Danish State Railways (DSB) has chosen to increase the capacity of the eight Talgo Intercity trains ordered in February 2020 by more than ten percent.
The initial order was for trains with a capacity of 442 seats. Now DSB has chosen to increase the number of carriages and therefore seats to 492 per train. This increase in carriages is an option that was part of the original contract with Talgo. DSB was able to order either additional carriages or entire units.
DSB chose to increase the scope of the order because of an increase in ticket sales for international journeys, especially to Hamburg, Germany between 2019 and the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Denmark has been promoting rail travel as an environmentally friendly alternative to more polluting modes such as air travel. As a result, DSB will push ahead with increasing the capacity of this order, despite the temporary decline in passenger numbers during COVID-19.
The eight intercity trains will be Talgo 230 units. They will operate at a commercial speed of 200km/h. They will be fully accessible throughout and are wider than comparable units provided by competitors. Deutsche Bahn also chose the Talgo 230 in a 2019 order.
Starting in 2023 the new trains will connect Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital, with the German port city of Hamburg.
