Copenhagen Free Port Railway

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Copenhagen Free Port Railway
Freeport railway with engine shed (1915)
Freeport railway with engine shed (1915)
Route length: about 20 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
former track of Frihavnsjernbanen between Gittervej and the fence (2013)
Track along the Industrivej

The Copenhagen Freeport Railway ( Danish Frihavnsjernbanen ) was a private Danish freight railway in the free port of Copenhagen . It connected the port to the marshalling yard section of the Østerport station of the Danske Statsbaner (DSB). The railway line was abroad under customs law and was surrounded by a cast iron mesh fence.

It was operated by Kjøbenhavns Frihavns-Aktieselskab (KFA) and its successor companies and closed in 2005. The route to the southern free port ( Danish Søndre Frihavn ) had already been closed in 1985 when this area was closed as a free port.

history

At the end of the 1800s, international shipping increased sharply in the port of Copenhagen. At the same time, the Kiel Canal was opened and a large free port was established in Hamburg . As the competition was recognized in Copenhagen, it was decided to build a large free port north of the citadel in Østerbro with deep water, quays, cranes and other modern port facilities.

Københavns Frihavns-Aktieselskab

Københavns Frihavns-Aktieselskab (KFA) was founded on April 25, 1891. The first port in the world was built in which all systems were powered solely by electrical energy. The port was fenced in with a grid and was therefore considered a foreign country, where goods could be unloaded and stored without being recorded by the controls of the Danish customs.

The port was opened to traffic on November 9, 1894, and the railway ferry connection to Malmö was opened at the same time . The port was connected to the new Østerport station, which was connected to the Toldboden (a customs office) and the port area at Larsens Plads with two tracks. One of them belonged to Danske Statsbaner , the other to the free port company. These tracks ran along the so-called Lukkede Vej with their own customs office and were in operation until 1975.

The traffic with passenger and freight wagons between Østerport and the free port station was carried out by the state railway, all other railway technical tasks in the port were incumbent on the KFA.

The free port of Copenhagen had its own track network, a little over 20 kilometers long, and carried out all shunting trips within the site with its own locomotives. From the beginning there was a two-tier locomotive shed covered with corrugated iron . The shed was at the customs station at Folke Bernadotte Allé . The number of freight wagons handled varied; around 1920 it was 50,000 per year, but in 1928 only 18,244 freight wagons were exchanged between KFA and DSB.

Until the mid-1950s, KFA worked with three shunting groups, two of them during normal working hours from 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and an evening group from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., which worked longer if necessary until a ship was unloaded. Freight wagons were used for internal transport from one ship to another or from one warehouse to another. For this purpose, KFA had a small number of its own open wagons, which had a KFA number and were painted gray so that they could be easily distinguished from state railway wagons.

During the Second World War , overseas traffic ceased, but large quantities of peat were shipped via the free port as fuel. Part of the warehouse was used to store peat and from there it was distributed to consumers by horse and cart. In the final phase of the war the free port was the target of hospital trains from Eastern Europe, and a considerable number of refugees were housed in sheds and warehouses.

New container cranes were built in the 1970s. DSB set up a direct container block train between Copenhagen and Hamburg with a travel time of 20 hours. This was much faster than shipping by ship, and shipping revenue continued to decline.

In 1978, 7,312 cars were exchanged between KFA and DSB. In the late 1970s, KFA's situation was so bad that the company was liquidated on June 30, 1979.

Københavns Frihavns & Stevedore A / S

The successor was Københavns Frihavns & Stevedore A / S (KFS).

The rail lines in the southern free port were canceled in 1985 when the free port was closed at the same time. The port was then the reloading point for the DanLink freight route between Copenhagen and Helsingborg. This transfer point was opened on November 3, 1986 and closed again on June 30, 2000.

The railway ran through the Kastellet until 1988, when the railway and the track bed disappeared when it was reconstructed. At the same time the engine shed was demolished. The Gefionbroen originally ran from Toldboden over the railway.

Copenhagen Malmö Port AB

In 2001 it was decided to put the port of Copenhagen under the same management as the port in Malmö, which was operated by the company Copenhagen Malmö Port AB (CMP) . In 2005, operations on the still existing track network were discontinued and the vehicles were sold, so that rail operations in the free port ended after 111 years.

In 2013, the route was still partially visible. Much of the route along the latticevej (now partially Tromsøgade ), Glückstadtsvej (now Southamptongade ) and Industrivej were still intact, but with some breaks for pedestrian routes to and from the cruise ships that moored at several quays . At Orient Plads and at Lüdersvej (now Helsinkigade ) track remnants could still be found. They were eliminated when the site was being prepared for residential development. Outside the former lattice fence, parts of the former harbor track can still be found on Sundkrogskaj and Kalkbrænderiløbskaj.

The most famous building in the free port was the station building, which the DSB architect Heinrich Wenck had designed. It was restored in 1986, dismantled in 2002 and rebuilt three years later on Amerika Plads .

vehicles

At the end of the 1890s, KFA procured three steam locomotives of the type HS , which were used by the Danske Statsbaner . Another locomotive of this type was bought in 1920. In 1932, KFA switched to diesel operation. In 1954, KFA rented the HS 381 from DSB for a short time .

Steam locomotives
number Manufacturer Construction year in action
KFA 1 Neilson & Company 4754/1894 1894-1933
KFA 2 Neilson & Company 4857/1895 1895-1933
KFA 3 Hartmann 2309/1897 1897-1933
KFA 4 Orenstein & Koppel 8320/1920 1920-1933
Diesel locomotives
number Manufacturer Construction year in action before
KFA 1 triangle 1367/1932 1932-1966 1981 to De Danske Sukkerfabrikker , Sydhavnen. 1989 at FDSB, Skælskør. 2006 to Dansk Jernbane Klub, Marslev.
KFA 2 triangle 1368/1932 1932-1971 scrapped
KFA 3 triangle 1369/1933 1933-1987 1987 to FDSB
KFA 4 triangle 1370/1933 1937-1938 1937 to DSB, tractor 70
KFA 4 " Sentinel 10152/1962 1963-2002 2002 at Dansk Jernbane Klub
- Orenstein & Koppel 26659/1968 1987-2005 1987 by Bell Lines 46, Rotterdam, sold to BV Rotterdam in 2005.
CMP 374 Frichs 778/1963 1999-2005 DSB MH (II) 374
CMP 378 Frichs 782/1963 2002-2005 DSB MH (II) 378

literature

Web links

Commons : Frihavnsjernbanen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tommy Nilsson: Copenhagen Frihavns-Aktieselskab. jernbanen.dk, accessed on 16 May 2016 (Danish).
  2. ↑ a b Visual reports from July 10, 2013
  3. ↑ Visual reports from July 21, 2014
  4. ↑ a b DSB Litra MH (II). jernbanen.dk, accessed May 5, 2016 (Danish).