Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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and which will link the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of
Fehmarn, thus substantially reducing the travelling time between
Copenhagen and mainland Germany. It is expected to be completed in 2018.
Denmark‘s domestic transportation system is well developed. Currently,
its main transport infrastructure consists of the road network, railway
network, 23 airports including Copenhagen Airport, and 120 seaports
(Statistics Denmark, 2008). Road and railway network form the shape of the
―Big H‖. A well-developed and high-quality transportation system of roads,
railways, airports and ports has given Denmark a top ranking in the IMD‘s
World Competitiveness Yearbook and in the World Economic Forum‘s
Global Competitiveness Report for several years. The challenge will be to
strengthen external links with Nordic countries and European continent.
A recent achievement in the Copenhagen metropolitan area is the
opening of the metro system. In 1992, the Danish Parliament permitted the
construction of a metro railway infrastructure and the development of a new
district (Ørestad) in Copenhagen. Metro construction started in 1994, and
the first phase was completed and opened to the public in 2002. The
continuing construction expanded the metro system, including the link
between the city centre and the international airport in 2007. Currently, the
city ring line is being constructed and will be completed at 2018 at the
earliest. When the city ring is finished, 85% of all traffic destinations in the
city centre will be within 600 metres of a Metro or S-train station. The metro
is fully automated and operated from a computer centre in Ørestad. The
automation enabled high frequency of as much as 100 seconds of interval
during rush hours and two to three minutes during off-peak hours. The
system is stable, with 99% of trains on time in 2007. Construction costs are
financed by user fees and proceeds from real estate development abutting
the metro line, making the project financially self-supporting (Box 2.4).
Some studies show the impact of the metro opening on transportation in
Copenhagen as positive in terms of traffic growth, inducing more longdistance
travel. The metro opening also caused some modal change. The
metro carried around 40 million passengers in 2007. The Metro Rail
conference, consisting of experts from metro systems around the world,
awarded the Copenhagen Metro the ―Best Metro‖ award in 2008. It is
reported that the experts highly evaluated its operational reliability, the
speed of the new line to the airport, the system‘s safety level, and the
growing passenger rating.