The railway line is standard gauge and single track, and the distance from Hillerød to Helsingør is 20.8 kilometres (12.9 mi).

The railway opened in 1864 as part of the North Line between Copenhagen and Helsingør by way of Hillerød.

The North Line was gradually electrified to form part of Copenhagen's commuter rail network, the S-train, with electrification reaching Hillerød station in 1968.

It runs north from Hillerød station along the tracks of the Gribskov Line, before curving east towards Helsingør.

[1] Lokaltog operates a fairly intensive timetable on the Little North Line with light DMUs working a fixed 30-minute frequency most in the day time (until 19:00) and every hour in the evening.