or the more mysteriously vague “technical failure” (teknisk fejl). Delays and cancellations at weekends could well be a result of sporarbejde (track maintenance).

Listening closely could help you work out how serious the issue is: sometimes the announcement will specify whether the hold-up is due to an earlier signal failure (tidligere signalfejl) or an ongoing, widespread issue (omfattende signalfejl).

If you’re lucky, your afgang (departure) won’t actually be delayed, but there might be a change in platform. This will be announced as a sporændring (literally a “track change”). These are displayed on the information boards in stations and on platforms.

Sometimes, trains will be replaced by togbusser (literally “train buses”, meaning rail replacement buses). Signs will direct you to the bus departure point, which will typically be right outside the station. Rail replacement buses are likely to be announced in advance, especially if they are in place because of sporarbejde (track maintenance).

Occasionally, industrial disputes result in strikes by rail staff, meaning major travel disruptions. The strikes will be described as a strejke (strike) if they are approved trade union strikes undertaken as part of collective bargaining negotiation. Wildcat strikes are less welcomingly received by DSB, the national rail operator, and will be described as overenskomststridige arbejdsnedlæggelser (walkouts in breach of collective bargaining agreements).

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What is a Danish collective bargaining agreement?

Finally, there’s the weather: trafikken i hele landet (traffic across the country) can be disrupted by vejrforhold (weather conditions) such as kraftige blæst (strong winds), or perhaps only flere strækninger (several sections) of the line will be affected.

These adverse weather conditions may cause ændringer i køreplanen (changes to the normal timetable), such as nedsatte afgange (reduced departures). Eventually, normal services will be genoptaget (resumed).

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TRAVEL NEWS

Do you really need to own a car living in Denmark?

Denmark is one of the most expensive countries in the world for owning a car, its public transport is one of the best, and if you want to cycle, it's mostly flat. There are few places where it makes more sense to ditch your car.

Published: 10 May 2024 16:35 CEST
Do you really need to own a car living in Denmark?

The case against owning a car in Denmark

Denmark’s Vehicle Registration Tax, together with VAT, more than doubles the cost of buying a petrol or diesel car, making owning a car considerably more expensive in Denmark than in its neighbours Germany and Sweden, although electric cars that cost less than 436,000 kroner are currently tax-exempt.

If you use a car to commute into Copenhagen, Aarhus, or Odense, you will also often find yourself stuck in traffic jams, with the Danish Roads Directorate estimating that Danes lose 365,000 hours to traffic jams every weekday, with the Motorring 3 motorway circling Copenhagen, other major access roads to Copenhagen, the E20 south of Odense, and the E45 on either side of Aarhus the most congested roads in the country.

Parking can also be expensive in Danish cities, costing as much as 500 Danish kroner for 24 hours for non-residents. 

How easy is it to get around inside Danish cities without a car? 

Denmark is a cycling nation.

According to Visit Denmark, in 2022, 25 percent of all trips under five kilometers across Denmark were done by bike, and 16 percent of all journeys of any kind. 

Copenhagen’s aim is for fully half of all trips to work and education to be done on bike by 2025. In 2019, the city was already on 44 percent. It’s a similar situation for smaller cities like Aarhus, Odense, Vejle, Aalborg and Esbjørg.

But even if you can’t or don’t want to cycle, you can still get by in most places without a car, thanks to Denmark’s excellent public transport networks.

Public transport in Denmark has significantly improved only over the last five years, with several new metro lines and light rail systems opening. 

With the Cityringen (M3) and Harbour lines (M4) opening in 2019 and 2020, respectively the Copenhagen Metro can now get you to most places in the city. 

Denmark scrapped its city tram systems in the 1960s and 1970s, with cities like Aarhus and Odense instead shifting to buses for public transport.

There has recently been a recent revival, however, with Aarhus, Odense and Copenhagen all opening or building new tram/light rail systems.

Odense Letbane opened in 2022, making it easy to get to the out of town shopping area where IKEA and other superstores are based and also to the new hospital. Aarhus Letbane opened in 2017, and takes passengers all the way up the coast around the city, from Odder in the south to Grenaa in the north.

Copenhagen next year plans to open a light-rail system which will travel in a ring around the city’s outer suburbs linking Lundtofte in the north to Ishøj in the southwest. 

This will end one of the big drawbacks of the city’s “five finger” transport corridor plan: that while it is quick to travel from the outer suburbs to the centre and vice versa, it is complicated to travel between suburbs which are on a different transport corridors, for example from Albertslund to Herlev, or from Birkerød to Buddinge. 

Even before that opens, however, so long as you are only travelling in and out from the centre, it is extremely convenient to get from central Copenhagen to its suburbs and surrounding towns using the S-trains, which run from 5am until half-past midnight on weekdays, and all night on Fridays and Saturdays. 

This means you can eat out and party with your friends until the small hours, and still normally get back to Køge, Høje Taastrup, Frederikssund, Farum and Hillerød, the furthest out stops. 

Where might you struggle without a car? 

Plans for a light railway or tram between Vejle and Billund, or between the so-called Triangle Region between the cities of Vejle, Kolding and Fredericia have so far come to nothing, and even though the local and regional bus and train services can be good, it’s certainly tougher to survive without a car if you don’t live on Zealand, near Aarhus, or perhaps on Funen. 

Many people do in fact live without owning a car even in the more far-flung villages on Jutland, and on islands like Bornholm, Lolland and Falster.

They still manage to get everywhere they want to go, but it does require waiting. It’s certainly possible to live without a car, but you might feel limited in where to and when you can travel. 

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