The construction of Fehmarn Belt tunnel connecting Denmark and Germany has started at Puttgarden on the German island of Fehmarn.
The Danish transport minister Benny Engelbrecht, the Parliamentary State Secretary Enak Ferlemann in the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Enak Ferlemann, the minister of transport of Schleswig-Holstein Bernd Buchholz, the CEO of Sund & Bælt Mikkel Hemmingsen and the director of Autobahn GmbH Stephan Krenz attended the ground-breaking ceremony held on November 29.
“The Fehmarnbelt connection is an incredibly important construction project for both Denmark and Germany, indeed for the whole of Europe. It is a milestone in the long history of the Fehmarnbelt project (…). We are now working on both sides towards the common goal,” the Danish minister said.
Starting January 2021, the contract with Femern Link Contractors (FLC) entered into force for the construction of the large-scale tunnel element factory at Rødbyhavn, in Denmark.
The Fehmarnbelt road and rail tunnel will be 18 km long comprising a four-lane motorway and an electrified double track line. The new connection will be constructed between the islands of Lolland (Denmark) and Fehmarn in Germany.
The DKK 55.1 billion (EUR 7.4 billion) project is financed by the European Union through the Connecting Europe Facility. The project has so far been granted EUR 589 million and the associated railway on the Danish side has been granted EUR 117 million from the CEF. Denmark is expecting further grants to the project under the next 2021-2027 CEF programme. In the spring of 2020, the financing model of Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link was approved by the EU Commission.
Construction works for the Fehmarn Belt tunnel are scheduled to be completed in 2027. Equipment and safety and contingency procedures will need to be tested and approved before the finished tunnel becomes operational in 2029. The train travel time between Copenhagen and Hamburg will be reduced to only 2.5 hours which is an important signal for rail as a mode of transport in the 21st century,” Enak Ferlemann said. The rail tunnel will have a daily capacity of 70 freight trains and 38 passenger trains.
“With the significant time reduction in both international and regional transport, the markets will grow significantly. Model calculations have shown that growth in employment in the Ostholstein region of 600 to 1,110 jobs can be expected as a result of the improved traffic infrastructure,” Bernd Buchholz.
Share on:
