Fehmarnbelt Tunnel to foster trade and tourism in Northern Europe

The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, one of the largest and most important infrastructure projects in Europe, is advancing according to schedule.

The project, aimed to eliminate one of the bottlenecks in the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor that stretches between Northern Scandinavia and Malta, was approved in Denmark through the Danish Parliament’s adoption of the Construction Act in 2015.

Construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel was also approved on the German side – the plan approval authority in Schleswig-Holstein (APV-SH) issued its decision on plan approval in January 2019.

Works have already commenced on the Danish side, with the construction of the factory that will manufacture the 200-metre precast concrete box girders that will be immersed to form the fixed link between Denmark’s Lolland Falster region and Germany’s Schleswig Holstein Land.

Up to 9 metres high and 43 metres wide, the 18 km long combined road and rail tunnel linking Germany and Denmark is set to foster trade and tourism in Northern Europe.

At the peak of activity, the project will have a workforce of 2,000 employees.

This new infrastructure facility will shorten the journey between the German and Danish coasts to just 7 minutes by train and 10 minutes by car from the current travel time of one hour by ferry or a 160 km detour by car. 

The European Union has an important role in the modernisation of European infrastructure.

The EU members see the improvement of European infrastructure as the prerequisite for an effective internal market and for the green transition in the whole of the EU.

The EU is supporting the Fehmarnbelt project through the Connecting Europe Facility program (CEF).

The project has so far been granted 589 million EUR and the associated railway on the Danish side has been granted 117 million EUR from the CEF.

Denmark is expecting further grants to the project under the next CEF program that runs from 2021 until 2027.

November 2020: On 3 November 2020, the Federal Administrative Court rejects all complaints against the plan approval decision. Thus, the highest administrative court in Germany gives the go-ahead for construction of the German part of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel.

May 2020: Femern A/S activates the main construction contracts with Femern Link Contractors (FLC) with effect from 1 January 2021. This means that construction of the large-scale tunnel element factory at Rødbyhavn can get underway.

November 2019: 1 November sees the commencement of the Fehmarnbelt project’s construction phase when the agreement between Femern A/S and Fehmarn Belt Contractors (FBC) concerning the establishment of the work harbour at Rødbyhavn comes into effect.

This new infrastructure facility, one of the most ambitious ongoing projects in Europe, will shorten the journey between the German and Danish coasts to just 7 minutes by train and 10 minutes by car from the current travel time of one hour by ferry or a 160 km detour by car.

Femern A/S will ensure that all users have a safe and secure journey through the tunnel for both for combined railway and road traffic.

Statistically, the Fehmarnbelt tunnel will be just as safe to use as equivalent routes by road or rail on open land in Denmark, shows the company’s risk analysis. This is, among other things, because road traffic will be split into two separate tunnel tubes and the 18 km long tunnel section will contain no slip roads.

Moreover, driving conditions will always be smooth, with the motorway constantly well lit.

The rail traffic will be separated into two tunnel tubes, one for each direction of travel, and the design will ensure against derailment.

Delivery is scheduled for mid-2029.