DANES ARE ACCEPTING SKÅNETRAFIKEN’S TAKEOVER AT COPENHAGEN AIRPORT

Until recently passengers could go from this platform on Hellerup Station all the way to Copenhagen Airport. Photo: Lucas Francis Claver

BY LUCAS FRANCIS CLAVER

After years of delays on the Swedish-Danish train connection between Elsinore, Denmark, and Ystad, Sweden, the Danish State Railway (DSB) has cut ties to Skånetrafiken to increase punctuality. Skånetrafiken have taken over the rails between Copenhagen Airport and Østerport and claimed the historical Danish Coastal Railway’s place on the airport’s platforms. 

While this might be good news for Swedes who wants to visit Copenhagen, the changes in connections and timetables have sparked rage among mayors and citizens of the Zealand east coast in the past months due to the fact that they can no longer go directly to Copenhagen Airport by train. 

Thelocal.se visited Hellerup Station – a busy stop on the Coastal Railway – to speak to passengers about the change. But the Danes seem to accept the new reality.

“I actually don’t really care,” Bjarne Rathje, optometrist from Hellerup, says and adds: “I trust DSB’s calculations”. 

Susanne Kaastrup, therapy consultant from Helsingør, admits that she will miss the direct line to the airport.

“I always loved to be able to go from Helsingør straight to the airport. It has become a bit more of a hassle when travelling now,” she says, but adds: “It is still easy to get off the train and change to the metro. It could be worse”.

(This story is for an internationally oriented audience (including expats) in Sweden – mostly southern Sweden – and could be published on thelocal.se)