How is water blocking the Metro affecting travel in Copenhagen?
The Copenhagen Metro was stopped on Thursday between Nørreport and Christianshavn after a tunnel become filled with water. How will this affect travel and what alternative routes are available?
What has happened?
Extremely heavy rainfall on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, coming on top of the rainiest October in 25 years, has filled up Copenhagen's sewers, preventing water being pumped from the metro line.
This has led to the tunnel near Kongens Nytorv filling up with water, stopping trains from running between Nørreport and Christianshavn.
"It's not flooding," Sofie Karen Lindberg, a press spokesperson for the Copenhagen Metro, told The Local. "It's that we normally pump the water out of the tunnel into the sewer, and the sewer is now full of water."
According to Copenhagen emergency services, "a few hundred thousand litres" of water now need to pumped from the tunnel, which is 40m below the surface, and then disposed of.
"It is unusual for this to happen," Jette Clausen, the metro's communications chief, told Danish public broadcaster DR.
A screenshot of the metro map. Photo: Copenhagen Metro
How is travel affected?
The M1 and M2 metro lines are both blocked between Nørreport and Christianshavn, but trains are still running back and forth, calling at all stops between Vanløse and Nørreport to the east, and between Christianshavn and Vestamager and Copenhagen Airport to the south.
The Circle Line, which runs through Kongens Nytorv, is also unaffected and all three stations remain open, even though the trains between them are not running.
Check the Copenhagen Metro's website here and its Facebook page here for the latest travel details.
What alternative ways are there of making the journey?
The Copenhagen Metro is running replacement buses between Christianshavn and Nørreport. You can see maps below -- all from the Copenhagen Metro -- showing where the replacement buses leave from outside the three stations.
You can also get regular buses, but because of the Metro link there are no direct buses between them.
The 2A bus from Christianshavn takes you to Stormboen, which is a 1km walk to Nørreport, or to Gammel Strand, from which you can take the train to Nørreport.
You can check the Rejseplanen app, either by downloading the app to your phone or online here.
It's also only a 23 minute walk between the two stations, so if you've packed a decent raincoat, that's also an option.
How long are the three stations likely to be closed?
It's hard to know.
Copenhagen's emergency services wrote in a tweet at 2.30pm that they had already started pumping out the water, and that this was already having "a good effect".
Status på metrostationen #Havnegade. Vi er i gang med at pumpe vand ud og det har allerede en god effekt. Det er endnu uvist hvornår der kan køres igen. Der henvises til #Metro for yderligere information //Operationschefen
— Hovedstadens Beredskab (@HBeredskab) November 16, 2023
Claus Hjorth Christoffersen, who is leading the operation for Copenhagen's emergency services, said that the biggest problem had been finding a suitable place to deposit water pumped out from the tunnel.
"The problem is that it is 40 meters down and we have to find a place to dispose of it," he told DR. "We can't just pour the water into the harbour because it may contain oil, and we are not interested in causing oil pollution on top of everything else."
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What has happened?
Extremely heavy rainfall on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, coming on top of the rainiest October in 25 years, has filled up Copenhagen's sewers, preventing water being pumped from the metro line.
This has led to the tunnel near Kongens Nytorv filling up with water, stopping trains from running between Nørreport and Christianshavn.
"It's not flooding," Sofie Karen Lindberg, a press spokesperson for the Copenhagen Metro, told The Local. "It's that we normally pump the water out of the tunnel into the sewer, and the sewer is now full of water."
According to Copenhagen emergency services, "a few hundred thousand litres" of water now need to pumped from the tunnel, which is 40m below the surface, and then disposed of.
"It is unusual for this to happen," Jette Clausen, the metro's communications chief, told Danish public broadcaster DR.
How is travel affected?
The M1 and M2 metro lines are both blocked between Nørreport and Christianshavn, but trains are still running back and forth, calling at all stops between Vanløse and Nørreport to the east, and between Christianshavn and Vestamager and Copenhagen Airport to the south.
The Circle Line, which runs through Kongens Nytorv, is also unaffected and all three stations remain open, even though the trains between them are not running.
Check the Copenhagen Metro's website here and its Facebook page here for the latest travel details.
What alternative ways are there of making the journey?
The Copenhagen Metro is running replacement buses between Christianshavn and Nørreport. You can see maps below -- all from the Copenhagen Metro -- showing where the replacement buses leave from outside the three stations.
You can also get regular buses, but because of the Metro link there are no direct buses between them.
The 2A bus from Christianshavn takes you to Stormboen, which is a 1km walk to Nørreport, or to Gammel Strand, from which you can take the train to Nørreport.
You can check the Rejseplanen app, either by downloading the app to your phone or online here.
It's also only a 23 minute walk between the two stations, so if you've packed a decent raincoat, that's also an option.
How long are the three stations likely to be closed?
It's hard to know.
Copenhagen's emergency services wrote in a tweet at 2.30pm that they had already started pumping out the water, and that this was already having "a good effect".
Status på metrostationen #Havnegade. Vi er i gang med at pumpe vand ud og det har allerede en god effekt. Det er endnu uvist hvornår der kan køres igen. Der henvises til #Metro for yderligere information //Operationschefen
— Hovedstadens Beredskab (@HBeredskab) November 16, 2023
Claus Hjorth Christoffersen, who is leading the operation for Copenhagen's emergency services, said that the biggest problem had been finding a suitable place to deposit water pumped out from the tunnel.
"The problem is that it is 40 meters down and we have to find a place to dispose of it," he told DR. "We can't just pour the water into the harbour because it may contain oil, and we are not interested in causing oil pollution on top of everything else."
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