German court decides for Fehmarnbelt

Danish state-owned company Femern is responsible for the 18km road-rail tunnel.
By David Arminas November 18, 2020 Read time: 1 min
Work continues in June on a breakwater for the harbour in Rødbyhavn where sections of the tunnel will be constructed and floated out for placement (photo copyright Femern/Nils Lund Pedersen)

Germany’s federal administrative court has decided that the planned Fehmarnbelt Tunnel between the Danish island of Lolland and the German island of Fehmarn can proceed.

The case to delay construction began at the end of September. Six of the nine complaints were recently dismissed unconditionally while three complaints were settled out of court, according to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung.

The Danish state-owned company Femern is financing, building and will operate the approximately 18km road and rail tunnel under the Baltic Sea at a cost around €7.5 billion to construct. The tunnel, expected to open in 2029, should reduce the passenger train time from Hamburg in northern Germany to the Danish capital Copenhagen by around two hours, making the journey around two and a half hours.

A Rambøll-Arup-TEC consultancy joint venture is engaged in a client consultancy services contract with Femern. The joint venture has also worked on other landmark infrastructure projects, including the Øresund Tunnel in Denmark, the City Tunnel in Malmö, Sweden, the Medway Tunnel in England, as well as underground rail systems in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

COWI is carrying out the detailed design of the tunnel (north tunnel section, south tunnel section, and ramps and portals). Meanwhile, SWECO is handling the design for the dredging and reclamation work.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Sunderland’s New Wear Crossing takes shape
    February 16, 2017
    The New Wear Crossing will be the first bridge to be built over the River Wear in Sunderland, UK, for more than 40 years Raising the bridge’s 100m-tall pylon promised to be a stunning visual sight, but also a tricky operation dictated by extremely variable local weather. World Highways went to press just before the operation, but not before the pylon had arrived by barge on January 7. It had completed a two-day crossing of the often unpredictable North Sea from the Belgian port of Ghent where it was f
    Read More
  • Egis expands in Brazil with acquisition of Lenc
    November 28, 2014
    French engineering firm Egis has expanded further into the Brazilian infrastructure market with the purchase of highways contractor Lenc for an undisclosed sum. A statement from Egis said the acquisition is part of a strategy to expand aggressively in Brazil that it has been focusing on since 2011. Lenc, established in Sao Paulo in 1975, has 450 employees whose road building work ranges from preliminary studies and project management to work supervision and inspection. It also operates nearly 2,500km
    Read More
  • Norway drops planned fixed link between Moss and Horten
    October 25, 2018
    Norway’s Road Administration has stopped investigations into a proposed bridge or tunnel spanning 10.5km of the Oslofjord between Moss and Horten, according to Norwegian media. The Ministry of Transport has ordered Veivesendet to cancel consultations amid the government’s growing concern over the cost of any fixed link across the narrows, around 65km south of the capital Oslo. The half-hour car-ferry crossing as part of National Highway 19 will continue as usual. Several thousand people and vehicles m
    Read More
  • Sweden appoints Veidekke Anläggning to Förbifart Stockholm work
    May 2, 2019
    Sweden’s transport administration Trafikverket has appointed Veidekke Anläggning as a temporary contractor for work on the Lovön section of the Stockholm Bypass - Förbifart Stockholm. The deal is worth around €9.6 million. The contractor will take over work started by a tender winner whose contract has been cancelled, according to Swedish media. It is expected the new contractor will be on site until the end of the year, by which time Trafikverket says it hopes to have re-tendered the remaining work.
    Read More

Highlighted Content