DSB expands Nonstop services from Copenhagen to Aarhus

DSB introduced an additional pair of Nonstop services between Copenhagen and Aarhus this week aimed at making rail more attractive to business travellers.

The new 05:53 departure from Aarhus - Denmark's second city - arrives in Copenhagen at 08:42, and a corresponding additional return at 17:20 makes it feasible to conduct a whole day's business in the capital.

Journey times are 2 hours 40 mins, and with onboard internet access and catering facilities business passengers can make substantial productivity gains compared with driving.

The full press release (in Danish) is here.

Bids submitted for S-banen resignalling

Invensys Rail has submitted its bid for the massive S-banen resignalling project. The company was unable to reveal further details of it's bid, which is being evaluated against competing offers from four other groups, but the company has a growing portfolio of similar projects under way around the world, including Singapore, Sao Paulo, Madrid and London.

Banedanmark expects to announce the winner of the contract in the second quarter of 2011.

Major infrastructure work completes on time

Suburban trains between Svanemollen and Lyngby, and between Ryoarken, Hellerup and Klampenborg began running this week following major engineering work, though signalling problems this morning at Hellerup might have taken some of the gloss of the successful completion.

DSB's online growth continues

DSB's online ticketing service continues to prove popular, with a new survey placing www.dsb.dk as the most popular online retail site in the country - ahead of global giants such as Amazon and ITunes.

The 18-34 year old segment is said to be the fastest growing, and DSB is aggressively targeting the market with print at home tickets and other innovations. Online ticket sales account for more than half of DSB's customer base, and around DKr 50 million in revenue every month.

Nørreport revival planned

Planning work has started on a major upgrade of Denmark's busiest station. Nørreport, the sub-surface station in the centre of Copenhagen (and a busy interchange with the Metro and buses), has long needed attention caused by the deterioration of the 100-year-old tunnel roof, and finally the city authorities are taking the opportunity to completely replan the area.

The station today entrance is currently situated in the middle of a busy road and the plan is to reroute the road to the north of the station creating a large pedestrian area between the station and the mediaeval town. New ticket offices and bicycle parking facilities will be built when the work on the renewal of the station roof is complete.

The entire project is due to be completed in 2014.