Frustrated commuters in Viborg: 'We're losing 8-0 to West Jutland'
While traffic improvements are on the way both east and west of the city, it's a different picture for the people of Viborg, according to both passengers and politicians.
(Photo: © Thomas Traasdahl, Ritzau Scanpix)
By
Torben Møller ( [email protected] ) 57 min. ago
Commuters in Viborg feel overlooked and passed over.
Because while better train connections are on the way in both East and West Jutland, the cathedral city is left to look on enviously.
And that creates frustration among both local passengers and politicians.
- As things stand, we're behind 8-0 compared to West Jutland, says Allan Bjerregaard, chairman of the Social Democrats in Viborg West.
He refers to the fact that West Jutland will get eight daily direct train departures from Struer to Copenhagen from 13 December, compared to four today. At the same time, train commuters can look forward to faster trains between Silkeborg and Aarhus when a new route alignment is introduced.
In the middle lies Viborg, which is not experiencing any such improvements.
- Credit to the politicians in West Jutland, they've been on top of things, says Allan Bjerregaard.
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Unresolved struggle
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According to Allan Bjerregaard, the current frustration is a reflection of many years of unresolved struggle. He himself first wrote a reader's letter on the subject back in 2012.
- In Viborg, nothing whatsoever has happened, and I can be frustrated about that. It's annoying to see others running away with everything. I think the city council has been asleep at the wheel.
Allan Bjerregaard recommends that the entire city council in Viborg Municipality contacts the two locally elected members of parliament, Lise Bertelsen and Katrine Evelyn Jensen, as well as Transport Minister Signe Munk, who comes from Fur, and urges them to sit down together and draw up a plan for what can be done to achieve better connections to and from Viborg.
Katrine Fusager Rohde has been mayor of Viborg since New Year. (Photo: © Bo Amstrup, Ritzau Scanpix)
Mayor Katrine Fusager Rohde (V) shares the frustration over the current situation, and she has therefore requested a meeting with the transport minister but has not yet received a response.
Regarding the criticism that nothing has happened in this area, she says:
- One can certainly think that. But there is no doubt that a completely different approach is needed, and it can't happen fast enough. We are working on an upgrade of our train connection to Aarhus and are currently examining our options for reducing travel time.
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Frustrated passengers
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The frustration among commuters at the bus station in Viborg is also unmistakable.
Nikolaj Navntoft lives in the countryside, in Mammen. He attends EUX Business, and he experiences too few departures between Bjerringbro and Viborg in the morning.
- There are many people who have problems getting back and forth because there isn't enough focus on public transport in the entire Viborg municipality, he says.
Niklas Thorup Jakobsen from Viborg adds:
- Then you might arrive a bit late for school and get bad attendance records. I think it's disappointing, definitely. They really need to step things up there.
Emilie Byø lives in Sjørslev and finds the state of affairs annoying if, for example, she needs to go to Copenhagen:
- Because then you first have to take the train to Aarhus and then continue from there. It costs both time and money. So it would be nice if you could get a direct train to Copenhagen and the other major cities, and generally more train and bus departures.
It has not been possible to obtain a comment on the challenges in Viborg from Transport Minister Signe Munk (SF).
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