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Description
Being in Copenhagen doesn't only give you the chance to gaze at all the amazing Danish architecture, but also lets you witness their less appealing train designs.

This is the infamous "Danish rubber nose" as Germans refer to it, the Danish State Railways ER class, a four car EMU originally intended for regional traffic. Two power cars at either end are permanently coupled to two unpowered cars in the middle via Jacobs style bogies, while individual trainsets can be coupled with an automatic Scharfenberg coupler that's also visible here. We can also see the most striking feature of these trains: The entire front is surrounded by a humongous rubber gasket, which (to my mind) makes these look utterly hideous. The practical use is of course to have a completely sealed corridor when two units are coupled together. The driver's controls are attached to the cab's front, which can be unlocked and pivoted sideways much like a door, enabling passengers to walk the entire lenght of the train. The rubber front is also inflated with compressed air after coupling, making for an air- and watertight seal. This is how it looks from inside.

These trains and their diesel powered MF class cousins were designed and manufactured by ABB Scandia starting in 1989, with a top speed of 180kph. That's quite impressive when considering that aerodynamics were probably not considered. They are still in full service to this day, but contrary to the original plans, they are now being used on longer than just regional routes. As a result, the interiors were updated to a somewhat higher comfort, matching those of their DMU counterpads.

Taken at the station Ørestad near our hotel, where I was able to do an hour or two of trainspotting before we continued onwards to Göteborg the next morning.

Description
Being in Copenhagen doesn't only give you the chance to gaze at all the amazing Danish architecture, but also lets you witness their less appealing train designs.

This is the infamous "Danish rubber nose" as Germans refer to it, the Danish State Railways ER class, a four car EMU originally intended for regional traffic. Two power cars at either end are permanently coupled to two unpowered cars in the middle via Jacobs style bogies, while individual trainsets can be coupled with an automatic Scharfenberg coupler that's also visible here. We can also see the most striking feature of these trains: The entire front is surrounded by a humongous rubber gasket, which (to my mind) makes these look utterly hideous. The practical use is of course to have a completely sealed corridor when two units are coupled together. The driver's controls are attached to the cab's front, which can be unlocked and pivoted sideways much like a door, enabling passengers to walk the entire lenght of the train. The rubber front is also inflated with compressed air after coupling, making for an air- and watertight seal. This is how it looks from inside.

These trains and their diesel powered MF class cousins were designed and manufactured by ABB Scandia starting in 1989, with a top speed of 180kph. That's quite impressive when considering that aerodynamics were probably not considered. They are still in full service to this day, but contrary to the original plans, they are now being used on longer than just regional routes. As a result, the interiors were updated to a somewhat higher comfort, matching those of their DMU counterpads.

Taken at the station Ørestad near our hotel, where I was able to do an hour or two of trainspotting before we continued onwards to Göteborg the next morning.