The Fehmarn Belt fixed link (, ) or Fehmarn Belt tunnel is an under-construction immersed tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the List of islands of Denmark#List of 100 largest Danish islands, fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Kattegat, Belts and Sund area, it is part of Re ...

with the German island of Fehmarn, crossing the

Fehmarn Belt Fehmarn Belt () (, former spelling ''Femer Bælt''; ) is a strait connecting the Bay of Kiel and the Bay of Mecklenburg in the western part of the Baltic Sea between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland. Ferries ...

in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. It will provide a direct link between northern Germany and Lolland, and from there to the Danish island of

Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 Januar ...

and

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 ...

, becoming the world's longest road and rail tunnel. The tunnel will be a major connection between

central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. It will shorten the travel time between Lolland and Fehmarn from 45 minutes by ferry (excluding waiting and boarding time) to 10 minutes by car and seven minutes by train. The electrified

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 ...

line will be capable of reaching . The project's cost was initially estimated at €5.5 billion. By 2010, when Denmark and Germany signed the treaty to build the bridge, this had grown to €7.4 billion. The tunnel will be financed by Denmark, which will collect a toll from the crossing. Germany will pay a further €800 million to connect the crossing to its motorway network. The tunnel will replace a heavily travelled ferry service from

Rødby Rødby is a town located on the island of Lolland in south Denmark. It has a population of 1,957 (1 January 2024).Puttgarden, currently operated by Scandlines, a route known in German as the '' Vogelfluglinie'' and in Danish as '' Fugleflugtslinjen''. Fehmarn is connected with the German mainland by the Fehmarn Sound Bridge and Lolland is connected by a tunnel and bridges with Zealand via the island of

Falster Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

. Zealand in turn is connected with the Swedish mainland via the

Øresund Bridge The Øresund or Öresund Bridge is a combined List of road–rail bridges, railway and motorway cable-stayed bridge across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is the second longest bridge in Europe and combines both roadway and r ...

. There is also a fixed connection between Zealand and Germany via the Great Belt Bridge to

Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

and

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

. The Fehmarnbelt tunnel is expected to be completed in 2029. Femeren-tunnel-may-2025

History

Bridge proposal

Since 1963, the German island of Fehmarn has been connected to the mainland through the Fehmarn Sound Bridge. Since then, connection to the Danish island of Lolland has been provided by a regular ferry service across the strait. This started the discussion on a fixed link across the strait. By the late 1990s feasibility studies had been carried out for constructing a bridge. Ideas involved a bridge carrying both a four-lane motorway and two electrified rail tracks. This solution was for years regarded as the most likely scheme and detailed plans were drawn up. The Fehmarn Belt bridge was originally expected to be completed by 2018. However, in late 2010, after further feasibility studies, the Danish project planners declared that an immersed tunnel would instead present fewer construction risks and would cost about the same. The bridge would have been about long, comprising three cable-stayed spans. The four pillars in the substructure of the bridge would probably have been about tall, with vertical clearance about above sea level, allowing ocean-going ships to pass beneath it. The design of the bridge links was being carried out by the Dissing+Weitling company for its aesthetical features and by the COWI and Obermeyer companies for their civil engineering aspects. The proposed design would have carried four motorway lanes and two railway tracks.

Tunnel solution

Although originally conceived as a bridge, Femern A/S (the Danish state-owned company tasked with designing and planning the link) announced in December 2010 that a tunnel was preferable, and the tunnel idea received support from a large majority of the Danish Parliament in January 2011. By 2012, therefore, the completion date had been pushed back to 2021, and in 2014, it was estimated to be 2024, and then in 2015, it got delayed further to 2028. In 2020, it was delayed to 2029. In February 2015, the draft bill for the construction was introduced to the Danish parliament, and the Danish Government submitted an application for DKK 13 billion (€1.7 billion) in EU grants, supported by Germany and Sweden.Analyse: Femern Bælt-forbindelsen gør Danmark og Europa rigere

Report, 1MB
. '' Danish Ministry of Transport'', 8 January 2015. Accessed: 8 January 2015.Fermern A/S: ''What is the status of Femern A/S’ work on the tunnel under the Fehmarnbelt?''
Linked 6 March 2015 In June 2015, €589 million of EU funding was awarded to Denmark by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

under its Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) scheme, allowing the tunnel project to go ahead. In March 2017, the operating company announced the sign-up of subcontractors for the project. On 13 December 2018, the

Court of Justice of the European Union The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ( or "''CJUE''"; Latin: Curia) is the Judiciary, judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, this EU ins ...

ruled in favour of Scandlines in Case T‑630/15 regarding

state aid State aid in the European Union is the name given to a subsidy or any other aid provided by a government that distorts competition. Under European Union competition law, the term has a legal meaning, being any measure that demonstrates any of the ...

. The European Commission claimed on 28 September 2018 that there has been no unlawful aid. Action regarding that has been brought before court in January 2019 in Case T-7/19.

Project

The project is comparable in size to other Danish bridges at

and the Great Belt Bridge. According to a report released on 30 November 2010 by Femern A/S (a subsidiary of the Danish state-owned Sund & Bælt Holding 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 Rødbyhavn () is a small town and harbour on the south coast of Lolland, Denmark, with a population of 1,516 (1 January 2024).double tracks will shorten the rail journey from

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

to Copenhagen from four hours and 40 minutes to two hours and 30 minutes. According to current plans there will be one passenger train and two freight trains in each direction per hour. The highway between Copenhagen and Hamburg is already a motorway except for 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.

Design

The tunnel consists of 79 standard elements with a length of 217 metres in a design similar to the Drogden trench, with two road tubes, one emergency tube and two rail tubes. Additionally, there are ten service elements with a length of 85.7 metres but both wider and higher with a subfloor (basement) to house technical equipment.

Financing

When the Danish ''

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

'' (parliament) ratified the project in March 2009, its cost was estimated at 42 billion DKK (€5 billion). This cost included €1.5 billion for other improvements such as electrifying and improving of railway from single-track to double-track on the Danish side. In 2011 this was increased to a total of €5.5 billion (at 2008 prices). On top of this there will be cost of at least €1 billion for the German rail connection, which will be paid by the German government. The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link will be financed by state-guaranteed loans, which will be paid by the road and train tolls. Denmark will be solely responsible for guaranteeing the funding of the project at an estimated cost of 35 billion kroner or (€4.7 billion) and German participation will be limited to the development of the land-based facilities on the German side. The government of Denmark will own the fixed link outright, will be allowed to keep tolls after the loans have been repaid, and will enjoy any employment opportunities at the toll station. The fees are also planned to pay for the Danish railway upgrading. On the German side, the road will be widened to four lanes and the railway to double track and, according to the treaty, paid by the German government without a toll for users. The European Union has designated this project as one of the 30 prioritised transport infrastructure projects ( TEN-T). It has committed to a €600 million to €1.2 billion

subsidy A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acc ...

. The project is expected to have a five percent

rate of return In finance, return is a profit on an investment. It comprises any change in value of the investment, and/or cash flows (or securities, or other investments) which the investor receives from that investment over a specified time period, such as i ...

for Europe. Construction estimates covered the period from 1 April 1998 until 2021.

Land connections

New Storstrømmen and Fehmarn Sound links

Two new links are planned. One about long at the Fehmarn Sound and one slightly more than long at Storstrømmen. According to the 2008 Danish–German treaty, the bridges did not have to be replaced,Tekniske løsningsmodeller for de danske landanlæg
and the

double-track railway A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

construction in Germany may be delayed by up to seven years. Because of its bad condition, a replacement of the Storstrøm Bridge has been contracted and is slated for completion in 2026. The

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

State Government announced in 2013 it envisioned the construction of a new Fehmarn Sound link or an upgrade of the current Fehmarn Sound Bridge, since it considered the current bridge – with two lanes for road traffic and one track for rail traffic – to be a bottleneck for the German hinterland connection. On 3 March 2020, the German Federal Ministry of Transport, the State of Schleswig-Holstein and

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

announced that a new 1.7 km long immersed Fehmarn Sound Tunnel (German: ''Fehmarnsundtunnel'') with four road lanes and two rail tracks, costing approximately 714 million euros, is planned to be built by 2028, while the current bridge will be preserved for pedestrians, cyclists and slow road traffic.

Railway axis Fehmarn Belt

The Fehmarn Belt Tunnel's railway is the central section of the 'Railway axis Fehmarn Belt', which is Priority Project 20 of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) that seeks to establish a high-speed rail line Copenhagen–Hamburg. In the north, it connects to the Øresund Bridge/Drogden Tunnel (Priority Project 11) and the Nordic Triangle railway/road axis (Priority Project 12), and in the south to

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. The full line currently under construction consists of several new railways to be built and old railways to be upgraded, to achieve at least a maximum speed of on all sections: * Copenhagen–Ringsted Line, opened on 31 May 2019, since 2023 operating at . * Sydbanen (Ringsted–Rødbyhavn), new tracks to be laid by 2021, to be electrified to reach by 2024. * Fehmarn Belt Tunnel (Rødbyhavn–Puttgarden), , to be completed in 2028. (since revised) * Puttgarden–Lübeck railway, to be electrified and upgraded to reach up from the current . The new Fehmarn Sound Tunnel (to be completed in 2028) is part of this section. * Lübeck–Hamburg railway, to be upgraded to reach .

Tunnel characteristics

Underwater tunnels are either bored or immersed: tunnel boring is common for deepwater tunnels longer than 4 or , and immersion is commonly used for tunnels that cross relatively shallow waters. Immersion involves dredging a trench across the seafloor, laying a foundation bed of sand or gravel, and then lowering

precast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable molding (process), mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples i ...

tunnel sections into the excavation and covering it with a protective layer of backfill several metres thick. An immersed tunnel is planned for the

. At 17.6 km (10.9 mi), it will be the longest ever constructed, surpassing the current largest immersed tube tunnel, which spans 6.75 km (4.19 mi) across the Pearl River Estuary in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

as part of the

Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (HZMB) is a bridge–tunnel system consisting of a series of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel, and four artificial islands. It is both the longest sea crossing and the longest Intercontinent ...

. On 30 November 2010, Denmark's ''Femern A/S'' project manager announced it had selected immersed tunnel design submitted by the '' Ramboll, Arup, and TEC'' consortium. According to the senior project managers, as well as being the world's longest immersed tunnel, it will be the "world's longest combined road and rail tunnel; the world's longest under water tunnel for road; the deepest immersed tunnel with road and rail traffic; and the second deepest concrete immersed tunnel." The size of the project is about five times the tunnel part of the Øresund Link between Denmark and

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 ...

, currently the "longest immersed concrete tunnel." The deepest section of the Fehmarn Belt Trench is and the tunnel sections will be about high, thus, the dredging barges will need to be capable of reaching depths of over .

Dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

will produce a trench some wide and deep. These parameters give a total of some of soil to be dredged. Conventional dredging equipment can reach only a depth of about . To excavate the middle portion of the Fehmarn trench, deeper than below the water's surface, will likely require grab dredgers and

trailing suction hopper dredger A trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) is a type of ship capable of maintaining Navigability, navigable waterways, deepening the maritime canals that are threatened to become silted, constructing new land elsewhere or replacing sand Erosion, ...

s. The proposed tunnel would be long, deep below the surface of the sea and would carry a double-track railway. Arguments brought forward in favour of a tunnel include its starkly reduced environmental impact, its independence from weather conditions, as crosswinds can have considerable impact on trucks and trailers, especially on a north–south bridge. A bored tunnel was deemed too expensive. The

tunnel sections will have a rectangular cross-section that is about wide and high, containing four separate passageways (two for cars and two for trains), plus a small service passageway: There will be separate northbound and southbound tubes for vehicles, each wide, each with two travel lanes and a breakdown lane; while the northbound and southbound passageways for trains will be wide each and about high; the service passageway will be wide; the standoff space between each "tube" will vary, but the overall width will be . The single-level, sectional arrangement of the two road and rail tubes side-by-side – with the road west and the railway east – coincide with the arrangement of the existing road and rail infrastructure, and requires no weaving to connect.

Timeline

2007

An interim agreement was reached in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

between the Danish and German authorities on 29 June (represented by their transport ministers) to proceed with the construction of the fixed link. Details provided by

Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

stated that the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link would run from a point about east of

Rødby Rødby is a town located on the island of Lolland in south Denmark. It has a population of 1,957 (1 January 2024).Puttgarden on the Island of Fehmarn, which was already connected by bridge to the German mainland. Construction would start in 2015 and was expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

2008

On 3 September, the ministers of transportation from Denmark and Germany, Carina Christensen and Wolfgang Tiefensee, signed the treaty for the construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link at a ceremony held in

2009

On 26 March, the construction was ratified by the

Danish Parliament The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

, and approved by the German Parliament on 18 June.

2010

It was announced in December that a tunnel would be used rather than a bridge to present fewer construction risks than a cable-stayed bridge, which would be pushing the limits of the technology. The cost and the construction time would be roughly the same.

2011

In January, a large majority of the parties in the Danish Parliament voted to support a tunnel solution. However, national approval procedures in both countries needed to be completed. In Germany, that involved the application for a plan approval process. In Denmark, the project would require the passage in Parliament of a Construction Act. On 16 December, the German government announced that it was postponing development of the railway link to the Fehmarn Tunnel until after 2015. According to a report in ''Der Nordschleswiger'', German Traffic Minister Peter Ramsauer decided to reduce planned government investment in new infrastructure in Germany by 25 per cent because of the

economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...

. It was not immediately clear what effect the postponement would have on the overall Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link project.

2013

In October 2013, the tunnel company applied to German authorities for approval according to environmental law and other laws of Germany and EU. This was rejected in 2015 because new legislation that appeared in the meantime was not accounted for.

2015

On 25 February, the bill for the Construction Act for the Fehmarn belt link was introduced in the Danish Parliament. On 26 February, the Danish

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

submitted an application for an EU grant of DKK 13 billion (€1.7 billion) for the project's construction phase. The application was accompanied by letters of support from the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure, Anna Johansson, and the German Transport Minister, Alexander Dobrindt. In addition, the German State Government of Schleswig-Holstein, as well as a wide range of business organisations from the Danish, Swedish, and German sides, sent statements supporting the application. EU finally approved DKK 6.92 billion in total for the tunnel and the connecting Danish railway, around 15% of the cost.

2016

On 13 June, the tunnel company applied again to German authorities for approval, based on an updated application of 11,000 pages adopted to new legal principles that appeared since last application. It was expected that this process would be complete in 2018. It expected that two further years would be spent in court processes, since political objectors had stated they would appeal the authority approval.

2018

On 28 December, the German authority decided to approve the project.

2019

On 6 February, Femern A/S received German plan approval for the tunnel. This had been appealed to the Federal Administrative Court by political objectors. DB Netz AG submitted a document to the BMVI detailing variants of the rail connection to the tunnel later that same month. The railway plans would need approval by the German Parliament. In March, Femern A/S decided on a Government request to start large preparatory work on land, such as building a factory for concrete tunnel elements, in anticipation of a positive German court decision later.

2020

On 3 March, the German Federal Ministry of Transport, the State of Schleswig-Holstein and Deutsche Bahn announced that a new 1.7 km long immersed Fehmarn Sound Tunnel (German: ''Fehmarnsundtunnel'') with four road lanes and two rail tracks, costing approximately €714 million, is scheduled to be built by 2028, and the current Fehmarn Sound Bridge, which was at risk of becoming a bottleneck, would be preserved for pedestrians, cyclists and slow road traffic. On 30 April, it was announced by Femern A/S that work was scheduled to begin on 1 January 2021 although it was possible that this would be delayed because of the effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Femern had already begun a number of pre-construction activities at Puttgarden. On 3 November, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the project could be built, but some reefs would have to be considered. The Naturschutzbund Deutschland described it as a "dark day for the marine environment". Sabine Leidig (Die Linke) commented: "The ecological effects and the burden upon the neighbours of this giant project are much too large, compared to its small utility."

2021

On 1 January, work began on the actual tunnel construction, with an official online ceremony.

2022

On 18 January, the German Federal Administrative Court in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

imposed a construction freeze on the areas near protected

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s, while it considered legal challenges from a group opposed to the project. On 12 May, work began on the tunnel's northern entrance (Danish side). On 24 May, the dredging work of the tunnel was 50% completed, i.e., 11 km had been dredged. On 14 December, all complaints from political organisations were dismissed by the Federal Administrative Court in

2023

On 6 January, the dredging work for the tunnel was 70% completed. In July, the German work harbor became operational and in August the tunnel element factory was completed. In December, the first tunnel element was finished and it was expected to be immersed in the Fehmarnbelt in 2024.

2024

On 15 April, construction work on the railway link from Puttgarden to Lübeck started on Fehmarn. Some of the sections of the German railway project, mainly south of Altenkrempe, were then still being planned again they had been dismissed by authorities.

2025

The first tunnel element has been installed and tunnel construction continues, starting from the north end on the coast of

, with each individual element weighing 73,000 tonnes being cast on site, towed into position and carefully sunk into position to link onto the end of the lengthening tunnel. A viewing platform with a height of 24 m is due to open in Rødbyhavn at the beginning of 2025.

Criticism

The crossing has been discussed since before the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

, when the only possible link was towards

, as going towards communist

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

was not a viable option. Although times have changed and Europe has been politically and economically reshaped in the meantime, the plans for the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link have stayed the course. The

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

era conceptualization of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link has been highly criticized, as some see connecting the two capitals of

and

and on a larger scale, a link from

to the former

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

countries as a priority of the utmost importance. A Gedser–Rostock Bridge, about further east, has been proposed as an alternative or to complement the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, as this alternative proposal would better connect eastern Germany including Berlin and places further east and south with Scandinavia. Despite an offer to help offset the costs of the tunnel by the Danish Cyclists' Federation, it is not planned to include a

cycle path A bike path or a cycle path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "C ...

. There have been objections from local people on the German side, both from those fearing the loss of jobs in connection with the present busy ferry traffic, and from

environmental protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...

ists who believed that

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

would suffer from the construction of the originally conceived bridge. At the same time, employment connected to construction works would be only short-term, while residents would suffer from the increase in traffic, especially with the planned freight trains, which would move from the present

- Great Belt Fixed Link route. In particular, there are concerns with the potential increase of train noise for some residents with moving the freight train traffic from the current route to this new route. These critics have been the loudest and they have been able to get a realignment of the planned railway route. The present Hamburg freight rail bypass used today for the freight traffic, is disturbing more people than the villages north of Lübeck. Furthermore, it is claimed that the project might be economically unjustified, as predictions of

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

traffic and

goods In economics, goods are anything that is good, usually in the sense that it provides welfare or utility to someone. Alan V. Deardorff, 2006. ''Terms Of Trade: Glossary of International Economics'', World Scientific. Online version: Deardorffs ...

transport may be overestimated and there is a considerable risk that the investment will not be recouped. The

European Court of Auditors The European Court of Auditors (ECA; French: ''Cour des comptes européenne'') is the supreme audit institution of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg and is one of the Institutions of the European ...

has criticised the planning of the German land connection for letting costs rise uncontrolled. This cost is more than double what would be if following the legal requirements for a railway (the originally decided speed). Local lobbyists have been allowed to get things such as realignment and extra noise protection. In 2019, the Bundesrechnungshof commented that "in view of the current traffic forecasts, it is questionable whether the benefits of the project will increase to such an extent that the expected costs are justified under economic aspects".

Support

There have been complaints from some Swedish politicians over long train travel times between Sweden and Germany, and the lack of

night trains Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of su ...

. The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link would improve the travel time and make it possible to travel between Copenhagen and Hamburg in two and a half hours. In 2020, the Swedish Government decided to financially support international night trains from Stockholm to mainland Europe, one from Stockholm via Copenhagen to Hamburg, which began operations by SJ in September 2022, and another one from Malmö to Brussels, which was not bid for and did not commence. On top of these, there is a commercially operated night train from Stockholm to Berlin via Copenhagen and Hamburg, which is operated by Snälltåget and started June 2021. Before 2021, a night train operated under various operators Malmö-Berlin (originally longer route) from 1909 to 2020 through the Trelleborg–Sassnitz ferry.

References

External links

* *
Femern Bælt, Danish traffic ministry
*
Pictures, Danish traffic ministry
*
Information on the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link on the website of the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament

Dynamic map comparing proposed bridge and tunnel routes

Ramboll's Project Manager blogs about the tunnel

Ramboll's project description of the tunnel

Giraffe_(film)
* {{Trans-European Transport Networks Buildings and structures in Lolland Municipality Railway tunnels in Denmark Belt Fixed Link Connections across the Baltic Sea Toll tunnels in Europe Immersed tube tunnels in Denmark Immersed tube tunnels in Germany 2029 in rail transport Transport infrastructure under construction Buildings and structures in Ostholstein Transport in Schleswig-Holstein Transport in Region Zealand