The world’s most beautiful new subway opens in 2019

A sleek and futuristic-looking new subway, the most complete redesign of the transit system in more than a half-century, is scheduled to go online in April 2019, serving a population of more than a half-million people in and around Copenhagen, Denmark.

For many of the city’s residents, no commute seems more enjoyable than the time they spend commuting on the 8-kilometer (5.4-mile) underground transit system, designed by architect Roger Duffy.

The Transport Authority of Copenhagen has spent years working with the architects at Arup Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) to transform the underground, previously a relatively cramped maze of passageways by day. It will now sport 15 subway stations and 1,460 indoor bike racks and pedestrianized boulevards.

“We couldn’t create something that was contemporary and integrated the neighborhoods but was still integrated into the landscape,” said Hogset Vollgaard, a senior architect with BIG. He said, “it needed to be something to make the bus system work but also have the capability of the future.”

Upon entering the metro station, passengers enter a public space filled with greenery—mantrap trees, flowering bushes, apple trees, and the city’s famed skyscrapers—to create a sense of being connected to the urban fabric.

At the same time, the overall design is a mix of classic European features—a graffiti-splattered exterior and aboveground water fountain—with urbanist touches such as bike racks embedded into the underground tunnels, large open windows above ground, and additional solar panels to power trains.

Here are a few photos of the new Metro, as well as the segment linking the city’s two largest neighborhoods, the Vilhelm and the Fjordhuset.

For more photos of the new Metro, visit The New York Times.

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