GOING OFF THE RAILS

I have always thought the trains were good in Denmark. The service is regular and efficient, prices are reasonable (particularly when compared with the U.K.), the carriages are clean, and there is not too much overcrowding at peak times. DSB is a good example of a state-owned company that runs well and turns a profit.

Lately, however, it has run into difficulties, for two reasons. The first was its decision, in December 2000, to buy 83 next generation IC4 train sets from the Italian producer AnsaldoBreda for the princely sum of kr.5 billion. The contract has been plagued by delays. Originally scheduled to start in service in 2004, only 43 units have been delivered so far. Furthermore, it has still not been possible to run a service with two train sets coupled together (coupling of the IC3 train sets is one of the main reasons why Danish railways are efficient, since trains running west out of Copenhagen can be uncoupled and sent in various directions when they reach Jutland). Under a compromise thrashed out in 2009, AnsaldoBreda agreed to pay back kr.2.25 billion of the contract sum because of the delays. However, it appears that the delivered units will never be able to be coupled, and DSB have now asked their lawyers to find a way to break the contract.

As well as lacking new rolling stock, DSB has now lost a train load of money. After the Government decided to outsource the sparsely populated lines in West Jutland to Arriva, DSB went hunting for similar opportunities abroad. One tender it won, in conjunction with the British company First, was to run the coastal routes on the Danish and Swedish sides of the Øresund. Not only has this investment been a disaster, costing some kr.725 million, but the terms of the joint venture were such that DSB ended up on the hook for financing the whole thing, First didn't have to pay a penny.  

Not surprisingly, heads have rolled, including the M.D., the Finance Director and the Chairman of the Board. In consensus-minded Denmark, that is a lot of blood on the carpet. Whether it will be enough to get the company back on the rails remains to be seen; I have to say that I doubt it. DSB is not yet in the same category as British Rail, but it is heading in that direction.

Walter Blotscher