It is one of the European Union's major infrastructure projects. Visit Fehmarnbelt Tunnel began in 2020. It is one of a number of new buildings designed to help improve the quality of life of the population. European mobility.
Long de 18 kmThe tunnel will be built on the Fehmarn Strait between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland. The estimated cost is 7 billion euros. An enormous cost due to the type of construction used. The tunnel comprises 89 prefabricated elements immersed at a depth of 40 metres in the Baltic Sea. Each module will be 217 metres long, 42 metres wide and 9 metres high.
This style of construction is also more environmentally friendly. In comparison, the last major undersea tunnel, the Channel Tunnel, cost 13.5 billion euros for 50 km long. But it was built by drilling through the seabed with a tunnel boring machine.
The future Fehmarnbelt tunnel will serve as an alternative to the ferries running between Rødby and Puttgarden. Scheduled to open in 2029, the tunnel will significantly reduce the number of crossings of the Strait. Instead of 45 minutes by ferrythe passage between the two shores will only last a few days. seven minutes by train and ten minutes by car. Trains will be able to travel at speeds of 200 km/h.
Reduce journey times by two hours on the Copenhagen-Hamburg route
The new link will significantly shorten journey times between Denmark and the rest of continental Europe. In an interview with CNN, Jens Ole Kaslund, Technical Director at Femern A/S, the Danish company in charge of the project, the railway line between Copenhagen and Hamburg will now last only 2h30 instead of the current 4h30.
The road will also shorten the journey between Sweden and Central Europe by 160 km. That's almost an hour and a half less travel time between Malmö (southern Sweden) and Prague..
Planning for the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel began as early as 2008, but opposition from local authorities and ferry companies who lodged legal complaints delayed the project for more than a decade. In the end, a German federal court rejected the complaints at the end of November 2020. This finally made it possible to launch the project. The environmental impact has been assessed favourably by the authorities. The tunnel will permanently reduce the number of aircraft between Copenhagen and Hamburg and probably on other routes such as Berlin-Copenhagen.
