Ekstra Bladet revealed Wednesday that the Fehmarn Belt project is threatened by significant delays on the German side. According to the newspaper, construction of the necessary infrastructure on the German side is several years behind and will not be ready for the Fehmarn tunnel’s opening in 2029.
FemernReport has previously reported that the German hinterland connection is lagging. Most recently, at the beginning of October, the chairman of the Danish Parliament’s Transport Committee expressed both concern and frustration over the German delays.
Bridge from 1963
The main issue lies with the connection over or under the Fehmarn Sound. The old Fehmarn Sound Bridge dates back to 1963. The bridge has only one railway track and cannot handle the load from the many heavy freight trains expected to pass through the Fehmarn Belt tunnel.
Deutsche Bahn therefore plans to build a new immersed tunnel under the Fehmarn Sound. However, that work has not yet begun.
If the rail connection for freight trains over or under the Fehmarn Sound is not ready by 2029, freight traffic will still have to go through Funen and Jutland. This would undermine one of the key arguments for the Fehmarn project.
Proceeding as planned
Deutsche Bahn is responsible for the German part of the project. In an email to FemernReport on Thursday, Deutsche Bahn’s infrastructure spokesperson stated that Deutsche Bahn is still following the original plan:
“We continue to assume that the rail connection and the Fehmarn Sound tunnel will be put into operation simultaneously with the completion of the Danish Fehmarn Belt tunnel. We are in the planning phase. The approval documents are expected to be submitted to the Federal Railway Authority at the beginning of 2025. The expected start of construction for the Fehmarn Sound tunnel is 2026,” reads the official statement from the German state railways.
Slow process
This is essentially a repetition of the message from January 2023, when FemernReport also wrote about the issues. And it gives rise to the same concern. The German approval process for large projects is thorough, bureaucratic, and slow. It is very difficult to imagine that this process can be completed within a year if it starts next year.
The succinct German term is “Planfeststellungsverfahren,” which refers to the administrative approval process for large infrastructure projects. Complaints about noise pollution, nature conservation, and environmental impacts can all be brought before the courts, many with suspensive effect. And since Germany is a federal state, all such cases can, in principle, be taken from the state level to the federal level. The last legal case concerning the Fehmarn connection was only concluded in December 2022.
