The European Investment Bank (EIB) and A/S Femern Landanlaeg, the company managing the Danish responsibility to building of the “Fehmarn Belt”, signed a EUR 200 million loan agreement which will be used to improve the Danish rail network connection to the future undersea tunnel.
“We are very pleased that the European Investment Bank has granted us this loan agreement. It will contribute to the necessary funding for A/S Femern Landanlæg to prepare the first phase of the Danish rail network for the Fehmarn Belt tunnel, opening in 2028,” says Mikkel Hemmingsen, CEO of Sund & Bælt Holding A/S.
The project concerns 80 km of railway between Ringsted and Nykøbing Falster, where the existing tracks will be modernised and a second track will be built. The financing also covers bridge works on the 40 km stretch between Nykøbing Falster and Rødby, which serve to prepare the Danish rail network for the Fehmarn Belt tunnel opening.
On a technical level, the project foresees modernization and renewal of existing railway tracks, electrification as well as the deployment of ERTMS. Combined with the newly constructed tracks, this will allow for speed increases on the section, allowing high-speed trains to complete the Hamburg Copenhagen stretch in under 3 hours, once the tunnel will be operational.
The EIB funding is combined with the EUR 123.5 million CEF contribution which will allow progress on the Danish route.
The Fehmarnbelt 18-km immersed tunnel will be built between Rødbyhavn on Lolland and the German island of Fehmarn. In contrast to a bored tunnel, an immersed tunnel is made up of hollow concrete elements, cast on land and assembled section by section to form the tunnel.
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