Fehmarnbelt tunnel, or Fehmarnbelt fixed link, is an under-construction $7.5BN immersed mega-tunnel, which will connect the island of Lolland in Denmark with the island of Fehmarn in Germany, crossing the 18-kilometer-wide Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea. It will become the longest immersed tunnel in the world and will be the fastest route(just seven minutes by train and 10 minutes by car) between Scandinavia and Central Europe, upon completion.
The $7.5 billion mega-tunnel project in Fehmarn will eliminate the need for a 500-kilometer detour through Denmark, saving time and improving transportation efficiency
After planning the project for more than a decade, the construction of the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel started in 2020 and since then a temporary harbor has been completed on Denmark’s side. Henrik Vincentsen, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Femern A/S, a state-owned Danish company that has taken charge of the project, said “The expectation is that the first production line will be ready around the end of the year, or beginning of next year. By the beginning of 2024, we have to be ready to immerse the first tunnel element,” as per a CNN report. When the 18km undersea tunnel is completed in 2029, it will have record-breaking dimensions. It will run at a maximum depth of more than 30m below sea level and will lay claim to be the world’s longest immersed tube tunnel and the world’s longest combined road and rail tunnel.
It will be put together 40 meters below the Baltic Sea using 89 massive concrete sections. These will be pre-built on land and then lowered into the water using a crane. Femern A/S hopes that it will be ready to immerse the first of these sections by 2024. Once they are in place, the concrete sections will be fitted together and other elements like railway tracks, ventilation, and cameras will be installed.
Fehmarnbelt tunnel will consist of 89 standard concrete elements, each 712 feet long
Image Credit: Femern A/S
