Denmark - rail services, incidents and catering - merged posts

[whole diary]

[grahame]

A story from thelocal.dk.   A year old (found it while researching:

Denmark’s rail operator DSB could reintroduce a limited version of its now-defunct sales trolley after a successful trial period.
A trial spell selling nuts and coffee in the national operator’s trains was so successful that the arrangement may be made permanent, reports news agency Ritzau.

The new sales trolley will also offer the ever-popular Danish marzipan bars (marcipanbrød), according to the report.

DSB abolished the sales trolley, which sold tea, coffee, sandwiches, beer, chocolate and other refreshments on its trains in 2014.

The operator reintroduced a pared-down version of the service on a small number of routes on June 29th this year.

The new version of the refreshment trolley is a stationary stand within the train, so passengers will have to leave their seats if they are feeling peckish.

DSB said that the trial could be made permanent after a flying start.

My highlighting. Does that look like the replacement of a trolley with a buffet?

[Bmblbzzz]

Not quite. A buffet has a machine for hot drinks so they are actually hot when you get them, rather than hot when they were poured into a large thermos. It has some sort of cooking or heating facilities, at least a microwave, for hot – I won't necessarily say cooked! – food. A buffet is also a permanent and separate part of the train, that's always there, whereas a "stationary stand" can be added or removed.

It sounds more like a trolley with additional disadvantages (you have to go to it rather than it coming to you) but with some advantages (it can't get stuck in the gangway or obstruct passengers).

I'd also note that Denmark is quite a bit smaller than the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), though I don't know how far the longest rail journey you can make on Danish railways is.

[chuffed]

Bet it doesn't sell Danish pastries or serve bacon sandwiches with DANISH in purple ink running all the way through the fat !

[bobm]

Given it was a year ago, I wonder how the trial went.

[eightonedee]

I cannot remember if Danish Railways run the Oresund trains, but these run all the way across southern Sweden to Kalmar on the Baltic coast, a journey of over three hours. Refreshments would definitely be welcome!

[grahame]

I cannot remember if Danish Railways run the Oresund trains, but these run all the way across southern Sweden to Kalmar on the Baltic coast, a journey of over three hours. Refreshments would definitely be welcome!

I travelled Flensberg to Aarlborg with Danish Railways about 18 months ago. Journey time around six hours.

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Six people have been killed and 16 injured in a train accident on the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark, police said. Local media reports suggest a tarpaulin from a freight train hit a commuter train during a heavy storm, forcing it to brake suddenly.

The commuter train, running from Odense to the capital Copenhagen, was struck at about 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT). Police could not provide details but confirmed an object had hit the train. Images from the scene show containers on the freight train with their sides torn off.

Emergency services reportedly struggled to reach the passenger train in the bad weather, which came to a stop on the bridge. It had 131 passengers and three crew on board.

"There was a loud crash and the windows started smashing onto our heads," passenger Heidi Langberg Zumbusch told Danish broadcaster DR. "We flew down onto the floor, and then the train stopped." Ms Zumbusch said fellow passengers told her the side of the carriage in front of theirs had been ripped off. "We were lucky. The people in the carriage in front of us were not so lucky," she said.

Passengers waiting at Korsoer train station in Denmark after the accident closed the bridge
An emergency centre has been set up at the western end of the bridge in the town of Nyborg.

The bridge is closed to both cars and trains towards the island of Funen, but car traffic toward Zealand has now reopened. Tens of thousands of vehicles cross the bridge every day, and the storm had already caused several accidents on the road bridge earlier on Tuesday.

Denmark's capital city Copenhagen is on the island of Zealand, while the city of Odense lies on Funen to the west.

To clarify, the freight train was a rolling highway (ROLA) type train. Where articulated trucks and/or trailers are loaded onto rail vehicles.

[JayMac]

Death toll has risen to eight.

Preliminary investigations suggest a HGV trailer on the freight 'rolling road' train was blown into the path of the passenger train by high winds.