I Rode EVERY Light Rail System in Denmark! (2024)
YouTube name: Miles in Transit.
Date: .
City: Aarhus (Denmark).
Odense Light Rail
Operational
Odense Light Rail: Tarup Center - Hjallese Station
Operational
Odense low-floor articulated tram 09 "Friheden", manufacturer Stadlerrail Werk Pankow, series 01-16, width 2.65 m, length 42.00 m, manufactured 2020, in the direction of Tarup Center.
Aarhus Letbane
Operational
Aarhus light rail line L1: Grenaa - Central Station
Operational
Aarhus light rail line L2: Odder - Lystrup
Operational
...at least until Copenhagen opens its light rail system in 2025.
In just 24 hours, I'll ride the entire light rail system in Denmark, covering both of them. We've arrived in Odense, Denmark's third-largest city. We're on the 8:13 train to Svendborg. Oh my gosh, it's a tiny train, and this is so exciting—lots of like, oh my gosh, nice big tray table with a coffee thingy. We're only on this for a couple of stops; we're basically using it to get to the end of the light rail here. Well, thanks for the trip, you little weirdo. I love how tiny this platform is—it's so cute. Over here is the end of the light rail, which I actually can't ride until 8:30. I did this weird thing where you can pre-book a ticket via the app, but you have to schedule it, so it's not available until 8:30, so I'm stuck in this weird little area until then. Look how little space it takes to fit all these bikes—that’s think how much more space it would take to fill with cars if you’d use the same number. This line runs every 7.5 minutes throughout the day, which is very convenient. And something cool is they have separate countdown clocks for each platform, so there's only one train here now, but we know it's leaving in 6 minutes. The next train on this platform isn't leaving for 13 minutes. Slightly concerning, but it appears I need to be online for the ticket to be processed. That is a bit of a concern, given there's no Wi-Fi here. Here's a fun fact: besides the card, which is mainly for residents in Denmark, there's no way to get a physical single ticket. I guess if they yell at me, I'll say there was nothing else I could do. Here’s the route we're taking. We’re going to make our way through the university slowly, then up into town, looping around the city center, and ending at what I believe is a shopping mall. It’s actually quite a long trip, about 40 minutes. This is nice; it's very open. Looks like a couple of stops at the university are temporarily closed or something—first of all, the grassy tracks. Second, I assume this is slated for redevelopment because there's nothing here currently. Light rail station, accessible car dealership—that’s really the middle of nowhere. There are just some random office parks here and there, along with Park and Ride facilities. Wow, these bike racks are so cute. This is a park-and-ride facility with an indoor waiting room. Oh my God, there's a lot of construction going on here now, so in a few years, this will be a much bigger deal than it is now, and the tram will be more useful. Here are the closed areas—there will be a new hospital built on this site. Again, a lot of development around this line. It’s impressive how the tram here has its own right-of-way, with no roads crossing it. On both sides, there’s just construction. That outbound tram is very busy—I think the peak direction now is probably toward the university, not into the city. Perhaps it's the fog, but this large park appears quite ominous. I didn’t know Carl’s Jr. was exported here. There’s a whole stop just for IKEA—that's awesome. I think that's the building the station serves. It’s annoying how there's parking right between us, and you can't tell from this angle that this apartment complex also has parking out front. I wonder if some of these complexes were built before the light rail came in because the newer ones seem to be designed around the line, whereas these older ones were probably here first. The train I’m on is standing room only. I was going to complain about how twisty this line is, but clearly it doesn't matter—tons of people are using it now. We’re entering more old-school dense residential neighborhoods, and I think because of that, we're just seeing more tram passengers commuting into the city. This is a great use of street space, featuring tram tracks, one lane for cars, a protected bike lane, and a sidewalk. Now it's fully pedestrianized, which is even better. Here’s the Central Station, which apparently has this huge building attached. Oh, a light rail-accessible stadium right here. Now we’re at Tarup Center, which is pretty desolate, and the mall doesn't open until 10, so I think we'll take the tram back into the city center. Here’s the mall—you definitely can't say it's not transit-accessible. And given that the mall isn't open, this stop seems very popular—there are already several people here. I got off in the pedestrianized city center, which I’d call an old town, but it's actually quite modern. Overall, this is a perfect tram line—it covers a large part of the city. The university generates a lot of ridership. It runs straight through the city center on its own dedicated track, which is really cool.
IKEA → Korsløkke → Tarup Center → Hjallese Station → Benedikts Plads → Vestre Stationsvej → Vesterbro → Parkering Odense Syd Park & Ride → Bolbro → Palnatokesvej → Banegården/Central Station → ODEON → Hestehaven → Rosengårdcentret → Idrætsparken, Stadium → Ejerslykke → SDU Syd/Hospital Nord → Albani Torv → Kongensgade → Hospital Syd → Højstrup → Campus → Contex Park → Østerbæksvej → Bilka → SDU/University → Grenaa → Ryomgård → Aarhus H, Aarhus Central Station → Hornslet → Torsøvej → Østbanetorvet → Vestre Strandallé → Risskov Strandpark → Dokk1 → Hjortshøj → Kollind → Løgten → Hovmarken → Lystrup → Thorsager → Skolebakken → Trustrup → Mørke → Odder → Lisbjergskolen → Mårslet → Universitetshospitalet → The University → Olof Palmes Alle → Vandtårnet (Ringvejen) → Universitetsparken → Beder → Malling → Gammel Skejby → Vilhelmsborg → Klokhøjen → Lisbjerg Bygade → Kongsvang → Nørreport → Tranbjerg → Humlehuse → Lisbjerg-Terp → Viby → Gunnar Clausens Vej → Øllegårdsvej → Rude Havvej → Nørrevænget → Mølleparken → Rosenhøj → Assedrup → Nye → Stjernepladsen → Nehrus Allé → Stockholmsgade.