At the meeting on November 24, the Board of Directors was presented with the results of the tender for contracts for the Sydhavn Metro, including the chosen award criteria. On this basis, the Board approved the financial basis for entering into the two major contracts for the Sydhavn Metro. Before the contracts can be signed, the financial basis must be approved by the Metroselskabet's owners, which are the Danish state and the municipalities of Frederiksberg and Copenhagen.

"The Sydhavn Metro will increase the robustness of the capital's public transport system, and the important urban development areas along the new metro line will be more closely linked to the rest of Copenhagen. With a metro connection that runs around the clock at high frequency, Ny Ellebjerg Station will also become a new, strong traffic hub with transfers between the Metro, S-trains and long-distance and regional trains," says Chairman Jørn Neergaard Larsen on behalf of Metroselskabet's Board of Directors.

"The five stations on the Sydhavn Metro are expected to have a total of around nine million passengers a year at the five stations. At the same time, the number of passengers in the entire metro system will increase by around 16 million passengers per year," explains the chairman of the board.

The contracts for the Sydhavn Metro include requirements for clauses on wages and employment conditions, apprentices and the working environment.

At the last board meeting in October, the board discussed a new passenger forecast that Metroselskabet has commissioned. The forecast shows a strong growth in passenger numbers towards 2035, and the increase is both larger and earlier than expected. At the meeting on November 24, the board was therefore presented with a number of proposed solutions that can relieve the increased capacity pressure and meet the increasing passenger numbers in both the short and medium term. According to the board, the different models must be considered together with the need for reinvestment in the system.

"The Metro has seen great passenger growth in recent years, and 2016 was another record year with 60 million passengers. It is of course very positive that so many people choose the Metro, but it also puts increased pressure on capacity. Therefore, we have now decided to move forward with a number of concrete proposals for solutions that can help address future capacity challenges," explains Jørn Neergaard Larsen.

Finally, the Company's Board was briefed on the focus areas and results of the company's emergency response work for the existing Metro in 2017. The board also approved proposals for focus areas for the emergency response efforts in 2018.