Copenhagen–Fredericia/Taulov Line

The Copenhagen–Fredericia/Taulov Line is the Danish railway line between the capital, Copenhagen, and the Jutland peninsula by way of the islands of Zealand and Funen. It is administered by Banedanmark and has a length of about 220 kilometres (140 mi). Being one of the main arteries of the Danish railway network, it has double track and is fully electrified.

København – Fredericia / Taulov
The Copenhagen–Fredericia Line crossing the Great Belt by the Great Belt Bridge.
Overview
Termini	Copenhagen Central Fredericia, Taulov
Service
Type	Main line
Operator(s)	DSB Railion CFL Cargo[1]
Technical
Line length	220.6 km (Fredericia branch) 222.6 km (Taulov branch)
Number of tracks	Double Quadruple (Høje Taastrup–Roskilde)[2]
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC
Operating speed	160 km/h 180 km/h (certified multiple units only)[3]
Route map Legend km Kystbanen to Elsinore 0.0 Copenhagen Central Oresund Railway to Malmö Central 3.9 Valby Oresund Railway to Malmö Central 19.5 Høje Taastrup 24.2 Hedehusene 28.3 Trekroner 31.3 Roskilde Roskilde–Køge–Næstved line to Næstved Kalundborgbanen to Kalundborg 42.5 Viby Sj 49.7 Borup Copenhagen–Ringsted Line to Copenhagen 63.9 Ringsted Ringsted–Rødby Færge line to Rødby Færge 78.3 Sorø 92.9 Slagelse Tølløsebanen to Høng 108.3 Korsør Great Belt Tunnel ferry across Great Belt strait Great Belt Bridge Nyborg Færge 131.6 Nyborg 146.7 Langeskov 160.3 Odense Svendborgbanen to Svendborg 169.1 Holmstrup Assensbanen to Assens 175.5 Tommerup 178.8 Skalbjerg 181.1 Bred 184.7 Aarup 190.2 Gelsted 194.8 Ejby 200.1 Nørre Aaby 204.3 Kauslunde Stribbanen [da] to Strib 210.4 Middelfart Little Belt Bridge 216.3 Snoghøj 220.1 6.1 Fredericia–Padborg line 220.6 Fredericia Fredericia–Aarhus line to Aarhus 8.6 Taulov Fredericia–Padborg line to Padborg km This diagram: view talk edit

The line is composed of the railway line across Zealand (the West Line) and the main line across Funen (the Funen Main Line), both of which were built during the mid-19th century. Originally connected by the Great Belt ferries, these two lines were joined in 1997 by the Great Belt Fixed Link.

History

Early timetable of the Copenhagen–Roskilde railway line.

The first section of the railway line, the railway line from Copenhagen to Roskilde, opened in 1847 as the first railway line in the Kingdom of Denmark.^{[lower-alpha 1]} It was built for the privately owned Det Sjællandske Jernbaneselskab (English: the Zealand Railway Company) by British engineering company William Radford. The railway line was ceremonially opened on 26 June 1847, and the following day the railway opened to regular traffic with three trains daily in each direction.^[5] The Copenhagen–Roskilde railway line was prolonged from Roskilde to the port city of Korsør by the Great Belt in 1856.^[6][7]

The railway line across the island of Funen from Nyborg by the Great Belt via Odense to Middelfart by the Little Belt opened in 1865.^[8] It was built by the civil engineering partnership Peto, Brassey and Betts. The socalled Queen Louise's Railway was inaugurated on Queen Louise's 48th birthday the 7 September 1865, with regular traffic commencing the following day.^[9] In Middelfart, passengers could catch the steam ferry across the Little Belt to Snoghøj in the Jutland peninsula. The following year, on 1 november 1866, a short branch line, the Middelfart–Strib railway line, opened from Middelfart to the harbour at Strib 5 kilometers north of Middelfart, from where there was connection via railway ferry across the Little Belt to Fredericia in Jutland.^[10]

Poster from the inauguration of the Little Belt Bridge in 1935 by Sven Henriksen.

In 1935, with the opening of the Little Belt Bridge between Middelfart and Snoghøj, The Funen Main Line was connected directly to the railway network in Jutland at Fredericia.

Connections to other lines

• Being connected to Copenhagen, there are transfers to the S-train network, the Coast Line and the Oresund Railway.
• Roskilde station is linked to the Northwest Line and the Little South Line).
• The South Line joins the line at Ringsted (see also Fugleflugtslinjen).
• Slagelse station is a terminus for the Tølløse Line, operated by regional trains.
• The Svendborg Line starts at Odense station.
• The Fredericia–Aarhus Line continues northward through Jutland at Fredericia station.
• The Snoghøj–Taulov segment is a direct connection to the Fredericia–Padborg Line, avoiding the need to change direction at Fredericia.

See also

• List of railway lines in Denmark
• Transport in Denmark

Notes

1. The first railway line in the then Danish Monarchy was the Kiel-Altona railway line in the Duchy of Holstein which had been completed three years earlier. However, Holstein was later lost to the Kingdom of Prussia after the Second Schleswig War in 1864, and that railway line is today part of the German rail network.^[4]

References

Citations

1. "Togselskaber på statens jernbanenet" (in Danish). Banedanmark. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
2. "Sporantal". Archived from the original on 16 November 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2008.
3. "TIB (Ø)". Archived from the original on 18 December 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2008.
4. Jensen 1972, p. 11.
5. Jensen 1972, p. 13.
6. Jensen 1972, p. 12-16.
7. "Jernbanen KBH-Korsør" (in Danish). Kutlurstyrelsen. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
8. Jensen 1972, p. 28.
9. Jensen 1972, p. 28-29.
10. Jensen 1972, p. 31.

Bibliography

• Jensen, Niels (1972). Danske Jernbaner 1847–1892 (in Danish). Copenhagen: J. Fr. Clausens Forlag. ISBN 87-11-01765-1.

External links

• (in Danish) Banedanmark – government agency responsible for maintenance and traffic control of most of the Danish railway network
• (in Danish) DSB – largest Danish train operating company
• (in Danish) Danske Jernbaner – website with information on railway history in Denmark

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