Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link (Femernbælt Link)

Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link (Femern Bælt-forbindelsen / Fehmarnbelt-Querung)

The Fehmarn Belt fixed link or in Danish: Femern Bælt-forbindelsen, or in German: Fehmarnbelt-Querung or in English: Fehmarn Belt tunnel, is an under-construction immersed tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn, crossing the 18-kilometre-wide (11 mi) Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea.

It will provide a direct link between northern Germany and Lolland, and from there to the Danish island of Zealand and Copenhagen, becoming the world's longest road and rail tunnel. The tunnel will be a major connection between central Europe and Scandinavia. 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 line will be capable of reaching 200 km/h (125 mph).

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 and 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. Zealand in turn is connected with the Swedish mainland via the Øresund Bridge. There is also a fixed connection between Zealand and Germany via the Great Belt Bridge to Funen and Jutland. The Fehmarnbelt tunnel is expected to be completed in 2029.

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link History

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link 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 20 kilometres (12 mi) long, comprising three cable-stayed spans. The four pillars in the substructure of the bridge would probably have been about 280 metres (920 ft) tall, with vertical clearance about 65 metres (213 ft) 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.

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link 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. In June 2015, €589 million of EU funding was awarded to Denmark by the European Commission 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 European Court ruled in favour of Scandlines in case T‑630/15 regarding state aid.

The commission has claimed on 28 September 2018, that there has been no unlawful aid. Action regarding this has been brought before court in January 2019, case number T-7/19.

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Project

This project is comparable in size to that of the Øresund Bridge or 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.

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link and its double tracks will shorten the rail journey from Hamburg 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 25 kilometres (16 mi) 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.

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Design

The tunnel will consist 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 will be 10 service elements with a length of 85.7 metres but both wider and higher with a subfloor (basement) to house technical equipment.

The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Financing

When the Danish Folketing (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 160 kilometres (99 mi) 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. The project is expected to have 5% rate of return for Europe. Construction estimates covered the period from 1 April 1998 until 2021.

Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Overview

Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Official Name: Femernbælt Link
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Coordinates: 54°34′33″N 11°18′20″E
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Status: Under construction
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Crosses: Fehmarn Belt
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Work Begun: 1 January 2021
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Opens: mid-2029
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Owner: Femern A/S
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Traffic: rail and road
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Toll: yes
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Technical Length: 17.6 km (10.9 mi)
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link No. of Tracks: 2
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link No. of Lanes: 4
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Electrified: yes
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link Operating Speed: 200 km/h (125 mph)