Copenhagen Metro
The metro network of Copenhagen consists of a single line from the municipality of Vanløse through the center of the city, and out to the island of Amager, where it splits out into a westernmost and an easternmost line. The metro system was opened in 2002 and an expansion that leads the metro all the way to Copenhagen Airport in Kastrup is being made, and is scheduled for completion in 2007. Another line that will connect with the current line, travelling in a ring through the central places in the city is on the drawing board.
The metro trains are driverless, meaning that they are run by a computer system. Some of the tracks on Amager, and some of the tracks towards Vanløse are run above ground.
A number of technical problems have plagued the first years of the metro system, but overall the metro has been well incorporated into the existing public transportation grid consisting of S-trains and busses.
The metro was built largely as a result of a 1992 report on the future of transportation in Copenhagen. It was one of several proposals for a future transport grid to newly developing areas of Amager. Large areas of the island slightly to the south of downtown Copenhagen were still unused or in agricultural use but were so valuable that the city decided to develop them as part of the Ørestad project, also in conjunction with the construction of the Øresund Bridge. It was decided that an efficient transportation grid should be built in advance of, or in conjunction with, new buildings in order to avoid the disorganization that often hampers cities that develop organically.
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