It was a ground-breaking event when the Copenhagen Metro opened its first fully automated, driverless metro in 2002, M1/M2. Since then, it has become the most natural thing in the world for the citizens of Copenhagen to travel at speeds of 80km/h 18 metres below street level to avoid the traffic jams in the city centre.
In 2008, the Copenhagen Metro was awarded “The World’s Best Metro” by a jury of transport specialists from all over the world. The award was for the metro’s high level of stability and security, as well as a punctuality of more than 98% of all trains arriving on time. Because of the success, it was decided that the Copenhagen Metro should be expanded to also include Cityringen, M3 (a new City Circle Line). The 15.5 km line includes a total of 17 stations, which opened for passenger service in 2019. During the construction of Cityringen it was decided to extend the system further with two new stations in Nordhavn (M4), which opened in 2020. Construction of this line has increased the number of metro stations to 39 and M4 is extended with five more stations in Sydhavn, which are under construction and open in 2024. The M4 line ties new housing areas in Nordhavn and Sydhavn together with the older parts of Copenhagen.
Improving inner city transport
Now that the Cityringen is completed, 85% of all homes, workplaces and educational institutions in the inner city and its surrounding neighbourhoods will be less than a ten minute walk from a metro or train station. The total metro system in Copenhagen has more than 100 million yearly passengers. Cityringen is based on CBTC technology for the signalling system and runs with the same high punctuality as the first line (M1/M2)
Ramboll’s consultancy services encompassed all railway transportation system disciplines such as permanent way (track systems), traction power, power supply, automatic (driverless) train control systems, passenger information systems, telecom, rolling stock (the train fleet), railway safety and the automated train depots, which house maintenance facilities and the control centre for the system. For the line to Nordhavn Ramboll in JV with Arup provided consultancy also on the civil works. For the line to Sydhavn Ramboll has been safety assessor for civil works.
