Copenhagen light rail apologises after repeated disruptions

Hovedstadens Letbane, the light rail system linking Lundtofte in the north with Ishøj in the south, has apologised to passengers after repeated problems during its first week of full operation, DR reports.

The system opened along its full route last Saturday after 10 years of construction. Since then, trains have been involved in two collisions with cars, cars have ended up on the tracks several times, and services have been suspended six times because of technical problems.

Most recently, the new green trains stood still for five hours on Friday.

“I am truly sorry about that,” said Frank Pedersen, operations manager at Hovedstadens Letbane. “It is, of course, not good enough.”

The disruptions have also prompted criticism on social media. Henrik Sørensen, a member of the Gladsaxe municipal council, said it was unacceptable for the entire light rail system to stop when an incident occurred at one location.

Pedersen said the stoppages had been caused by different technical faults on the trains. On Friday, a fault made it difficult to move a train, bringing all rail traffic to a halt.

Hovedstadens Letbane will meet with its train suppliers and operating company on Monday to review the incidents in detail and identify improvements.

Passenger information will be one of the issues discussed. Sørensen criticised the lack of a communication channel that could notify passengers on their mobile phones about timetable changes, saying such changes were not visible on the light rail system’s website.

Pedersen said the operators would examine information provided on trains, at stations and online, including possible improvements to the website.