Skip to main content

Progress for planned Denmark-Germany immersed tunnel

A Danish company, Femern, is submitting documents for the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, an immersed tunnel that will connect Germany with Denmark. The project is expected to cost in the order of €5.5 billion to construct. An 18km immersed tunnel will link the islands of Fehmarn and Lolland. Fehmarn Island is already connected with Northern Germany’s mainland by a bridge, while Lolland is already connected by a tunnel and bridges with Zealand, a link that runs via the island of Falster
October 30, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A Danish company, 4782 Femern, is submitting documents for the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, an immersed tunnel that will connect Germany with Denmark. The project is expected to cost in the order of €5.5 billion to construct. An 18km immersed tunnel will link the islands of Fehmarn and Lolland. Fehmarn Island is already connected with Northern Germany’s mainland by a bridge, while Lolland is already connected by a tunnel and bridges with Zealand, a link that runs via the island of Falster. This new immersed tunnel would reduce the travel distance using the existing links and cut journey times between Germany and Denmark, as well as Germany and Norway and Sweden. The route is expected to provide a major trade connection for the region as it will also be close to Hamburg, which is home to one of Europe’s largest and busiest sea ports. The German authorities are expected to approve the project in summer 2015. Most of the costs for the work will be paid for by Denmark. The tunnel connections in Germany are expected to cost some €800 million, but could conceivably climb higher. The tunnel will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel as well as being the world’s longest tunnel combining rail and road connections when it is completed. Initially the link was to have been open to vehicle and rail traffic by 2018 but a series of delays has now pushed back the expected completion date to 2021.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Stockholm’s new bypass
    March 8, 2021
    Tunnels make up 18km of the 21km of the Swedish capital’s E4 Bypass mega-project. It will have taken 15 years from start to opening in 2030, if all goes well
  • Major Europe-Asia bridge connection in Turkey
    July 1, 2014
    The 3rd Bosporus Bridge and the Northern Marmara Motorway will improve transport links between Europe and Asia and cut chronic congestion in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city - Mike Woof reports Work is now well underway on the 3rd Bosporus Bridge and the Northern Marmara Motorway, providing a new link for Turkish city Istanbul and the region as a whole. This enormous bridge and highway project is breaking several records for Turkey in terms of scale, as well as setting a number of international records for e
  • Sealing the world's longest tunnel
    April 10, 2012
    Infrastructure construction in China is booming as never before, but sealing the world’s longest immersed tunnel is a technically complex engineering project. The impressive Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau fixed link project in China includes an immersed tunnel with a record-breaking length of almost 7km. In 2009 construction began on a project to link the island of Hong Kong with Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. The link will be one of the region’s most technically complex engineering projects ever. I
  • Sealing the world's longest tunnel
    May 8, 2012
    Infrastructure construction in China is booming as never before, but sealing the world’s longest immersed tunnel is a technically complex engineering project. The impressive Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau fixed link project in China includes an immersed tunnel with a record-breaking length of almost 7km. In 2009 construction began on a project to link the island of Hong Kong with Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. The link will be one of the region’s most technically complex engineering projects ever. I