After major delays – partly as a result of neighboring complaints and case processing – Deutsche Bahn finally broke ground on Friday for the first time for work on the 88 kilometer double-track railway that will connect the Fehmarntunnel with Lübeck.
Deutsche Bahn will initially begin with the double-track expansion and electrification of the 11.4-kilometer stretch between Puttgarden and the Fehmarnsund Bridge – the first of a total of ten construction phases. From 2026, all sections between Fehmarn and Lübeck will be built in parallel. Of the total 88 kilometer route, 55 kilometers are planned as new construction.
DB activates plan B
Just the first 11.4 kilometers provide an important clue as to what we can expect from the German project. It is Plan B that the developer Deutsche Bahn activates when starting with a route up to the Fehmarnsund Bridge.
The 60-year-old Fehmarnsund Bridge cannot cope with the many large freight trains expected on the corridor between Scandinavia and Southern Europe. It is expected that 68 freight trains will run through the Fehmarnbelt tunnel per day when it is scheduled to be completed in 2029.
New tunnel lacks official approval
However, the Fehmarnsund Bridge is single-track and not at all designed for such large volumes of goods. Therefore, the plan is to build a new, double-span submersible tunnel under Fehmarnsund. The problem is that the plans for that tunnel haven’t even been approved by the authorities in Germany yet, and that process can take a long time.
Deutsche Bahn is also the developer of the new Fehmarnsund tunnel, and they have previously announced that they expect to start work on the new tunnel in 2026. They are still sticking to that announcement, but it does not immediately appear that to be a lot of progress in the approval process. And with the decision that the first connecting German rails to the Fehmarn Belt tunnel must be taken to the old Fehmarnsund bridge, it is clear that Deutsche Bahn is not convinced that a new tunnel can be ready for use in 2029.
Only passenger trains via Fehmarn
In practice, this means that initially it will only be passenger trains that can benefit from shaving off the 1 ½ hour journey time across Funen and Jutland by using the new shortcut under the Fehmarn Belt. The freight trains still have to travel the long way.
As a result, it will also take longer before Swedish heavy industry benefits from a new trans-European rail corridor. FemernReport has previously described how the Swedish steel producer SSAB is looking forward to being able to send an additional 400,000 tonnes of steel – equivalent to 6,600 freight cars – through the Fehmarn Tunnel instead of by ferry from Trelleborg. Those wagons cannot be sent to Germany via Funen and Jutland, because they are too heavy in relation to the wall restrictions on the bridges over the Kiel Canal.
