Learn about the Ultimate Engineering Feat of Constructing a $10 Billion Underwater Tunnel from Germany to Denmark – The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel
Based on Public Facts about The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel
The Fehmarn Belt fixed Link
The Fehmarn Belt tunnel is an under-construction immersed tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn, crossing the 18 Km wide Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea.
Direct Linking of Denmark & Germany
It will provide a direct link between northern Germany and Lolland, and from there to the Danish island of Zealand and Copenhagen, becoming the world’s longest road and rail tunnel. The tunnel will be a major connection between central Europe and Scandinavia.
Shortened Travel Time
It will shorten the travel time between Lolland and Fehmarn from 45 minutes by ferry (excl. waiting and boarding time) to 10 minutes by car and seven minutes by train. The electrified high-speed rail will be capable of reaching 200 km/h (124 mph).
The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link and its double-tracks will shorten the rail journey from Hamburg to Copenhagen from four hours and 58 minutes to three hours and 15 minutes. According to current plans there will be one passenger train and two freight trains in each direction per hour.
Project Finances
The project had a first financial volume of €5.5 billion, €7.4 billion when the State Treaty of Denmark and Germany was adopted in 2010, and recently approximately €10 billion (2022). The tunnel will replace a heavily travelled ferry service from Rødby and Puttgarden, currently operated by Scandlines
Similarity with Øresund Bridge
This project is comparable in size to that of the Øresund Bridge or the Great Belt Bridge. According to a report released on 30 November 2010 by Femern A/S , the company tasked with designing and planning the link between Denmark and Germany, the corridor for the alignment of the link has now been determined and will be sited in a corridor running east of the ferry ports of Puttgarden and Rødbyhavn.
Fehmarn Sound Tunnel
The highway between Copenhagen and Hamburg is already a motorway except for 25 kilometres in Germany that is a two-lane expressway. The narrow Fehmarn Sound Bridge will be replaced by a new Fehmarn Sound Tunnel with a four-lane motorway and double-track railway.
