How Alstom's inability to deliver trains on schedule, and Danish incompetence, will break an important regional train connection (and how to fix it)

As if Denmark - Germany long distance international connections were not already bad enough thanks to the Talgo saga, now the regional train connections between the two countries are getting worse as well.

What follows in this post is a diagnosis only of the regional trains - long distance Hamburg - København trains are not impacted directly by this.

There will be rail replacement buses at least throughout the whole of 2027 between Flensburg and Padborg at the border, replacing all the regional trains - DSB confirms this here (see "Ændringer, når du rejser internationalt"). It will also leave Flensburg without regular trains to Denmark.

But the problem starts this time not with Talgo, but with another deficient manufacturer: Alstom, and specifically the Alstom works at Salzgitter in Germany. Because nothing ordered from that works is delivered on schedule at present.

And then comes normal Danish railway incompetence on top.

It goes like this.

Danish railways, having been rocked by the IC4 AnsaldoBreda scandal, decided to finally do things properly: electrify Denmark's main lines, upgrade the signalling on these lines (to ETCS), and order electric trains to replace the unreliable IC4 diesels.

Two system (25kV ac for Denmark, 15kV ac for Germany) Siemens Vectron locomotives would haul the international passenger trains, and single system (25kV) IC5 EMUs were ordered from Alstom Salzgitter for national services.

However everyone knew this would pose a problem for cross border regional trains - currently diesel regional trains from Denmark terminate at Flensburg, and Flensburg has 15kV wires.

So a solution was found German side, with some Danish financing.

When Schleswig Holstein ordered its new Coradia Max EMUs from Alstom Salzgitter, some of the trains would be dual voltage to allow cross border operation. Hamburg - Flensburg regional trains would be extended into Denmark (to Tinglev, that also serves the line to Sønderborg - see OpenRailwayMap).

However when the DSB IC5 order was placed in December 2021, the trains were meant to start to enter into service in December 2024. Now we now know even December 2026 will not happen, and DSB rather cryptically talks of "the end of 2027", although how many trains it thinks it will get by then is unclear.

But the installation of ETCS on the tracks in Denmark has been proceeding anyway, and DSB is short of trains equipped with ETCS on board equipment - due to the huge delay delivering the IC5. So DSB has been stripping the German PZB signalling out of its older IC3 diesel trains (meaning these can no longer run to Flensburg) and installing ETCS instead. From December 2026 DSB will have no regional trains, either diesel or electric, that can run Fredericia - Tinglev - Padborg - Flensburg.

DSB's solution? The rail replacement bus Padborg - Flensburg. For at least a whole year, December 2026 until December 2027.

Not only is this inadequate, it was also foreseeable - because when Schleswig Holstein ordered its Coradia Max trains in 2023, entry into service of those trains was only to be December 2027. Here is the original press release. Meanwhile this document dated 23 July 2024 confirms ETCS north of Padborg scheduled for 2027. So DSB had at least 24 months to come up with some solution better than a bus between Padborg and Flensburg, and has not done so.

Also given that Denmark has an 11 year long temporary suspension of Schengen, border controls heading northbound on the road are going to make the rail replacement bus mighty unreliable, especially in summertime.

I am kicking myself that I did not have this issue on my radar sooner, but hey ho, at least I do not run a railway company.

But there is more.

Despite Alstom showing a Coradia Max at Innotrans September 2024, still no trains of this type run in Germany, and December 2027 is now the provisional date for the first of these trains to operate - in Niedersachsen, three years later than the December 2024 date that was foreseen when Niedersachsen signed their contract. While Schleswig Holstein has not acknowledged the problem, I cannot see any hope that construction, and approval of these trains for Germany and Denmark, can be completed by December 2027.

Update 21.10.2026, 11:00 - now confirmed officially. New Alstom trains will NOT be delivered to Schleswig Holstein in 2027. Talk of "2028"

So we need some rail solution for the problem, that will last at least a year, and possibly considerably longer.

Simply extending Hamburg - Flensburg RE services to Padborg (which can be reached with 15kV and does not need ETCS) is probably not an option, as those trains use Twindexx Vario that have no approval even for the short section to Padborg. Padborg station having only two platforms, and only one of those platforms having adequate voltage switching systems, is a further headache, so that is out. Using older 15kV-only electric locomotives is likewise probably too fragile as a solution.

I hence see only two options.

A Flensburg - Padborg - Flensburg shuttle service with a diesel multiple unit, probably an old 628 (some of which seem to have a DK authorisation). Or a longer shuttle service Flensburg - Padborg - Tinglev - Padborg - Flensburg, with some leased Siemens Vectron 15kV/25kV electric locomotives top-tailing InterCity carriages (DB has some spare). And all of this will benefit not only regional services, but also help cover the inevitable breakdowns of the long distance Talgo trains in the summer of 2027 as well.

Over to you, DSB and the Danish government: you broke it, so you fix it!

[Update 14.10.2026, 13:25]

Michael Ummels points me towards this that argues that ETCS is needed for anything through Padborg from the summer of 2027 onwards. I do not know if that is correct. If it is correct, then all this mess might make a case to delay the switch, or if it happen in summer 2027 it leaves only the Vectron solution I outline as viable (as 628 DMUs have no ETCS).

There are a few minor changes to the main text as well, to make some aspects clearer.

[Update 14.10.2016, 15:45]

Two more interesting suggestions have reached me.

First, why not use a Siemens Mireo Plus B, under wires German side and battery Danish side of the border. You can even lease them. But as far as I can tell there from the EU Agency for Railways ERATV database, there are three suitable Mireo Plus B types that have ETCS - two types approved for Germany (1, 2) and one type approved for Denmark (1). So you would need some approval for use in Denmark still, so that is likely out.

The second cheeky suggestion from Kiel is Calling on Mastodon would be to extend ETCS from Padborg to Flensburg, and get Denmark to foot the bill. And once that is done use DSB IC3 trains that have ETCS. I cannot see either the Danish government, or DB InfraGo going for this one though, even though in principle I like the idea!

Aim high: the hourly Vectron Sandwich solution

Having pondered various solutions for this problem throughout the day today (14 Oct), this, I think, is the most viable way to do it - the Vectron Sandwich.

We know Siemens Vectron locomotives are approved for Denmark and Germany, as DSB has more than 40 of them, and is leasing more. We know running a formation with a locomotive on the front and locomotive at the back of the train, with IC1 carriages sandwiched in between, is permissible, as DSB in cooperation with DB did this prior to the entry into service of the Talgo trains between København and Hamburg.

So this is the solution for Flensburg - Padborg - Tinglev regional trains, example timetable for a midweek morning after the December timetable change shown:

This does not work perfectly with just 1 train - you can connect every train at Padborg, but not all trains at Tinglev, but you could offer a few Tinglev connections throughout the day as well - I suspect mornings heading northbound and evenings southbound would work best.

Off season the train would probably need 3 or 4 carriages, peak season more like 7 or 8. The timetable is tight, but it just fits.

Doing it this way would give Flensburg the two hourly connection it has currently, plus some additional connections to/from København changing in Tinglev. And this would also decrease the pressure on the long distance Talgo cross border trains at peak times as well.

[Update 14.10.2026, 19:30]

Why, I was asked, can DSB not use a Vectron locomotive and double deck carriages and a control car all the way to Flensburg? Not least as anyone who has seen one of those DSB trains...

can see they bear a striking resemblance to their DB cousins!

The problem is with the electric systems.

When the overhead wire voltage changes, so the voltage (and frequency) supplied to the carriages of the train also changes, regardless of the locomotive you are using.

You can see this on the carriage label - this DB carriage can accept all 4 voltages:

Some of DB's IC1 carriages I mention in the original post can likewise accept all 4 voltages.

When the overhead wire is 15kV ac 16.7Hz (as in Germany), you need a carriage that can accept 1000V 16.7Hz. When the overhead wire is 25kV ac 50Hz (as in Denmark), you need a carriage that can accept 1500V 50Hz.

And DSB's double deck carriages can... only accept the latter:

So running a DSB double deck carriage to Flensburg cannot work. When Denmark subsequently bought a few double deck carriages second hand from Germany, they stripped out the transformers to allow the carriages to run in Germany and replaced them with Denmark only ones, so that does not help either.

[Update 14.10.2026, 20:10]

Why, I was asked, can the Vectron Sandwich I propose above not be used all the way from Flensburg to Fredericia?

The answer is yes - as far as Fredericia - that would work. But you would then need 3 or 4 trains, so if top-tailing 6 or 8 locomotives, so your fleet would need to be considerably larger.

However DSB wants to extend the regional train that has run so far from Padborg to Fredericia onwards to Aarhus, and while ETCS is finalised all the way to Aarhus, electrification is not finalised there yet as far as I know.

So in short, Fredericia yes, Aarhus for now probably not.

[Update 15.10.2026, 10:00]

It is as if this story never ends. More and more suggestions!

Perhaps the most obvious one, and one I had not noted here before, is this: would it be possible to stop the long distance RJ and ECE København - Hamburg trains in Flensburg?

Flensburg station has a strange location - see OpenRailwayMap - and you have to run Weiche - Flensburg - Flensburg Süd - Padborg. But stopping there makes a lot more sense than stopping in Schleswig (where it stops currently). And there is enough padding in the timetable to do that, just.

And in the summer months there are even 3 trains that will stop in Flensburg. So stopping every ECE and RJ in Flensburg, probably instead of Schleswig, would be a solid step forward, and passengers from Schleswig (and Neumünster) heading north would change in Flensburg.

The much less obvious, but rather creative way forward, comes from Moritz Krähe who sent me this video:

Here two diesel locomotives provide traction, and a Vectron locomotive on the front is there for ETCS signalling and provides no power. I admit I had not thought of a solution at Padborg where one part of the train provides power, and another part provides ETCS, but maybe there is something to learn from this?

[Update 15.10.2026, 11:45]

Anyone else got any carriages?

Apparently DSB might even have some itself - as well as the double deck carriages it acquired from Germany (that I mention above), it also acquired 9 from CFL in Luxembourg (thanks Niels Jørgen Kruse). Details of the purchase here and here (also including carriage numbers). Luxembourg uses 25kV 50Hz ac, like Denmark, and these carriages were approved for Germany too - so the carriages must have been able to accept 1500V 50Hz and 1000V 16.7Hz, and I assume DSB did not rebuild them once they were acquired. So running these carriages sandwiched between 2 Vectron locomotives could also be possible.

And apart from IC carriages from Deutsche Bahn there might be other carriages available for lease, such as the seating carriages RDC used for night trains through Denmark in the past.

[Update 15.10.2026, 12:45]

Some of my followers on social media are having too much fun with this.

Building on Moritz Krähe's idea (that he is now shamefully disowning 😄), Jonas Boström has topped it with this. You can install ETCS on a tiny shunter dating from 1966, apparently.

Which brings us back full circle. If you can put ETCS on a small shunter, why can you not put it on a DB 628 DMU, and use that for the Padborg - Flensburg shuttle? I assume the DMUs of this type adapted for Czechia have ETCS, so there is even a precedent.

Photo rights
Fahrzeuge der Reihe 628.2 auf dem Werksgelände bei Linke-Hofmann-Busch - Pancolar - 13 May 1988 - CC BY-SA 4.0

DSB 3208, Hamburg - nigelmenzies - June 25, 2024 - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Detailansicht RIC-Raster an einem Reisezugwagen der Bauart Bimz 264.3 - Bvcmz248.5 - 14 May 2024 - CC0 1.0

C01 300 Heizraster - Falk2 - 7 July 2013 - CC BY-SA 4.0

DB Schwarzwaldbahn - Offenburg (Dosto) - Kevin.B - 28 December 2022 - CC BY-SA 4.0

Bombardier double deck DVT at Kobenhaven Station on a Kobenhavn Airport service - Oxyman - 7 October 2009 - CC BY-SA 2.0