SUSTAINABILITY - CARBON MANAGEMENT | INSIGHT, BTS
(>99%) - “which is remarkable,” Jon said, adding it is due in part to how the metro was set up. Metroselskabet is owned by three parties: City of
Copenhagen (50%); Frederiksberg enclave within the capital (7.2%); and the Danish state (41.7%), via the Minister of Transport. Jon said: “We report to a board, and the board
reports to those three owners. That matters because it shapes how we make decisions.” He added that, shortly before the presentation to the BTS, “the chair of our board…said that we have to act on climate change, carbon and biodiversity, and that we may need to be a little less risk-averse”. He said: “For us, that is almost a mandate to do
things differently, and that is very helpful.” The metro has expanded in phases and currently
has four lines, namely M1, M2, M3 (Cityringen, which opened in 2019), and M4 to Nordhavn (2020) and M4 to Sydhavn (2024). In the business strategy, there is an ambition for
new metro lines to cut the climate footprint from their construction by half. Planning involves rigorous screening and evaluation of potential new lines, considering population density, key destinations, integration with existing infrastructure, and the carbon footprint. The next projects are the M4 extension, which is
an elevated section; and M5, which is includes both underground and elevated sections. M5 Phase 1 is 7km-long, mostly underground and planned to open in 2036, with Phase 2 set to open in 2045.
M5, INNOVATION AND NETWORK PLANS Metroselskabet has an innovation team. It has run studies for almost six years. The team raises, discusses and evaluates ideas. What is meant by innovation? Typically, for Metroselskabet, it’s about things tried elsewhere but not yet done in Copenhagen – giving stakeholders, clients and owners opportunity to learn, be convinced and approve some approaches. All of which takes time. Over the five years prior to the presentation, the
team had 200 innovation ideas across both the Civil Works and Transportation Systems disciplines. With the help of consultants Cowi-Arup JV (CAJV) for the Civil Works, and Ramboll-Systra JV (RSJV) for the Transportation Systems, around 70 of the innovations will be “baked into” the contract tender. Jon noted that the others aren’t bad ideas, as such, and some may be offered to contractors and consultants to consider further in the future. In developing M5, a broad set of routes was
generated: about 27 possible lines, reduced to 16, and then to eight favourites. The aim is to strengthen the network, at the gaps – to the south, to the west and north-east of the capital. People will then go where there is transport. Metroselskabet has a powerful GIS-based tool
called Metroplanner, built by Cowi. It allows an alignment to be drawn (station options, straight
sections, curves, elevation differences) and, in real- time, a review of the combinations. The tool pull-ins large amounts of data and can show passenger numbers, including at interchanges, construction cost and carbon impact. The original M1 and M2 stations are not identical
but their format is very consistent, as deep boxes (three types). M3 was more of the same (with deeper, shallower and elevated variants). A spin-off for current planners has come from the standardised block types, helping faster cost and carbon estimates. But M5 is different, with varied, and shallower, stations. As projects develop, the level of detail increased. For
the M5 project, Arup developed another GIS platform that brings together project information, enabling visualisation of alignment, boreholes, contaminated land, top of the limestone rock (under tills and sands/ gravels), estimated settlement contours and damage assessment, affected buildings, and clicking on tabs can give access to drawings and information on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
M5 PROCUREMENT, PROGRAMME AND GROUND CONDITIONS Together with the CAJV and the RAJV, Metroselskabet has developed the design of the M5 Phase 1, and the prequalification documents and tender material were made available in July 2026. The works include six stations (five underground and one elevated), as well as around 6.5km of twin-tube bored tunnels, a short section of viaduct, and a Control & Maintenance Centre (CMC). The contract split is as follows:
● the Transportation System contract (trains, vehicles, maintenance, and CMC) is to be procured through competitive dialogue; and,
● the Civil Works contract (tunnels, architecture, M&E, Permanent Way and the rest of civils for
August 2026 | 27
Copenhagen Metro schematic map.
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