History
The background for the metro was the urban development of the Ørestad area of Copenhagen. The principal of building a rail transit was passed by the Parliament of Denmark on 24 June 1992, with the Ørestad Act. The responsibility for developing the area, as well as building and operating the metro, was given to the Ørestad Development Corporation, a joint venture between Copenhagen Municipality (45%) and the Ministry of Finance (55%). Initially, three modes of transport were considered: a tramway, a light rail and a rapid transit. In October 1994, the Development Corporation chose a light rapid transit system.
The decision to build stage 2, from Nørreport to Vanløse was made by parliament on 21 December 1994. Stage 2 involved the establishment of the company Fredriksbergbaneselskapet I/S in February 1995, owned 70% by the Ørestad Development Corporation and 30% by Fredriksberg Municipality. In October 1996, a contract was signed with the Copenhagen Metro Construction Group (COMET) for building the lines, and with Ansaldo for delivery of the trains and operate the system the first five years. COMET is a consortium comprised Astaldi, Bachy, SAE, Ilbau, NCC Rasmussen & Schiøtz Anlæg and Tarmac Construction.
Construction started in November 1996, with the moving of underground pipes and wires around the station areas. In August 1997, construction started at the depot, and in September, COMET started the first mainline construction work. In October and November, the two tunnel boring machines (TMB), christened Liva and Bette, were delivered. They started digging each barrel of the tunnel from Islands Brygge in February 1998. The same month, the Public Transport Authority gave the necessary permits to operate a driverless metro. The section between Fasanvej and Frederiksberg is a former S-train line, and was last operated as such on 20 June 1998.
The first section of tunnel was completed by September 1998, and the TMBs moved to Havnegade. By December 1998, work had started on all the initial nine stations. Plans for M2 were presented to the public in April 1999, with a debate emerging if the proposed elevated solution is the best. In May, the first trains were delivered, and trial runs began at the depot. In December, the tunnels were completed to Strandlodsvej, and the TMBs were moved to Havnegade, where they started to grind towards Frederiksberg. From 1 January 2000, the S-train service from Solbjerg to Vanløse was terminated, and work to rebuilt to metro started. By February 2001, all tunnels were finished.
On 6 November 2001, the first train operates through a tunnel section. On 28 November, laying of tracks along stage 1 and stage 2A completed. An agreement about financing stage 3 was reached on 12 April. By 22 May, the 18 delivered trains had test-run 100,000 kilometers (60,000 mi). The section from Nørreport to Lergravsparken and Vesterport was opened on 19 October 2002. Initially, the system had a 12-minute headway on each of the two services. From 3 December this was reduced to 9 minutes, and from 19 December to 6 minutes. Operation of the system was subcontracted to Ansaldo, who again subcontracted it to Metro Service, a subsidiary of Serco Group. The contract had a duration of five years, with an option for extension for another three.
Trial runs on the next section of metro, stage 2A from Nørreport to Frederiksberg, began on 24 February. It opened on 29 May 2003. All changes to bus and tin schedules in Copenhagen took place on 25 May, but to allow Queen Margrethe II to open the line, the opening needed to be adapted to her calendar. This caused four days without a bus service along the line. Stage 2B, from Frederiksberg to Vanløse, opened on 12 October. Forum Station was nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture in 2005. In 2007, the Ørestad Development Corporation was discontinued, and the ownership of the metro was transferred to Metroselskabet I/S.
Read more about this topic: M1 (Copenhagen)
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