This spring, metro line M5 was decided as part of a larger political agreement. This means that the first phase of M5, consisting of six stations from Copenhagen Central Station via Amager to Prags Boulevard, has moved a significant step closer.

Therefore, here is a status update on the project and what you as a neighbor can expect in the coming months.

Since last year, a number of preliminary investigations have been gradually underway. Among other things, we have had to clarify the geological conditions and groundwater conditions around the areas where the upcoming stations, shafts, and tunnels will be located. The test drilling continues, but at the same time, we are starting various other types of preliminary investigations along the line.

For example, we will soon begin registering buildings and outdoor areas, and we do this with both photo documentation and 3D scans, which you can read more about here. In some places, we also do this with drone recordings. This means that in the coming time, you may experience employees walking around with scanning equipment or taking pictures of facades, roads, parking lots, etc. In some places, we also need to – after agreement with the individual owners – photo register inside properties.

The preliminary investigations are an important part of the preparatory work for the new metro line, so please welcome our employees when you meet them in your local area. We apologize in advance if we occasionally get in the way.

In late summer last year, the environmental impact assessment of the M5 project was in public hearing. Thank you for the many responses. Since then, the project has been optimized with, among other things, possible alternative placements of a shaft near Copenhagen Central Station, various adjustments to the alignment and depth of the tunnels, as well as the station at Prags Boulevard being changed to be an elevated station.

You can see the optimized project on the digital map at metrolinjem5.kk.dk.

The changes to the original project have required a new, supplementary environmental impact assessment, and it is currently in public hearing until August 24 via Copenhagen Municipality's 'Bliv Hørt' portal.

If you have comments on the optimized project, you must submit your response via the Bliv Hørt portal. If you have already submitted your response in connection with the original project in late summer 2024, you do not need to submit your response again. But if you have input on the changes in the supplementary EIA, please submit your response via the Bliv Hørt portal no later than August 24, 2025.

When the hearing period is over, Copenhagen Municipality will compile the responses from both the original and supplementary environmental impact assessments and publish the answers in a white paper.

Although the government and Copenhagen Municipality have decided that M5 should be constructed as part of the overall agreement on urban development and infrastructure for Lynetteholm, we do not yet know all the details of the project.

In the coming time, we will continue with preliminary investigations and the extensive concept design, and then the construction law that forms the framework for the project must be prepared and adopted before the project can achieve the final §25 permit. After that, tender design and tendering await, as well as construction design, utility relocations, and the actual construction.

There are thus still some steps to be taken before we can lay out a more detailed timeline.

But as the project currently stands, some of the milestones in the timeline look like this:

• June 2 to August 24: Hearing on supplementary environmental impact assessment
• Second half of 2025: White paper compiling all received responses
• First half of 2026: Expected adoption of construction law
• 2028 – 2036: Expected construction work
• 2036: Expected opening of phase 1

You can continuously follow the project's development at metroselskabet.dk/m5, where you can also see more details in the preliminary timeline.

A project as large and important as M5 will always raise many questions, and we are happy to answer them. But we do not know all the answers yet, as the project is still under development.

If you have questions about the environmental impact assessment and the upcoming metro line, contact us at Metroselskabet at nabo@m.dk.

If you have questions about the political agreement or the process for the environmental impact assessment, contact Victor Scharff, Economic Administration in Copenhagen Municipality at b416@kk.dk.