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Fehmarn Belt fixed link

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Also known as Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, Fehmarn Belt Tunnel

immersed tunnel under construction between Denmark and Germany

Key facts

Official name
Femernbælt Link
Coordinates
54°34′33″N 11°18′20″E / 54.5758°N 11.3056°E / 54.5758; 11.3056
Status
Under construction
Crosses
Fehmarn Belt
Work began
1 January 2021
Owner
Femern A/S
Traffic
Rail and road
Toll
Yes
Length
17.6 km (10.9 mi)
Electrified
Yes
Operating speed
200 km/h (125 mph)

via Wikipedia infobox

~27 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The Fehmarn Belt fixed link (Danish: Femern Bælt-forbindelsen, German: Fehmarnbelt-Querung) or 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. The tunnel is intended to be a major wider connection between mainland Europe and Scandinavia.

The tunnel is planned to become the world's longest road and rail (combination) tunnel and will directly replace a heavily travelled ferry service of the "Bird flight line" (German: Vogelfluglinie; Danish: Fugleflugtslinjen) operated by Scandlines. The tunnel will provide a direct link from northern Germany to Lolland, with Fehmarn connected with the German mainland by the Fehmarn Sound Bridge and Lolland connected by a tunnel and bridges with the Danish island of Zealand, which includes Copenhagen, via the island of Falster. The Fehmarn Belt project will therefore provide a more direct and efficient connection between Germany and Zealand (which in turn is connected with the Swedish mainland via the Øresund Bridge), compared to the existing road-rail link that is the detoured Great Belt Bridge via Jutland and Funen. Travel time between Lolland and Fehmarn is to be reduced 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).

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Fehmarn Belt fixed link” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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