There is hectic activity at the construction sites in both Rødbyhavn and Puttgarden, and the element factory is picking up speed. This autumn, the first tunnel element will be submerged, and Femern A/S believes that the tunnel will be ready for opening as planned in 2029.
However, the work to ensure that the heavy freight trains can continue from the German island of Fehmarn to the continental European mainland is not progressing as quickly. The Fehmarnsund Bridge from 1963 is not designed for the many heavy trains, and therefore a 1.7-kilometer-long immersed tunnel must be built to replace the old bridge.
Not much progress
Deutsche Bahn is the developer of the new Fehmarn Sound tunnel. And their message is still that it will be ready when the Fehmarn Belt tunnel opens in 2029. However, there does not seem to be much progress in that project.
“We are in the planning phase,” reads the brief written response from Deutsche Bahn to FemernReport when we asked for a status on the tunnel project.
The response does not specify exactly where in the planning phase the new tunnel is. But it has not yet reached the public hearing process for planning, which is a formal procedure in Germany before major infrastructure works. And such processes are not taken lightly in Germany.
Over 1,000 pages
“The Danish construction act is 12 pages long, the German approval decision is 1,053 pages. In Germany, there were about 16,000 objections, in Denmark 42 – of which 40 welcomed the project,” said Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Transport and Economic Affairs, Claus Ruhe Madsen, recently to the radio station NDR in connection with a feature on the Fehmarn Belt tunnel. All objections must be processed in Germany, and if any of them end up in court, it has a suspensive effect. So it can take some time.
Deutsche Bahn, however, maintains that their part of the TEN-T corridor will also be completed on time in 2029.
Commissioning in 2029
“Approval documents are expected to be submitted to the Federal Railway Authority at the end of 2024 / beginning of 2025. We still assume that commissioning will take place together with the Danes at the end of 2029,” Deutsche Bahn writes to FemernReport.
This means that things need to move quickly from 2025, and the German state railways assure that it will.
“Construction start is planned for 2026, commissioning together with the Danes at the end of 2029,” reads the brief response from Deutsche Bahn.
