DSB returns to its normal train timetable on Zealand from Monday, August 17, ending nearly two months of reduced regional service caused by a shortage of train staff.
DR reports that fewer trains have covered regional traffic on Zealand since June. From Monday, the normal plan applies again, according to DSB’s traffic information.
That means more trains between Slagelse and Copenhagen Airport, DR notes. Service also increases between Næstved, Nykøbing Falster and Copenhagen Central Station.
DSB announced on June 22 that the period with fewer trains would last one week. The period was extended several times and finally pushed to August 16 inclusive. Avisen Danmark covered that final extension in July.
During the reduced timetable, regional trains running between Slagelse and Copenhagen Airport without stopping at Copenhagen Central Station were cancelled. Two other stretches ran only once an hour. That applied to departures between Næstved and Copenhagen Central via Køge, and between Nykøbing Falster and Copenhagen.
Why the trains were cut
DSB explained the reduced service with a lack of personnel during the summer’s extensive track work on Zealand. The company said in July that it had begun hiring and training new train drivers. Track work generally consumes more train drivers than normal, DSB’s information chief, Tony Bispeskov, has explained.
Per Bispeskov, staff also had to take holiday and time off in lieu, and sickness absence was elevated. Transportnyhederne adds operational detail, reporting that services normally run as one through-train are split into segments during track work. Each segment then needs its own driver, for example between Copenhagen and Ringsted and between Slagelse and Odense.
The summer also brought rail replacement buses in several places. In week 29, buses replaced trains between Ringsted and Nyborg because of track work, DR reports. Buses were also deployed between Odense and Fredericia after track work on western Funen was delayed by one day.
BT reports the same timeline, describing almost two months of reduced service before Monday’s return to normal. The outlet also confirms the affected routes and DSB’s original one-week plan.
DSB’s own traffic information had set the period with fewer regional trains on Zealand to run through August 16. The restrictions were therefore always described as temporary in the operator’s published information.
According to DSB’s overview of the 2026 track renewal on Zealand, Banedanmark has renewed tracks between Høje Taastrup and Roskilde and between Ringsted and Slagelse. That phase ran up to mid-August, with a new phase and different effects on public transport starting from August 17.
