light railway to enhance mobility and urban development in Greater Copenhagen

The Capital Region is to have a new 28-kilometre light railway on Ring 3 to enhance mobility in Greater Copenhagen. The light railway will have 29 stations in central locations in the municipalities and close to large institutions such as the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Copenhagen University Hospital, Glostrup, and Herlev Hospital. That means it will run through eight municipalities from Ishøj in the south to Lyngby in the north and will connect to regional rail services and five S-train lines to form an efficient public transport system which is expected to carry 13-14 million passengers a year.

The light railway will be a top-class, sustainable, efficient and comfortable mode of public transport for passengers traversing the corridor across Greater Copenhagen each day. It will also act as a driver for growth and urban development and is expected to create up to 35,000 new jobs and attract more than 32,000 new inhabitants to the municipalities along the route.

In the design and tendering phase – before the tracks for the light railway can be laid – there will be a lot of preparatory work to plan and design the route and build new roads, bridges and tunnels to maintain the flow of traffic both during and after the construction of the light railway. The relocation of some 3000 pipes and cables also needs to be planned and coordinated to make room for the light railway.

COWI is drawing on its broad experience from a number of other light rail projects in Denmark and abroad.