At present two return ICE services per day operate on the 411km route between Århus and Hamburg with a journey time of around 4h 30min, but the study suggests this could be cut to 3h 15min by altering the timetable and reducing the number of intermediate stops from 12 to five.
Atkins estimates that around 73,000 people per day travel between Jutland and northern Germany, mostly by car, and suggests that even with minor improvements to the train service ridership could be doubled within a relatively short period.
Further journey time improvements could be achieved between 2015 and 2025 through Denmark's Train Fund DK project. This includes electrification of the line between Århus and Fredericia, a new 23km direct line between Århus and Hovegård and a 9km link across Vejle fjord which collectively would shave around 15 minutes off the journey time on the northern section of the route.
