The Bornholm Tunnel (, ) is a proposed

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

which would be built between the island of

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

, belonging to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, and

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The tunnel would provide a

fixed link A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...

to the island, both using direct trains running from

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and with a

motorail A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...

service to transport automobiles. The tunnel would be long and provide a one-hour transit time for cars, including loading and unloading, and a two-hour service by rail to Copenhagen via the

Ystad Line The Ystad Line () is a long railway line between Malmö and Ystad in Scania, Sweden. At Ystad, the line connects with the Österlen Line, which continues onwards to Simrishamn. History Plans for a railway between Malmö and Ystad were fi ...

and the

Øresund Line The Øresund Line (, ) is a railway between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden via the Øresund Bridge. It operates 24/7, and a journey between the two cities takes 35 to 40 minutes. On the Swedish side it is managed by the Swedish Transp ...

. The latter could be further reduced with construction of

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

in southern Scania.

Present traffic

Today the island is served by ferries operated by Bornholmslinjen from

Rønne Rønne () is the largest town on the Denmark, Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. It has a population of 13,675 (1 January 2025). It was a municipality in its own right from 1970 until 2002, when Bornholm was a Bornholm County, county (D ...

, the main town on the island, to Ystad in Sweden,

Køge Køge (, older spelling ''Kjøge'') is a Danish seaport on the coast of Køge Bugt (''Bay of Køge'') 39 km southwest of Copenhagen. It is the principal town and seat of Køge Municipality, Region Sjælland (Zealand), Denmark. In 2025, the ...

in Denmark and

Sassnitz Sassnitz (, before 1993 in ) is a town on the Jasmund peninsula, Rügen Island, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The population as of 2012 was 9,498. Sassnitz is a well-known seaside resort and port town, and is a gateway to th ...

in Germany. Travel time from Ystad to Rønne is two and a half hours with conventional ferries and one hour twenty minutes with fast ferries, with three to eight daily sailings combined. From Rønne to Køge takes five and a half hours and has a single daily sailing, while from Rønne to Sassnitz is seasonal and offered three to ten times per week and takes three and a half hours. Train connections between

Copenhagen Central Station Copenhagen Central Station (, ; abbreviated ''København H'', colloquially usually referred to as ''Hovedbanegården'' or simply ''Hovedbanen'') is the Central station, main railway station in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the largest railway station ...

Ystad Station Ystad Station () is a railway station which is the terminal station of both the Ystad Line and the Österlen Line. The station is located in Ystad in Skåne County, Sweden, and is served by the Skåne Commuter Rail. Service The Skåne Commut ...

are available using local train services with a transfer in Malmö. DSB sells tickets to this connection. Between 2000 and 2017 direct train services branded as Intercity Bornholm were available between Copenhagen and Ystad.

Danish Air Transport DAT Aktieselskab, A/S, formerly named ''Danish Air Transport'', is a Denmark, Danish airline headquartered in Vamdrup, Kolding Municipality, operating scheduled and chartered passenger flights mainly from airports in Denmark, Norway, Italy and Ge ...

operates flights from

Bornholm Airport Bornholm Airport () is a Denmark, Danish airport located 2.7 nautical miles (5 km) southeast of Rønne, on the island of Bornholm. The airport is operated by Statens Luftfartsvæsen (''The Danish Civil Aviation Administration'') with the air ...

Copenhagen Airport Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup (, ) is an international airport serving Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, as well as the wider Øresund Region, including Zealand and the southern Sweden, Swedish province of Scania. In 2023 it was the largest ai ...

Cost

Costs for running the ferry service are DKK 400 million per year, of which DKK 150 million are subsidies. If the same user payment and subsidies was used to finance the tunnel, with a running time of 30 years, it would allow investments for DKK 10 billion. Estimates for the cost of the tunnel vary from DKK 5 to 50 billion.

Politics

The Danish organization Foreningen Bornholmtunnel and the Swedish organization Föreningen Stöd Bornholmstunneln collaborate to raise awareness about the importance of a tunnel between Bornholm and Scania. The Bornholm province decided in April 2013 not to pay for a detailed investigationPolitisk nej til tunnel-undersøgelse
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References

External links

Foreningen Bornholmtunnel

Föreningen Stöd Bornholmstunneln
{{coord, 55.3, 14.4, display=title Buildings and structures in Bornholm Railway tunnels in Denmark Railway tunnels in Sweden Proposed tunnels in Denmark Proposed tunnels in Sweden Rail transport in Skåne County Connections across the Baltic Sea Proposed railway tunnels in Europe