Danish trains
When I was visiting Denmark recently we were camping a little outside and we took the suburban railway right into the middle of Copenhagen. Like many cites in the rest of Europe they already have their cross rail (we could easily have South Cross Rail in London as the investment would be about the same as the public relations costs on Cross Rail itself).
Our campsite was on the edge of the Copenhagen suburb of Gleve. Gleve’s rail station was in its town centre – about 800m from our campsite. Our walk from the campsite to the rail station was car-free. Once at the station, buying the tickets was easy. I suspect most of the commuters had season tickets and the daily passengers could use the automatic ticket machines. But we wanted special tourist tickets for a few days and we felt that we needed a little help from a member of staff. This station was not big, but because the ticket office was also a shop and café it was open for far longer hours than a similar station in Britain.
So far so good. The trains were of a far higher specification than I have experienced in Britain for suburban lines. I do not know about your local trains but ours have improved significantly, in terms of comfort, over recent years. Yet these Danish trains were better still. I particularly liked three aspects: the indicator boards inside the carriage showed where you were on the line; not only could one see through to the next carriage but the carriages ran into each other like a long tube; and the best one was the facilities provided for cyclists. These were seats alongside slots for bikes to fit into – a flexible combination.
However, the best part was the warmth of Danes travellers themselves. Yes, I know that we were foreigners and we had children so it was relatively easy for them to strike up a conversation. But this was a commuter train so why were they so relaxed?
Photo: © Peter Thornvig
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Danish Trains
Andrew Davis's comment is very pertinent. In a word the Danish system is user friendly - hence the bit about the ticket office arrangements & helpful information.
Too many of our UK rural stations are unmanned; hopelessly uninformative & the service itself unreliable. It isn't surprising that they are under-used; one suspects that the companies would like to get rid of stops that they do so little to advertise. But we've got to ensure that they are seen as key parts of the network, to reduce the necessity to drive to distant railheads. There is even something to be said for the 'hail the driver-tell the guard' system as a way of keeping stops in the timetable, but avoiding stopping/starting for nobody!