In the neighborhood of 100 new bridges, six new stations and a 1.8 kilometer immersed tunnel between Fehmarn and the German mainland are to be built. Everything basically has to be completed in three years between 2026 and 2028. According to Lübecker Nachrichten, this is the plan Deutsche Bahn and DB Netz operate with for the so-called Hinterlandsverbindung, which will connect the Fehmarn Belt tunnel with the rest of the German highway and railway network, writes Lübecker Nachrichten, who has seen the timetable.
Will start in October
Peter Mantik, spokesman for the project at Deutsche Bahn, tells the newspaper that the first preparations for the work on the rails on Fehmarn will be started as early as next month.
However, it appears – diplomatically expressed – exceedingly optimistic. The official approvals for the project are not yet in place, and there is already a threat of several complaints that must be processed before a final approval.
– We expect that (authority approvals, ed.) during this month, Peter Mantik told Lübecker Nachrichten on Wednesday.
Complicated authority process
As FemernReport has previously described, the German process for authority approvals is a complicated and time-consuming affair. One of the major challenges is local opposition to the project – especially to the noise and vibration nuisance from the many trains that must pass the line.
130 noisy trains through the city every day
One of the places badly affected is Bad Schwartau, just north of Lübeck. Here, 130 trains will pass through the city center every day – 70 of them freight trains up to almost 900 meters long. Here, the local mayor has been fighting for years to have the tracks lowered into a seven-metre deep trench to take the peak of the noise. The official processing of that proposal has not yet been approved, but Deutsche Bahn has already proposed both a compromise with a 3.2 meter deep trench – and a solution without immersion:
Complaints are a realistic possibility
– It shocks us. If we are not accommodated, then the appeal process is a realistic option for us, says Bad Schwartau’s mayor, Katrin Engeln (Die Grüne), to Lübecker Nachrichten.
Good if the plan works
On the other side of the Fehmarn Belt, Deutsche Bahn’s plan is received with subdued enthusiasm:
– It is exciting that there is now a plan. It will be good if the plan holds, says Stig Rømer Winther, director of the Femern Belt Development foundation, to FemernReport.
We have also asked Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Transport and Business, Claus Ruhe Madsen (outside the parties), about his assessment of Deutsche Bahn’s plan:
– I expect that they comply with the very ambitious plan and that we, together with the Danes, are ready to inaugurate the entire project in 2029, says the ministry in Kiel, which has previously expressed great skepticism about whether Deutsche Bahn can achieve all on time.
