Denmark: Great Belt (Storebælt) train ferry timetables

[Cloud Strife]

After a lovely visit to Denmark, I found myself wondering about the train ferries that used to cross from the island of Funen (Fyn) to Zealand (Sjælland).

Does anyone know anything more? I'm trying to find out:

1) Timetables for the train ferries. I believe/understand that they departed from Nyborg, while the car ferries departed from Knudshoved.
2) The location of the ferry dock in Nyborg. From being there, it seems that there's no trace today of the berth. There's a seemingly abandoned railway line running near the harbour there, but no sign of any physical connection to a dock.
3) Could foot passengers take the train ferries?

If anyone knows anything about the car ferry operations, I'd also be very grateful. Were they also run by DSB? And if so, what kind of timetable did they keep, or did they just run constantly with a turn-up-and-go type operation?

 

[30907]

After a lovely visit to Denmark, I found myself wondering about the train ferries that used to cross from the island of Funen (Fyn) to Zealand (Sjælland).

Does anyone know anything more? I'm trying to find out:

1) Timetables for the train ferries. I believe/understand that they departed from Nyborg, while the car ferries departed from Knudshoved.
2) The location of the ferry dock in Nyborg. From being there, it seems that there's no trace today of the berth. There's a seemingly abandoned railway line running near the harbour there, but no sign of any physical connection to a dock.
3) Could foot passengers take the train ferries?

If anyone knows anything about the car ferry operations, I'd also be very grateful. Were they also run by DSB? And if so, what kind of timetable did they keep, or did they just run constantly with a turn-up-and-go type operation?

I've got a 1981 Cooks from when I did the route, but I'm Interrailing for another week. .
As my mate and I were economically minded we didn't use the through coaches which required reservation, but walked on and off ( but paid for a steak lunch on board!).

 

[dutchflyer]

It all changed due to ever raising demand and putting new ships etc in service, so it really depends on what year. I guess there is probably a wiki-in dansk-about it with more specific data.
For a long while it was just a general ferry for all&sundry-people, bikes, cars, and with rails for trains if they went at times when trains also wanted to go over. To a prepublished timetable. Later on DSB ordered those ´LYNtoget´=lightning trains, 3-car diesel sets for the premium fast services. There also used to be a classic overnight train-with seated cars and couchette/liggevogn, which had to be split and put on ferry in parts. It may well have been in times of heavy demand they went more often as the official planning-except for the train-bound ones. Danes are a very practic type of people.
As car traffic grew&grew, they later added a special car-only ferry so to also keep that traffic away from the small towns. And the other ones kept on running as they did.
I believe it was indeed DSB itself (perhaps a sub-company owned by them for the ships) as DSB certainly also ran other ferries and in coöperation for many years with the germans and swedes to over there. They probably sold if off when the trains could go via the tunnel.
Location in the ports I do not know-others may

 

[Gloster]

Generally the train ferries were hourly, but possibly a bit thinner in the middle of the night. The route was Nyborg-Korsør, while the car ferries were Knudshoved-Halsskov: both were DSB, but latterly there might have been a competing car ferry, but I am not sure about that. There were also goods only train ferry sailings, which I think could also carry lorries with dangerous goods and a handful of drivers.

Foot passengers could travel on the car-ferries: local trains on both sides terminated/started from the ferry stations, so all those who couldn’t get a reservation on the through coaches/units would pile off the local, which arrived before the through train, and then grab the best seats on board. You could also just roll up if you weren’t making a train journey. Cars were also carried occasionally if the car ferry was absolutely overflowing.

Much of the area at Nyborg has been completely redeveloped: there used to be two stations, a loco depot and a marshalling yard. The ferry station was roughly south of the new station. The line that still exists goes out to Koppers’ chemical works on the south side of the harbour, but I don’t know if it is still used.

 

[StephenHunter]

Timetable World is a good place to start.

 

[JonasB]

It all changed due to ever raising demand and putting new ships etc in service, so it really depends on what year. I guess there is probably a wiki-in dansk-about it with more specific data.

There is: https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storebæltsoverfarten

 

[Cloud Strife]

Thank you everyone! I have some follow up questions:

I've got a 1981 Cooks from when I did the route, but I'm Interrailing for another week. .

If you could check when you have a chance, I'd greatly appreciate it!

As car traffic grew&grew, they later added a special car-only ferry so to also keep that traffic away from the small towns. And the other ones kept on running as they did.

Aha, this explains why the car ferries were using Knudshoved-Halsskov. The Nyborg motorway bypass was built as early as 1957 along with a section bypassing Halsskov, so they had already foreseen the rise in traffic.

The route was Nyborg-Korsør, while the car ferries were Knudshoved-Halsskov: both were DSB, but latterly there might have been a competing car ferry, but I am not sure about that.

Thanks, this allowed me to figure out what was going on there. It seems that Denmark built the motorway bypasses of Nyborg and Halsskov in the mid 1950s to remove the car ferry traffic from towns, although the rest of the motorway connections took far longer to be built.

Foot passengers could travel on the car-ferries: local trains on both sides terminated/started from the ferry stations, so all those who couldn’t get a reservation on the through coaches/units would pile off the local, which arrived before the through train, and then grab the best seats on board. You could also just roll up if you weren’t making a train journey. Cars were also carried occasionally if the car ferry was absolutely overflowing.

That's very very interesting, thank you for that! It certainly explains why they were using four different ports, rather than simply using a town centre to town centre service for everything. I've seen a picture of cars coming off the ferry in Nyborg, which was why I was so confused. I've now found a news article from the mid 1950s, talking about how the Danish parliament authorised the new route to take the pressure off the existing Great Belt ferry route:



The fact that even in 1953, 400,000 cars were crossing yearly explains why such big terminals were needed in Knudshoved-Halsskov. There was apparently a freight-only service that competed on this route with DSB, but it's a huge surprise that a private operator didn't try and take some of the traffic from DSB.

It is interesting to note that it seems much more difficult now to get from Nyborg to Korsør, as there's now a 3.5km walk from the station to the centre of the town.

Much of the area at Nyborg has been completely redeveloped: there used to be two stations, a loco depot and a marshalling yard. The ferry station was roughly south of the new station. The line that still exists goes out to Koppers’ chemical works on the south side of the harbour, but I don’t know if it is still used.

That explains it! I found the remains of the old ferry berths, but from looking at historical pictures, it's completely changed. I'm astonished at just how big the operation was in Nyborg in particular, and it must have come as a huge relief to people living there when all this infrastructure was removed.

 

[Gloster]

Thank you everyone! I have some follow up questions:



If you could check when you have a chance, I'd greatly appreciate it!



Aha, this explains why the car ferries were using Knudshoved-Halsskov. The Nyborg motorway bypass was built as early as 1957 along with a section bypassing Halsskov, so they had already foreseen the rise in traffic.



Thanks, this allowed me to figure out what was going on there. It seems that Denmark built the motorway bypasses of Nyborg and Halsskov in the mid 1950s to remove the car ferry traffic from towns, although the rest of the motorway connections took far longer to be built.



That's very very interesting, thank you for that! It certainly explains why they were using four different ports, rather than simply using a town centre to town centre service for everything. I've seen a picture of cars coming off the ferry in Nyborg, which was why I was so confused. I've now found a news article from the mid 1950s, talking about how the Danish parliament authorised the new route to take the pressure off the existing Great Belt ferry route:

View attachment 119287

The fact that even in 1953, 400,000 cars were crossing yearly explains why such big terminals were needed in Knudshoved-Halsskov. There was apparently a freight-only service that competed on this route with DSB, but it's a huge surprise that a private operator didn't try and take some of the traffic from DSB.

It is interesting to note that it seems much more difficult now to get from Nyborg to Korsør, as there's now a 3.5km walk from the station to the centre of the town.



That explains it! I found the remains of the old ferry berths, but from looking at historical pictures, it's completely changed. I'm astonished at just how big the operation was in Nyborg in particular, and it must have come as a huge relief to people living there when all this infrastructure was removed.

The Knudshoved-Halsskov route opened in 1957, but car-only ferries had run via Korsør-Nyborg since 1930. The first one (Heimdal) has been ordered by a private company, formed by a motoring association (I think), but was taken over by DSB before completion.

My recollection of the situation at Korsør before the wires reached the old station (1992, I think) was that the hourly train from Copenhagen stopped outside the station and was split. The loco would haul the front few coaches into the station, where the local passengers would get out, as would those travelling on the ferry as foot passengers (we got the best seats on the ferry). A shunter would couple on to the rear of the other coaches and propel them on to the ferry. At peaks there would usually be two trains: a full-length local and a through and the only splitting was of the through so that it could fit on two roads on the ferry. With the wires, there was always two: an electric local train and a diesel through one.

At Nyborg a local train would arrive at the main station and then run into the ferry station. Meanwhile, the through would stop at the main station, but I can’t remember if the loco was detached and the shunter came on the rear there or at the harbour, but I think the latter.

It wasn’t all good: closure of the ferry-link caused a lot of redundancies.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Thank you for that, it's incredibly interesting to read about how things were done there!

It wasn’t all good: closure of the ferry-link caused a lot of redundancies.

Yes, I can imagine just how many jobs were lost as a result. Google Earth shows just how big the site was in Knudshoved, and it seems that there were some kind of small petrol tankers and food/drink wagons driving around the site all day for travellers. There there would have been all the jobs associated with the actual railway and ferry operations, which appear to have been really substantial.

I thought that prices today to cross the Great Belt are high - a return journey for today costs 218 DKK on the train, while driving across the bridge is between 400-500 DKK return. Of course, Denmark isn't a cheap country, but these prices are still very high. Then I found this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/erikgriswold/8170813237 - it's a summer timetable and price list for the Knudshoved-Halsskov route.

280 DKK for a single passage in 1995! Ferries appear to have departed every half hour throughout the day, but it's astonishing that it cost more in 1995 for the ferry crossing than it does today to drive across the bridge. It's a little bit OT, but the Helsingør-Helsingborg route was also very expensive for 1995: https://www.flickr.com/photos/erikgriswold/8170826207/ - although Scandlines have always been extortionately priced.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The August 1987 Thomas Cook's TT has an hourly IC service at XX.00 from Copenhagen as far as Fredericia from 0600 to 2200. Most, but not all, continue to Arhus and some continue further on to Alborg/ Frederikshavn. There are relief trains at certain times / days in the xx.56 slot. Superimposed on this are Lyntog departures at XX.10 in certain hours (07. 08,16 and 17 to various destinations on Jutland. The 12.10 slot is occupied by the 'Englaenderen' boat train (on certain days) to Esbjerg Harbour, for Harwich and London. There are two overnight trains to various Jutland destinations (splitting en-route), one conveying couchettes and the other sleeping cars.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

I recall travelling on the ferry when, having been shunted onto the ferry at Nyborg, on arrival at Korsør the train loco reversed over the linkspan, coupled on, brake test and non stop from the deck of the ferry to Copenhagen

 

[Tester]

There are two overnight trains to various Jutland destinations (splitting en-route), one conveying couchettes and the other sleeping cars.

Many years ago (I think late 70s/early 80s) I travelled by couchette from København to somewhere in Jutland. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the couchette supplement was DKK10 (about £1). The couchette compartments were interesting, having five berths - the usual six berth layout but with one of the upper berths being a substantial luggage shelf.