Banedanmark is asking nearly 3,700 property owners along the Svendborg railway line on Funen to inspect their trees, after 32 trees fell onto the tracks in three years.
The letters are being sent out this week to residents living close to the Svendborgbanen, which runs between Odense and Svendborg. DR reports that Banedanmark wants to reduce the number of trees falling onto the line.
According to Morten Lykke-Hansen, section chief at Banedanmark, privately owned trees are the hardest for the agency to monitor. He notes that the Svendborgbanen is one of the lines where a relatively large share of fallen trees came from private plots.
Between 2023 and 2025, a total of 32 trees fell onto the Svendborgbanen, and 11 of them stood on private property. Banedanmark states that fallen trees cause delays and can, in the worst case, endanger passengers and railway staff.
Banedanmark inspects the trees on its own land. Owners are responsible for making sure trees on their plots do not risk falling onto the railway, per DR.
Scouts in Stenstrup will keep watch
One neighbor to the tracks is the KFUM scout group in Stenstrup on central Funen. Group leader Carsten Andersen says the consequences would be serious if one of their trees fell onto the line, and that monitoring them is natural.
Andersen told DR that the group became more attentive after a tree from their plot fell onto the railway last year. He plans to involve the oldest scouts in assessing the condition of the trees on the scout grounds.
Banedanmark recommends that neighbors watch for dead branches, cracks in trunks, fungus on the tree and poor roots. Across Denmark, more than 600 trees fell onto railway lines in the period from 2023 to 2025.
Timing and scope
TV2 Øst reports that the letters are going out before the autumn winds pick up. It adds that at least 230 of the more than 600 trees that fell nationwide came from neighboring private properties.
Avisen.dk reports the exact distribution of the letters. A total of 3,675 are going to neighbors along the Svendborgbanen, while 8,106 are being sent to neighbors along the Kystbanen north of Copenhagen.
Fallen trees are one of several causes of disruption on the Danish rail network, which has seen repeated train chaos in recent years. Wind and storms are a recurring factor in the Danish weather during the autumn months.
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Lykke-Hansen says he hopes neighbors along the line will lend a hand so the number of fallen trees drops. The Svendborgbanen stretches from Svendborg in the south of Funen to Odense.
