The DSB class ME are a series of diesel-electric locomotives, introduced in 1981. A total of 37 units were built, all by the German factory Henschel for the Danish State Railways (DSB). They were among the first AC drive locomotives in serial production. As of 2017, 33 units are still in service.[2] Starting from 2020, the DSB began receiving new Vectron locomotives, the sale of Class Me began, and as of November 2021, 9 units have been sold.
The locomotives were designed to haul heavier regional services in Sjælland, Denmark, in the early 1980s, replacing much of the old rolling stock in use at the time.
The first unit, 1501 arrived in 1981 after many years of delay.[citation needed] Three years later, in 1983, DSB had received a total of 30 units.[1] Although there had been some serious trouble with the locomotives,[specify][examples needed] DSB found a solution on the problems,[specify][examples needed] and an additional seven units were delivered in 1985.[1]
As of 2017, 33 units are still in service, three have been scrapped and one is preserved at the Danish Railway Museum.[2] The ME locomotives was expected to be replaced by IC3 train sets when the IC4 train sets were ready to take over Intercity services. The IC4 train set are very unstable in service and have a variety of problems, however, so they are not going to replace the IC3 train sets in Intercity services.[3] As a result of this DSB have ordered 26 new electric locomotives that are going to replace the ME locomotives by 2020.[4] The units were originally painted in DSB's black/red livery, but in 2006 they were all painted dark blue with red details on the side. In October 2016, DSB began painting the locomotives red to match their new logo.[2]
The exhaust stack is below the air intake of the Bombardier double-decker coaches used in regional services. The air in the coaches was found to have a high concentration of diesel particulate matter, which induces cancer. DSB changed the air filters in 2013, providing a DPM reduction of 40%. But the concentration could still induce cancer for train staff, because they spend a long time in the coaches.[5]
December the 11th 2021, marks the Class Me's last day of service in DSB, as it marks the last day of the current service schedule. The 12th a new schedule will enter service. In the new schedule, the local services run by ME locomotives, will be fully replaced by the new DSB Class EB Vectron and the DSB Class MG IC4 (København - Kalundborg) The rest of the Class Me will join the already 9 sold, in a new life in Sweden at Nordic Re-Finance AB as Class TME. They will be upgraded with the new ETCS signal system, and can therefore also run in Denmark as well as Sweden and Norway. Few units will keep the current Danish ATC, and two units will still be in Denmark for the queen, as the line from Fredericia to Aarhus is yet to be electrified.
Polish SKPL Cargo has 6 locomotives, one of them has been given the designation SU175 [6].
ME unit 1533 in the old livery pushing a set of doubledecker coaches out of Valby station.
Intercity Express is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It is the flagship of the German state railway, Deutsche Bahn. ICE fares are fixed for station-to-station connections, on the grounds that the trains have a higher level of comfort. Travelling at speeds up to 320 km/h (200 mph), they are aimed at business travellers and long-distance commuters and marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.
DSB, an abbreviation of Danske Statsbaner, is the largest Danish train operating company, and the largest in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on most of the Danish railways, goods transport and railway maintenance are outside its scope. DSB runs a commuter rail system, called the S-train, in the area around the Danish capital, Copenhagen, that connects the different areas and suburbs in the greater metropolitan area. Between 2010 and 2017, DSB operated trains in Sweden.
InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains generally call at major stations only.
The rail transport system in Denmark consists of 2,633 km of railway lines, of which the Copenhagen S-train network, the main line Helsingør-Copenhagen-Padborg, and the Lunderskov-Esbjerg line are electrified. Most traffic is passenger trains, although there is considerable transit goods traffic between Sweden and Germany.
The DSB Class MF is a Danish-built high-comfort medium/long distance diesel multiple-unit train. The sets were built by ABB Scandia in Randers. This train model has been operating in Denmark, Sweden and Israel since 1990. The name IC3 indicates simply that it is a three-carriage InterCity trainset.
The IC4 is an inter-city rail train built by the Italian train manufacturer AnsaldoBreda for the trans-Great Belt routes of Danske Statsbaner (DSB), Denmark's national railway operator. Under DSB's 'Good trains for everyone' plan, the intent of the IC4 project was to replace several types of outdated rolling stock. However, various delays and shortcomings have turned the project into a major political issue.
The class MY is a class of diesel-electric locomotives built in the years 1954–1965 by NOHAB. A total of 59 units, numbered 1101–1159, were delivered to the Danish State Railways. Powered by GM-EMD engines, the locomotives represented a significant change in rolling stock policy — motive power had largely been sourced from within Denmark for several decades.
The DSB Class EA was the first electric locomotive in Denmark, introduced in 1984. Twenty-two were built for DSB, about half were acquired by Deutsche Bahn in 2001 when it took over the freight business of DSB.
Øresundståg is a passenger train network operated by Skånetrafiken and Transdev in the transnational Øresund Region of Denmark and Sweden. The name is a hybrid of the Danish Øresundstog and the Swedish Öresundståg, both meaning "Øresund train". The rolling stock, also known as Class ET in Denmark and X31K in Sweden, are electric passenger trainsets in the Flexliner family.
DSB class MZ was a series of 61 diesel-electric locomotives operated by Danske Statsbaner. They were built by NOHAB between 1967 and 1978 under licence from General Motors EMD with subcontractors Thrige-Titan and Frichs. There were four series of the locomotive built, designated I – IV.
The DBAG Class 605, commonly known as the ICE TD is a high-speed diesel multiple unit (DMU) train, formerly in service with Deutsche Bahn and DSB.
The Vectron is a locomotive series made by Siemens Mobility, introduced at the 2010 InnoTrans trade fair in four prototype versions: diesel, multi-system, and both AC and DC electric power. The diesel version has been replaced in 2018 by a dual mode locomotive which is powered by electricity on electrified sections of the track and can be switched to diesel mode on non-electrified sections. The Vectron series is reconfigurable and modular, with a Bo'Bo' wheel arrangement, and is intended as the successor to the EuroSprinter family of locomotives. A more affordable, basic version called Smartron was introduced in 2018.
The Hamburg–Lübeck railway is one of the most important mainline railways of the German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. It connects the two Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck, and is part of the line to Denmark. The line was opened in 1865.
Intercity (IC) is the second-highest train classification in Germany, after the Intercity Express (ICE). Intercity services are loco-hauled express train services, usually over long-distances. There are Intercity routes throughout Germany, and routes generally operate with a two-hour frequency, with multiple routes giving a more frequent service on core routes. Intercity services are operated by the DB Fernverkehr sector of Deutsche Bahn.
Puttgarden station is a major ferry terminal on the Vogelfluglinie on the island of Fehmarn in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It lies between the town of Puttgarden and Marienleuchte.
The class MH was a class of diesel-hydraulic locomotives of the Danish State Railways (DSB), built by Danish manufacturer Frichs. A total of 120 units, numbered 301–420, were delivered between 1960 and 1965. They were primarily used for shunting and light freight traffic.
The Sorø derailment of 25 April 1988 happened when an Intercity train IC104 from Fredericia, Jutland to Copenhagen jumped the rails 800 meters west of the entrance of the station of Sorø, resulting in eight deaths and 72 passengers injured.
ICE L is a long-distance locomotive-hauled push-pull train which is being built by the Spanish company Talgo for the German train operator DB Fernverkehr and is scheduled to commence operation from 2024. The name of the train was changed in 2021 from its previous working title ECx, with the L standing for low-floor entry. The manufacturer refers to the train units themselves as Talgo 230. They will replace old Intercity (IC) trains in Germany, and IC3/IC4 in Denmark.
The Lunderskov-Esbjerg line is the railway between Lunderskov and Esbjerg in Southern Jutland. It was opened on 3 October 1874, along with the first part of the West Jutland longitudinal line to Varde.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
