Riding Copenhagen's Incredible S-Train System

[@RMTransit]

The S-Tog is sooooooo awesome. Especially the trains . . . Edit: I think people also need to take note of the insanely convenient transfer @6:57

[@marekvahle]

Ayo

[@wasmic5z]

That's what's possible when you don't have fare gates! The best interchange on the S-train network is, however, the timed cross-platform interchange between the A and F lines at Hellerup. I use it almost daily.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks for watching, Reece!

[@ncard00]

No It’s not. They don’t have level boarding, the ticket prices of much too high, the have a low top speed, which they often can’t even use, cause of the extremely limited capacity through the city centre, where an expresstunnel needs to be built, to add more than double the capacity through the city centre, and serve the Copenhagen main hospital with a rapid transit connection from all the S train lines. Also, RMTransit, please do some more videos on Copenhagen, like how to get rid of all the cars by upgrading bus lines to trams, over a dozen lines have been proposed, stretching from within Copenhagen to about halfway to the end of the S train lines. And do a video on Denmark’s rail system as well, as some of the insane bottlenecks.

[@wasmic5z]

@@ncard00 That's an extremely pessimistic view. No, not all S-train stations have level boarding, but most are close to level, and ramps can be deployed if necessary. Yes, there's a bottleneck in the central parts, but even with the current tunnel, service is REALLY GOOD compared to most other cities. Every 10 minutes on every "finger" is a great level of service for a city of only 1.5 million. An express tunnel would make it even better, and I really hope it gets built, but the current system is already great. 30 trains per hour is not "extremely limited". The suggested BRT lines (2 of them have already been approved, 200S and 400S) are also great projects, but even without them, Copenhagen already has better radial bus service than most other cities of a similar size.

[@malthetonnesen8982]

The Jingel plays the Notes D, E flat (which in danish is called Ess and sounds like the letter S when pronounced) and B, thus playing DSB

[@RichardCox0]

I live near Copenhagen and somehow I never knew this so thank you for sharing!

[@netiosys4677]

It actually plays a Bb and not a B. This is because in Denmark, mainly among classical musicians, we use the same stupid note system as the Germans, where B is called H and Bb is just called B. We still write Bb, mind you. The Jingle would sound pretty shite if it wasn't like that...

[@Silikone]

But B in Denmark is H.

[@malthetonnesen8982]

@@Silikone Not always, a lot of people also use b

[@oagersnap]

@@Silikone The note B (in the English system) is H in Danish, but B flat is actually called B in the Danish system, and it's B flat being played. It's not really logical at all, but it's the same system as in Germany, as @netiosys4677 noted.

[@Simon-Andersen]

This turned into such a great video! Thanks for letting me show you around our rough looking but soild suburban train network

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much, Simon, I couldn't have asked for a better guide!

[@erik_griswold]

I sense some cynicism in Simon’s comments!

[@fex144]

@@erik_griswold That's just how how we roll.

[@klausolekristiansen2960]

The notes played before the loudspeaker messages are D Es B, for DSB, the Danish state railways. In the English system, they are D, E flat, B flat.

[@drdewott9154]

Yeah. They used a tone like this for station announcements across the country back in the day. It was changed for a while but now they've gotten an updated version of the three notes that they're using more and more in everything from onboard announcements to advertisements as a jingle.

[@julius6889]

@@drdewott9154 I preffered the three notes anyways, so im fine with it being updated.

[@lhpl]

It may be worth noting that the three-note jingle was composed by Niels Viggo Bentzon, a great Danish composer.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

An American riding a train in Denmark with a Canadian door chime...Mr. Worldwide. The regional double-decker coach you rode was made by Bombardier (now of course Alstom), and that chime's the standard for these coaches. However the original ancestor of the Bombardier Double-deck Coach can be traced back to the LBE double-deck coaches built by WUMAG at Görlitz in Germany in the 1930s. They were push-pull trains with a cab car that could control the steam locomotive at the other end of the train. After World War II, these coaches were developed further by VEB Waggonbau Görlitz (formerly WUMAG) into double-deck trains. Starting in 1974, single coaches were built again that were the direct ancestors of today's double-deck coaches. These trainsets were used by Deutsche Reichsbahn (the GDR/DDR's railway) as well as several other railways of the Eastern Bloc. After 1990, VEB Waggonbau became part of Deutsche Waggonbau AG which was acquired by Bombardier in 1998. Frederick VII at 14:41 ruled Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch. Since 1863, the House of Glücksburg (collateral branch of the House of Oldenburg) has ruled the kingdom. A cool thing about Denmark is their flag holds the world record of being the oldest continuously used national flag, as it was officially recognized as the national flag in 1625. A banner with a white-on-red cross is attested as having been used by the kings of Denmark since the 14th century. An origin legend with considerable impact on Danish national historiography connects the introduction of the flag to the Battle of Lindanise of 1219.

[@Crushery]

Sorry but I won't believe anything from the North Korean government :| /s

[@295g295]

A standard chime sound on transit. . . I do not know music notes, but I think I saw that the chime is two notes of "Swing Low ... sweet chariot." I think old transit vehicles used a real bell to signal 'doors closing now'.

[@klausolekristiansen2960]

@@295g295 The notes are D Es B

[@vrenak]

@@295g295The three note chime before announcements are on all DSB trains and was composed specifically for DSB and the notes are D, Es, B, when the israeli railways bought some IC3 trains they kept the tune. But noone else uses them.

[@mafiapanda]

thank you kim jong un, that was an interesting comment

[@arsenicCatnip413]

no wayyy two of my favourite transit youtubers collabing

[@helveticabestfont12345]

hi evie...

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Simon's channel is an absolute gem!

[@arsenicCatnip413]

@@AverytheCubanAmericani agree!

[@luigienjoyer]

HOMESTUCK

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Speaking of the cool Danish plant you showed at 12:35, Copenhagen turned a plant into a ski slope! Yes, a place where one can ski in Denmark! It's called CopenHill and it's at the top of a clean energy plant, a waste-to-energy plant! Copenhill aims to burn up to 400,000 tonnes of waste per year, producing enough electricity to power 60,000 homes and heat 160,000 homes. To put it simply, 3 kg of household waste can provide up to five hours of domestic heating! Turning a plant into a thing for winter sports sounds weird, but Beijing did the same thing by putting a big air venue next to cooling towers for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The Shougang plant was a steel plant. The plant was shut down in 2003 before the 2008 Olympics as it was the cause of a lot of Beijing's pollution. So by the time the city hosted the Olympics again, the plant entered an era of urban regeneration as it's turned into a low-carbon museum and leisure complex! More on Tivoli Gardens: The amusement park was first called Tivoli & Vauxhall, with Tivoli coming from the Jardin de Tivoli in Paris (which in its turn was named after Tivoli in Italy), and Vauxhall referring to Vauxhall Gardens in London. Tivoli Gardens's founder Georg Carstensen obtained a five-year charter to create the park from King Christian VIII by telling the king that "when the people are amusing themselves, they do not think about politics". The park opened in 1843, making it as Simon said, one of the oldest operating parks in the world! Georg Carstensen said in 1844 that "Tivoli will never, so to speak, be finished", which inspired Walt Disney when Disneyland opened in the 1950s and said "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world".

[@kristianemilpaludan1653]

It's actually not Copenhill but Roskilde Forbrænding in the video, which is similarly sized (super cool looking!) waste incineration plant, but without any ski slopes. There is actually another ski slope near Roskilde in Hedeland with a slope length of just 280 m -We really desperately want ski slopes in this country haha

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

@@kristianemilpaludan1653 I know it's not Copenhill, that's why I said "Speaking of".

[@kristianemilpaludan1653]

@@AverytheCubanAmerican Ah okay! I get that now. I just understood it at first as something like "Speaking of the cool plant, isn't it amazing they turned a plant into a ski slope" haha but now the actual meaning is blatantly obvious haha

[@jdillon8360]

Great that you could travel this network with a local. Hearing the correct pronunciation of all the station names was satisfying. I'm a native English speaker who lived in Denmark for one year in 1998. I can attest that Danish pronunciation is extremely difficult to get right.

[@DJHTransport]

Incredible video as always! The rail systems in the Nordics are absolutely incredible!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you!!

[@ratedpz9461]

Agreed! I also love your videos DJHammers

[@stevelknievel4183]

In case you're confused by Danish pronunciation, half of what you think are consonants are actually vowels and the other half you have to sound like you're being strangled when you say them.

[@MilesinTransit]

Fair enough!

[@ninyaninjabrifsanovichthes45]

Suddenly Polish doesn't seem so intimidating anymore.

[@magnuspetersen2989]

Danish is great language, if people would just understand the beauty of the soft d.

[@mr.boomguy]

​@@ninyaninjabrifsanovichthes45 I mean, it takes ones emtire childhood to learn our language, and even then your average dane fails sometimes

[@noeonoohno4219]

I love Cph Central Station. It’s kinda dark and cozy, love the oxblood paint on the iron structure inside and the yellow tinted lights. As a Londoner I do find their subway really silly cuz of how small it is, it feels like a toy compared to the tube.

[@ylette]

It was called the Mini Metro in the planning phase.

[@noeonoohno4219]

@@ylette it’s very mini

[@Mike-zx1kx]

@@noeonoohno4219 Yeah but driverless,, running on emission free, offshore windmill power and departs every 3 minutes. You can walk out from customs in Copenhagen airport and be in city centre, for the price of two apples, in the time it takes to eat two apples. The frequency means that you do not need to learn any timetables. Just go to the Metro and a train will arrive. It´s a great deal,

[@JelmerJetten]

This S-tog system feels more like a metro kinda system to me.

[@fex144]

Yeah but London is 15 million people, that's almost 8 x bigger than Copenhagen. And you started building the metro back in medieval times during the crusades I believe, Denmark basically started last year.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Always love it when a train station actually has a model train layout! And the fact Copenhagen Central has 7-Elevens right on their platforms is such chef's kiss. Truly Texas's greatest export! 7-Eleven was founded in Dallas in 1927 as a storefront for an icehouse! The company's first outlets were called "Tote'm Stores" between 1928 and 1946 because customers toted away their purchases, and these stores featured totem poles. The name was changed to 7-Eleven in 1946 to reflect their new operating hours of 7 am to 11 pm, seven days a week. The n in their logo is lowercased because the first wife of John P. Thompson Sr., the company's president during the 1960s, thought the all-capitals version seemed a little aggressive and wanted it to be more graceful. Ah yes, a cobweb on a train...even spiders approve the S-tog! Really cool that the LED displays actually show the progress of the train instead of just saying what the next station is! There should definitely be frequent service to farmland as shown here, because that enables the farmers to take the train to sell their produce! The Greenport Branch on the LIRR goes through farmland, North Fork's wine country and if they had electrified and frequent service, that would make a difference in attracting people to those wineries and farms! And yeah, absolutely it is nice when trains or buses have USB ports or power outlets to charge! Sure you may not use them all the time, but for the times you do need to charge, it's nice to have a charger while transiting! On the LIRR M7s for example, the M7 only has them on the seats nearest to the doors, but the LIRR M9s that entered service in 2019 has power outlets at EVERY row of seats!

[@MilesinTransit]

I also love the M8's for their power outlets at every seat row!

[@drdewott9154]

Also fun fact. The world's busiest 7eleven is at Copenhagen Central station, its in the concourse just in front of the escalators down to platforms 7-8 and 9-10.

[@lhpl]

Before 7-eleven, most station kiosks, and also grill bars/restaurants belonged to a chain owned by DSB, starting in 1938. DSB Kiosk & Restaurant went downhill in the 90es for dome reason, and was sold off in 2001. Later 7-eleven took over, and used this to establish a strong base which they then used to drive many independent kiosks out business in bigger cities. I despise that chain, but often they are the only option.

[@lovfro]

And the Japanese loves 7Eleven so much, that the once Japanese subsidiary bought the parent company when they were in financial trouble, and saved the franchise worldwide.

[@shreychaudhary4477]

afaik there's also a model train layout at the santa clara university Caltrain station

[@ViktorFromDK]

The trains that looks like they are in a rogue state is accually because they have been striped down and prepared for a new livery...

[@ibenbreuner3862]

I've been commuting in Copenhagen since i was 10 y/o so watching someone marvel at the things that are apart of my everyday life is really novel. I used to take the local train to Faxe Ladeplads for my boarding school and the C-line brings me from where i live, Ballerup, to where my parents live, Klampenborg.

[@icednik]

i know right , as someone who lived in høje taastrup i would take the regional train most of the time but when that was delayed, i’d do the s-tog. also 👋

[@ibenbreuner3862]

@@icednik dont you 👋 me! what is happening!?

[@fex144]

so you've been using the train for 7 years? or 64 years?

[@yaitz3313]

That train jingle was weirdly nostalgic for me, since Israel Railways used to run a fair bit of Danish rolling stock (though they stopped running the last ones last year), and apparently didn't bother changing the jingle.

[@eranpropper160]

נכון! זה של הIC3! רכבות טובות ונוחות, אהבתי אותן

[@Delfiinit]

I've been wanting to visit Copenhagen for a while now, been looking up guides by the locals etc. and somehow KZbin never told me you had released this video. Anyway, something they teach us in Finland, where learning Swedish in school is mandatory: To speak Danish, just put a hot potato in your mouth and start speaking Swedish.

[@TrylleBanjo]

Yup. I'm Danish. Not far off.

[@MrBblhed]

I have been told that the MTA Harlem Line runs a "Bike Train" on weekends during the Summer that gets pretty full of bikes. The train runs to Wassaic (Pronounced like Passaic with a Wah sound). There is a bike trail that starts at the Wassaic station and it is very popular. I don't know how packed the bike train gets, but I can say from experience that the bike trail is pretty nice. I can't believe you didn't show The Little Mermaid.

[@kitchin2]

MARC has full bike train cars, in the DC-Maryland area of planet earth.

[@MilesinTransit]

Metro-North tends to get REALLY busy on its nature-oriented weekend trains! I did SEE The Little Mermaid, for what it's worth, but I don't think it would've been relevant here! ;)

[@MrBblhed]

The Harlem line also has the Appalachian Trail call stop on it. The only call stop on MTA rail that I know of, and the only train station directly on the Appalachian Trail.

[@neonroses22]

even the rail outside copenhagen is pretty slick too (double decker trains)! keep it up, loved seeing this as someone who lives in denmark! :D

[@lohphat]

I’ve been to several of these stations since my first visit to Denmark in 1985. Yeah I’m getting old. It inspired me to actually take some Danish language courses and I can still carry on simple conversations. Ko-pen-hah-gen is the German pronunciation. Ko-pen-hay-gen is the English pronunciation. The Danish pronunciation requires a few beers first.

[@jakeforrest]

While speaking French, requires red wine beforehand (when you are not French) 😊

[@XDRosenheim]

The Danish pronunciation (In real speak, not in the literal pronunciation) also requires you to flatten half the letters.

[@jakeforrest]

Usually when foreigners try to say something with “ø” they prolong it, so it sounds like “øeeeøeøe” If you try to Pronounce it as short as possible, it tends to be more right :)

[@drdewott9154]

Welcome to Denmark! Great to finally be seeing these misadventures from you. As a local then yeah, the S-train is a solid system but my god the dirty trains and high ticket prices dont do it any favours. The rollout of CBTC over the last several years have helped a lot with reliability, but a lot of the public still see the system as unreliable. And yeah projects for the S-train network (and transit in Copenhagen in general) keep getting delayed or put into Limbo because our minister for transport SUUUUUCKS! Also fun fact. The Copenhagen S-train is actually profitable on its own and the profits generated from it subsidises the Intercity services across the country. Aaaaand both the mainline and S-train divisions of DSB have chronic rolling stock shortages which is why the trains are SO DIRTY! They literally dont have enough trainsets to take a dirty or dysfunctional one out of service and repair it, and still have enough to do the service required.

[@MilesinTransit]

Gosh, sounds like the rolling stock shortage might become a problem soon... Also fascinating that it's actually profitable, that's amazing!

[@Charlizzie]

Finally see the face of InterCity Simon

[@shumstra]

When the current s-train sets were introduced in the late 90s, they won prizes for their unique design. I loved them back then. They look a bit neglected now, but they still work well as far as I can tell, and were upgraded to mostly automatic operation (except for door closing) in 2022-23.

[@davidcho1579]

I cannot wait for GO expansion to be done! Soon we here in Toronto will have something like this, hopefully.

[@JouvaMoufette]

22:08 Similarly, the Burlingame stop on the CALTrain only gets service on weekends.

[@davidmb1316]

3:09 the funny thing about the DSB jingle is that the keys are actually D, Eb (pronounced S) and Bb (in Danish pronounced B). So it's DSB with music keys.

[@MilesinTransit]

Okay, that's actually really cool. What an oddly specific and nerdy background to a train jingle!!

[@Pallerim]

The fact that it's free to bring your bike on the S-trains is awesome

[@ylette]

I just saw something about the "Copenhagen South" station in the news the other day, and wondered what that was. Now I know the story, thanks.

[@thenetworkmystery]

Cool to see this in a video, cause I was just there earlier this year for a vacation and also rode the S-Trains!

[@Mgameing123]

Good video. You guys did a great collab. I live in Jylland and never actually been on Sjælland's public transport but I do wish I could.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks!

[@Mgameing123]

@@MilesinTransit Also if you want a good tip on pronoucing the words å is a very hard o and our J is very soft. æ & ø is just hard to learn in general.

[@DanTheCaptain]

Miles and Simon marvelling at the insanity that is the Danish language for 25 minutes straight… Also funny how those trains are probably older than the newest trains in American yet even with the weathering and graffiti STILL LOOK NEWER and more modern than any of the new stuff in North American. With the exception of Stadler, Siemens and Alstom stuff. I’m specifically referring to that “All American Stainless Steel”…

[@sammymarrco47]

SEPTA looks better but definitely feels older

[@MilesinTransit]

I was impressed with the open gangways and LED maps, also! Those both feel like technologies we're only just starting to get into in the states (NYC notwithstanding).

[@drdewott9154]

@@MilesinTransit Yeah. If you're curious btw the trains are the so called 4th generation built by a consortium of Siemens and Linke Hoffman Busch (later part of Alstom) between 1995 and 2007. So we had these trains in service as early as 1996.

[@andreasottohansen7338]

Its funny to see someone praising anything to do with DSB, considering literally everybody I know are on their case for being overpriced and perpetually late

[@BrianJColby15YT]

In Denmark and Norway, the å is "oh," (like Ohio); the æ is pronounced "ay" (like ate), and the ø is pronounced "ur" (like Earl). In Sweden and Finland, the æ is replaced by ä and the ø is replaced by ö.

[@Argondo]

really great way to explain how to pronounce the letters! i am gonna use this next time I need to explain it !

[@kristianemilpaludan1653]

Except it's way more complicated than that in Danish haha. All vowels in Danish can either be long or short depending on stress patterns, and most vowels change sound when followed by certain consonants. Å can for instance also be pronounced as the o in "others" and år- is quite similar to "awe". Ær- is pronounced like the vowel in "hair" and long ø is pronounced like french e/eu which is a vowel that I don't think exist in English at all. And then most vowels also exists with or without "stød" which is this quite uniquely Danish creaky voice thing (which is probably the main reason why Swedes and Norwegians thinks Danish sounds weird since they use pitch accents instead)

[@hbecph]

First guy living in Copenhagen commenting ❤

[@maeonlinux]

i cannot believe Miles got to ride a twindexx what an iconic car my european heart is melting :’)

[@maeonlinux]

wait and a lint too? omg both of those trains are my childhood, they used to run everywhere in germany

[@kukuc96]

You trying to pronounce Rødovre was hilarious. I live next to that stop for 2 years now, and I only just got barely to the point where I can somewhat pronounce it.

[@SIC647]

14:05 The line between Copenhagen Central and Roskilde is the oldest one in Denmark, opening in 1847.

[@anthonylamesa7619]

I'm shocked by the conditions of those trains. The trains in Stockholm don't seem to have this problem.

[@Kvadraten376]

Since this video a lot of refurbished trains has entered service with more to come. But yes, years of neglect on this area.

[@anthonylamesa7619]

@@Kvadraten376 Why don't they remove graffiti from trains? Or is the anti-social behavior so bad that it will just quickly reappear?

[@Saskar]

@@anthonylamesa7619 The main issue seems to be that they don't have enough trains. Most rail systems will take a grafittied train out of service until it can be cleaned, but the S-tog system doesn't have enough spare trains to do that without cancelling services.

[@troelspeterroland6998]

A part of the problem is that they don't have enough spare trains to take the graffitied ones out of service for cleaning, so once the graffiti is discovered, the cleaning will have to wait until the night. But graffiti is indeed an outrageous problem in Copenhagen compared to other cities. And it completely beats me why they can't keep the trains in depots at night, built for the money they would save by not having to clean them...

[@Mike-zx1kx]

@@troelspeterroland6998 I do not know who are doing this graffiti because I have yet to met a native Dane that appreciate it or know anyone that do it. Such a waste of resources. Pure eye pollution.

[@luffegasen7711]

Fun fact: At Birkerød station building, you can see how many miles there are to Helsingør (Elsinore) and Copenhagen. Though that is DANISH miles (7.5 km) and not freedom units or bald eagles pr democracies (1.6 km)! ^^

[@jamess8504]

That train looks so much like the Lego City trains from years ago... I can definitely see where the inspiration came from

[@history_leisure]

Bakken, also accessible via the S-tog (but not as easily accessible, its an 11min walk-but its just down the street so some people might get there quicker) is the oldest amusement park in the world

[@A_Canadian_In_Poland]

I rode that system in the early 2000s, when it was the primary way to cross Copenhagen as well. A few of the 1960s trains were still in service then, but mostly these trains were in use. There was no metro at the time. I remember those trains were very new at the time and felt sleek and modern, and there being no graffiti anywhere.

[@arne.munther]

The jingle is the tone D, Es and B, pronounced D-S-B.

[@teecefamilykent]

Brilliant video, do the paris metro with "the Tim traveller"?

[@schack]

The S-train plan is a part of the "Finger-plan" which was an urban plan devised back in 1947 for the long term development of the Copenhagen metropolitan area. It's called so because if you place your hand with the palm on the center of the city, your fingers roughly marks the lines of transportation, both freeways, trains and bus lines, that service the suburban areas of Copenhagen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_Plan

[@drdewott9154]

Yup its a really cool plan for a transit oriented city! Though it has kinda backfired as central industry shut down in the 70's and 80's, the growth of single family housing skyrocketing around the same time along with automobile adoption, the construction of several highways, and relocation of jobs, both office work and industrial, to industrial parks near these highways. Suddenly the whole city became much more decentralised, development moved away from the S-train fingers, and this very radial setup no longer worked for the needs of the people and the city. Nowadays more people commute out of Downtown Copenhagen every day than commute into it. Its these kinds of problems that the new Light rail on Ringway 3 and 2 proposed BRT lines hope to fix, though the tram is late and might still be too slow. And the BRT lines would be low capacity but even still hang on by a thread, as the national government has refused to allow excemptions to the municipal spending ceilings for BRT (which they have allowed for Light rail) therefore making it near impossible for the municipalities to finance their share of the construction costs of these BRT lines.

[@per-olamjomark7452]

3:00 I remember that exact jingle from when I traveled on the Y2/IC3 Kustpilen trains in the 90's and early 00's in south Sweden. I ran into the same set of trains a bunch of years later in Tel Aviv, oddly enough. Apparently the Israeli state railway had bought some of them.

[@MrExec3549]

Thank you so much for your videos. I must say that I really enjoyed your trip from Port Jarvis to Philadelphia. Loooog…

[@erik_griswold]

At 14:42 that’s Frederik the 7th who was the King that allowed a written constitution to be put into place.

[@lohphat]

Tivoli was as an inspiration to Walt Disney for a clean park instead of a gritty carnival "carnie" park. He'd toss small pieces of paper on the ground and see how long it took for someone to come along and sweep it up. It has one of the oldest roller coasters in the world which has a brakeman on the train to control the speed in real-time. Also, Denmark has a 100% tax on private car ownership. So yes, you basically pay twice the price of a car to own one.

[@drdewott9154]

Yeah, the car bit is true, but on the other hand, we have very little paid parking, what exists is all free, there's no congestion charge anywhere in the country, the only toll roads are the Great Belt bridge and the Øresund bridge. And perhaps most of all is the Driver tax rebate. The government spends 18 billion kroner a year on tax rebates for those commuting over 24km to and from work, so 12km/8 miles each way minimum. These costs are based on gas prices, but in short these tax rebates mostly benefit drivers more than anyone else, and not only subsidises but encourages car dependent living since it encourages people to live further from their workplace in order to get the rebate and get the costs of their car commute covered, whereas transit prices are so high the rebates can't cover the expenses of them. I personally hate this tax rebate and firmly believes these 18 billion kroner every year are much better spent improving transit! For 8-10 billion per year you could double the number of departures on every bus line in the whole country! For 1.5-3 billion per year you could slash all ticket prices in half! And that'd still leave 5-7.5 billion kroner every year in spares that could be used for tax cuts, additional transit services, or infrastructure investments like new Light rail or BRT routes, or new rail upgrades like double tracking lines. All of this, just for the money spent today subsidising mainly drivers, without needing to cut welfare or anything to make ends meet! Like all of these changes would encourage denser living, and greater transit use, and transit expansion to meet more peoples needs, plus make it more affordable to do any kind of trip, not just going to and from work.

[@MrExec3549]

As a New Yorker, I’m proud to say that there is NO GRAFFITI on our subway trains anymore.

[@mdhazeldine]

I visited Copenhagen last summer and loved it. Rode the Metro and S-Tog and also the IC3's from Legoland to Copenhagen and the Oresundstag to Malmo. Had an excellent time. A real transit paradise! The graffiti is a downer, but it should be relatively easy to fix that.

[@UltraSuperDuperFreak]

They do get cleaned, and soon after some idiot just paints on it again. Cant win that war. Most countries i seen "everyday" trains in has this problem. Pretty much why so many cars just used "as is" . Not cheap to clean off. Waste of money if they get ruined soonafter

[@xJonathan6405]

The music in Høje-Taastrup station (11:33) is there to discourage the troublemaking youth of the town to hang out in the station at night. I have no clue if it has worked since I havn't been there for years now, but I know that it used to be a pretty bad place to be (at night)

[@ChokyoDK]

A new light rail system is opening up in Copenhagen in 2025. It goes all the way from the Danish Technical University (DTU) North of Copenhagen around the west of Copenhagen to the Southwest of Copenhagen to Ishøj.

[@chdreturns]

Ive been to Denmark and its an amazing country, Copenhagen is really nice but Roskilde is also lovely too. You didn't show the pigeon infestation though in the station

[@joermnyc]

København H is a gorgeous station. We were there while the M3 and M4 were under construction. We stayed at the Scandic Palace Hotel next to Rådhuspladsen while half of it was ripped open for the new Metro station they were building there. Honestly the city was very walkable, though we did use the Metro and the S lines to get to some places, as well as the airport and the aquarium like one stop from the airport.

[@yaush_]

You should try riding trains in Switzerland. The country is the embodiment of the good parts of Europe and the us (except it takes high prices from the US). There is really excellent transit.

[@erik_griswold]

Lyngby is more correctly Kongens Lyngby or King’s Lynn. So yes, there is a connection between Lyngby Denmark and Lynn, the City of Sin, Mass.

[@SteveGettingAroundPhilly]

I'm planning on going to Denmark this summer, and I've definitely wanted to sample the Copenhagen S-Tog while I'm there. I see a system like Copenhagen and I see a regional rail system like what SEPTA could be if they didn't step on rakes and actually got proper funding and management... And somehow, the S-Tog has a worse graffiti issue than the Philly subway does it seems.

[@hansklaus6860]

I really hope you also took a look at the Öresundståg while there

[@MilesinTransit]

Stay tuned!

[@awdrifter3394]

KM in transit.

[@railworksamerica]

miles in transit when he meets kilometers in transit

[@abdullaharif6455]

And there is that Danish singer MO (who sang the song Lean On). I would obviously call her Mo, but then I found videos where she said that her name in Danish is a short Mu.

[@MilesinTransit]

No way, I didn't know she was Danish! I love that song.

[@abdullaharif6455]

@MilesinTransit I used to hear that song a lot on the radio.

[@scotttheniceguy]

0:50 Wawa needs to get on this and not just be at select stations

[@simonhicks5222]

But what's that in NORWEGIAN Kroner??

[@nevango0690]

Are you gonna go to the new york state fair this year to do the least used station in new york

[@MilesinTransit]

I don't personally consider special event stations to count!

[@doltBmB]

What isn't really obvious if you're a new rider is that these trains are specifically designed to sound like the old ones they replaced, everything from the engine spooling to the brakes to the doors and the chimes are made to sound reminiscent of those older trains with a modern twist.

[@MilesinTransit]

Interesting!

[@DangItshere]

This is an exceptional crossover episode

[@roaddogg800]

It is a fun system! Have riden most of the lines. Stockholm has a great system as well.

[@erik_griswold]

No “I fart” elevator was pointed out to Miles by Simon?? 10:56

[@MCBjoernar]

The rough looking trains and (especially outside of the city) stations left me wondering what the DOT does wrong, also if you look at the very good looking rest of the city…

[@Simon-Andersen]

Unfortunately there is only 2 sets spare every day for the entire network after 10 min all day service was introduced. This means there can't be many trains taken out of service for cleaning before it has effects on cancellations and short forming. We really needed to order more trains 10 years ago. As for the stations, lack of care and investment, the metro maintained by a different agency is by contrast much cleaner

[@MCBjoernar]

Thanks for the explanation!

[@ClintDawg]

Also the trains were delivered between 1999 and 2006 so they are at least 18 years old. They are currently being "rewrapped" and refitted with new seats. The ones with the grey doors in the videos are the updated ones.

[@esgee3829]

6:58 thanking the bus driver is a uniquely american thing likely related to thanking drivers who follow the law and yield to you as a pedestrian at ped-right-of-way road crossing (whether marked zebra or not).

[@esgee3829]

also, klovn is arguably the greatest danish export of the past 20 years. some will say it's derivative. maybe but isn't most stuff?

[@esgee3829]

13:48 this is basically the same tool that smash and grab thieves have used to take over parts of san francisco. they do this to smash a rear/side window and steal whatever bags are inside.

[@epender]

Not unique since it's still a somewhat common practice in the UK, usually in more rural communities. Wales and Bristol stand out in memory though, apparently they have their own phrase to thank the driver, "cheers drive!"

[@MilesinTransit]

Huh, I'll have to look out for that if I'm ever in Wales or Bristol!

[@DuluthTW]

It looked like a wonderful trip with a wonderful tour guide. The Danes definitely know how to properly transport bikes. Thanks, Simon and Miles, for sharing!

[@GojiMet86]

13:45 Can you imagine hammers on the NYC subway?...... 14:54 That's Køge Nord station, with the really long, futuristic, pedestrian to͞obe walkway. It was featured on "The Beauty of Transport" blog, it's how I recognized it from the blog post.

[@anderslarsen6009]

I reconize by living next to it.

[@sammymarrco2]

Reminds me of the DC metro, which also has around every ten mins on the truck lines. Somehow the DC metro has nicer rolling stock that is not full of graffiti? Crazy!

[@TheRealDoctorBonkus]

A couple of years ago I broke the world record for the quickest travel with arriving at/departing from every station in the shortest amount of time. Our official time was 5 hours and 53 minutes. There is an article (in danish) about it

[@MilesinTransit]

Whoa, I was wondering if there was a record! That's really cool, congratulations!

[@michaeljohndennis2231]

1:37 travelling with a large suitcase on trains from Manchester Piccadilly Platforms 13 and 14 via Chester, Crewe or Lladnuo to Holyhead for the ferry to Dublin, the facilities on this Danish Train are something that Transport For Wales needs to take note of on the North Wales Line

[@MrMatteNWk]

12:06 Those seats look a lot like some of the office chairs I saw while browsing IKEA so they must be the Standard Scandinavian Seat Style

[@JouvaMoufette]

Do these trains also run by Cørrection Cørner™ every 10 minutes?

[@MilesinTransit]

Of course!

[@yaitz3313]

​@@MilesinTransit Don't you mean "Of cøurse!"?

[@acmenipponair]

The double deckers are by the way german ones, just painted in DSB colours. They are produced by Alstom and hated for their often broken doors.

[@darth_yoda]

9:58 Roskild is one of the most Sacred sites in Denmark. It's history spends over all the way back to the pre Viking era and for a time to was close to the site of what used to be a Capital area (Old Lejre "Gammel Lejre) The name Roskild from Ro's Spring which was a historical site. Roskild is also the site in denmark with the most Churches. With in a small area. You have the BIG spired Church (which you could see from the train station) a small old church that predate the cathedral less then 200 meters (650Feet) And not fare from that you have not one but THREE old convenes two old monk and one nunnery. All three are today closed in religious functions but still open the public. And each of cause also had they own Church.

[@RichardChonak]

Considering how Philadelphians swallow their consonants, you might be able catch on to Danish easily.

[@TravelsByTransit]

Next up, Taking transit to Canobie Lake Park?

[@MilesinTransit]

I don't think it's possible, is it?

[@TravelsByTransit]

@@MilesinTransit Take Concord Coach to Salem and walk 30 minutes along at roads, it doesn't seem too difficult.

[@TravelsByTransit]

Salem, NH*

[@MilesinTransit]

@@TravelsByTransit I do not have enough desire to visit Canobie Lake Park to do an awful walk like that!

[@TravelsByTransit]

@@MilesinTransit lol, still wouldn't be as bad as the time you walked 4 hours to Newburn! That takes some serious dedication! 😆

[@chriselmsmusic]

Are you coming to Stockholm? 🇸🇪

[@MilesinTransit]

Not this time, unfortunately!

[@CaeserOct]

Having spent 5 days in Copenhagen in 2022, the graffiti was one of the more shocking things. However, I did love the convenience of trackside and in-station convenience stores. For a commerce driven country like the US, why aren’t they the norm?

[@qjtvaddict]

Like some NY ones formerly

[@CaeserOct]

@@qjtvaddict Are you referring to the 7/11s? Do you mean the old timey newspaper kiosks? Yeah, that's fair. I have seen those. I think some stations still do have them although they were more limited in product selection I believe.

[@SeralyneYT]

So, the S-trains (and most of the nation's trains in general) are operated by DSB. These are the rough musical notes that would correspond to each letter So D, Eb Bb. (Specifically the black piano key! In Denmark we call the white key in-between A and C "H" like the germans.) The sharp (or smaller b) is pronounced as an -is suffix on the key, rather than "C Sharp", we say "Cis", "Dis", etc. For Eb, that becomes "Es", so indistinguishable from the letter "S".

[@kristoffermundbjerg6088]

Not quite. The notes are D, Eb and Bb. Eb is pronounced "es" in Danish, so the notes are literally D-S-B :-)

[@SeralyneYT]

@@kristoffermundbjerg6088 Thank you for the correction, haha. I couldn't quite remember. Fixing ^^

[@kristoffermundbjerg6088]

@@SeralyneYT I hate to be that guy, but your fix isn't right either. Eb is the same as D#, so if you insist on having the #, then it's D, D#, Bb. But D, Eb, Bb makes more sense.

[@SeralyneYT]

@@kristoffermundbjerg6088 No worries, I'm faaairly music illiterate, so thank you for the correction once again. I'll go with Eb this time then :)

[@MTobias]

Wow, I thought Berlin's trains were badly tagged. I expected much netter from Denmark.

[@dijikstra8]

Yeah interesting. Last time I rode the S-train I don't think it was like this, but it was probably 10 years ago or so. Since then I have mostly changed trains in Copenhagen and taken a few metro rides. The metro is not like this from what I can remember. I believe the S-tog is run by DSB, basically the equivalent of DB, whereas the metro is run by the city.

[@Simon-Andersen]

A little less than 10 years ago the timetable was changed to introduce 10 min all day service on all lines. This means there is only 2 trains spare everyday before trains have to start being short formed, so unfortunately grafitti cleaning is a low priority. More trains should really have been ordered with the service increase

[@dijikstra8]

@@Simon-Andersen Ah interesting. Well at least they run, Stockholm's Pendeltåg look fine physically but they (MTR) scared away all the train drivers with their shitty working conditions. Honestly I think graffiti removal is a higher priority than service here 😅

[@pourint]

the "hostile" benches with handrails might be meant for the mobility-impaired who need to hold something to lower themselves?

[@BetaTestingUrGf]

The Train looks like That cause they are changeing the folie on the Train. The trains are outdated and should actually be updated, but since they wanna automate the whole system, they decides to not get new trains now but instead just give them a minor facelift. The door you see at 17:51 is an example of the red folie been taken of. Theyre replacing it. I dunno why they Dont apply the new folie as they renovere the Old one

[@sjokomelk]

The jingle is three notes - D, Es and B - and they make up the way your pronounce DSB in Danish. 😎

[@JUL-fn6iq]

My favourite thing about the S-trains is honestly the grafitti. I seem to notice that you don't really like it, but it's generally some really good artwork and very reflective of the culture of Copenhagen.

[@MilesinTransit]

I'm fine with it if it doesn't cover the windows!

[@NortOfficial]

I mean, doing my time as a traveller and now as an insider into DSB, i would say, personally I think the S-Train is awesome, but the stock itself needs something more, it's confirmed that the driverless system will arrive (if not delayed) and be done in 2038, that's still over 10 years away, and we need something new to replace the 4th Gen. Litra SA/SE

[@williamerazo3921]

So good that NYC cleaned up the rail cars from graffiti

[@unconventionalideas5683]

This is a fantastic system that feels like a time warp to 1980s NYC because of all the graffiti everywhere and how tired the trains feel. It's very odd and feels out of place.

[@admiralcapn]

Probably pretty well known, but Elaina's fun fact could have been that it's where Legos are from

[@drdewott9154]

If she wanted even more then here are a few. Niels Bohr, the famous physicist is from Denmark Hans Christian Andersen, the world famous fairy tale writer and creator of stories like The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, The Tinderbox, and many others is also from Denmark. Specifically Odense. Denmark has the oldest flag still in use in the world. Legend goes it fell from the sky in 1219 as Denmark was at a low point in a battle for conquest in Estonia, and the flag gave the people the will to keep on and win. The worlds most highly regarded restaurant, NOMA, is in Copenhagen. Several Video games like Hitman Agent 47, Subway Surfers, Deep Rock Galactic, Hugo the screen troll, Limbo, Inside, A Hat in Time, Stikbold, and Freedom Planet are all Danish in origin. Actor Mads Mikkelsen is Danish Of course Lukas Graham is too, whether you like it or not Miles Denmark is one of the flattest countries in the world, its tallest natural point is iirc only 173m/567ft high. Its lower than even the Netherlands' tallest point (and there's a great Tim Traveller video on it) Denmark and Sweden have been at war more than any 2 other nations on earth. I guess we have some decent football players... like Michael Schumacher? IDK I dont watch sports much (plus Handball is our bigger strength). Denmark inspired Tolkiens world in Lord of the Rings, with several locations directly referencing locations around Denmark. Real life Isengård exists and its pretty close to Aarhus, and they've taken all the hobbits there. Hmmm. One of the worlds largest Counter Strike teams, Astralis, is based in Denmark. Bjarke Ingels, that big crazy architect, is also Danish. Lemme think.... ooh y'know those little troll figures, like the ones that are also in the Dreamworks Movie "Trolls"? Those were invented by a Danish guy too in a small Danish town. Yeah thats it. Anyone else that can think of anything, lemme know.

[@history_leisure]

0:40 same as Madrid Metro Escalator

[@BenTheDuck]

how did we get from Texas to Denmark?

[@Josephcavagnaro]

Planes

[@railworksamerica]

Fly

[@jacobbaer785]

Travel

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

You're a duck, you can just swim to Denmark

[@MilesinTransit]

You never know where I'll end up next oooohhhohohhiih

[@markfellhauer352]

13:50 - I believe those emergency hammers became a mandate in Europe after the Ladbroke Grove rail crash in 1999. But the mandate for those hammers goes back further in North America. I'm pretty sure you will find those hammers on all Siemens DMU and EMU units, even on trains in the United States (like the NCTD Sprinter) among others. That being said, in previous and subsequent crashes these hammers have broken or proved ineffective when passengers have tried to use them on the glass breakout panels. This issue was identified in 1995 after the derailment crash of Via Train 66 in Brighton, Ontario in November 1994. The hammers are there for show, to meet a regulatory requirement. Best to carry your own spring loaded center punch with a Rockwell C hardness suitable for breaking tempered glass.

[@officialmcdeath]

Part of the issue is that you have to tap on the edge of the glass pane - if you tap in the centre, the hammer merely rebounds \m/

[@markfellhauer352]

@officialmcdeath - If you read the report from the Via crash, that is not the issue. The windows have an engineered strike point which you can see in the above video indicated by a dot on the glass. Canadian TSB emergency hammer tests were conducted in consultation with the Glass OEM and rescue personnel. The identified issues were hammer head weight being too light and the hammer striking surface being made of metal too soft to break the FRA Type 2 glass.

[@MilesinTransit]

I find that US trains tend to have openable emergency windows instead of breakable ones!

[@davidtoups4684]

@@MilesinTransit Putting hammers like that on US trains, very BAD idea!

[@markfellhauer352]

@@davidtoups4684 - Why is it a bad idea? Depending on the train (or bus or building) those hammers are already in place in the U.S. as part of an emergency egress mandate. The hammer is there to break out fixed glass panels in case of a crash or fire. Personally, I would prefer not to die in a fire. There's no shortage of hammers outside of mass transit, so they're easy to acquire from other means. I have noted safety hammers on a number of light rail vehicles in North America, including Siemens Desiro DMUs and S70/700s and Kinki Sharyo LRVs. That being said, the trend worldwide is going towards laminated tempered safety glass on trains that can't be broken by a hammer, with windows that pop out using a tool-less release and/or emergency pop-out panels/roof hatches.

[@mariachrzski18]

Will there be a video on the Copenhagen Metro?

[@drdewott9154]

I can assure it. I saw all the tweets Miles made. There'll seemingly also be videos on the Light rail systems in Odense and Aarhus. However I have no idea when they may be released.

[@mariachrzski18]

Cool

[@MilesinTransit]

All in good time!

[@NiklasLukijanovic]

you should take the hundested-hillerød line next. its the local train/lokaltog. u should do it with Simon.

[@marekvahle]

Better try the Zurich system next. Or anywhere in Switzerland

[@ratedpz9461]

What a cool system! It’s a shame how graffitied some of the trains are, but as you said, the service makes up for it. Thanks for showing the entire network and not glazing over the imperfections, it shows that europe isn’t perfect when it comes to transit. I also met The Tribal King a few weeks ago while waiting for a 69 bus in Harvard, we had a great conversation that sadly got cut short because of the bus’s arrival.

[@UltraSuperDuperFreak]

They get pointed on as soon af they get cleanen. People are jerks. Most countries has this problem on "everyday" trains.

[@markkajc]

I can confirm that Miles had not improved his danish pronunciations when he came to Aarhus

[@MilesinTransit]

Very true