DENMARK: København’s S-bane suburban trains have started using CBTC through the cross-city core, following the commissioning of the new signalling over the weekend of January 15-16.
The latest stage in Banedanmark’s phased introduction of digital train control covered the dedicated S-bane tracks from Nordhavn in the north through København H to Carlsberg and Sydhavn in the south, replacing analogue signalling dating from the 1970s. The cross-city core is used by all of the capital’s S-bane services apart from the orbital ring Line F.
As part of its national Signalling Programme, Banedanmark awarded a €252m contract to Siemens in July 2011 for resignalling the self-contained 170 route-km S-bane network, which is electrified at 1·5 kV DC. Siemens Mobility is supplying Trainguard MT CBTC, Sicas electronic interlockings and point machines, together with a new operations control centre.
A pilot section between Jægersborg and Hillerød went live in January 2016, at which stage the six-phase migration was expected to be completed in 2018.
Describing the changeover as ‘a technological quantum leap’, Banedanmark’s Signalling Programme Director Thilde Restofte Pedersen said it had been ‘a huge operation’, but the commissioning had been completed successfully. ‘Every day, many thousands of people travel by S-bane in and around København, and therefore we are completely in touch with the capital’s beating traffic heart when we renew the signalling through the inner city.’
The cross-city core is the penultimate section of the resignalling to be completed. The final phase covering the southern and western routes from Sydhavn to Køge and from Carlsberg to Høje Taastrup and Frederikssund is now scheduled to be commissioned at the end of 2022.
Completion of the CBTC rollout is expected to pave the way for a transition to fully-automated train operation when DSB procures its next generation of S-bane trainsets.
‘We have taken a big step into the decade of the railway’, commented Minister of Transport Benny Engelbrecht. ‘The new signalling system has been taken into use on more than half of the S-bane network, and this is truly good news for passengers in public transport. We can look forward to even better, more punctual and more timely train operation without unnecessary cancellations due to signal errors. In the coming years, we must take many more steps towards an attractive, well-functioning and green railway in Denmark.’
