Denmark: Siltanews – News Desk
A record-breaking tunnel is being built under the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany, which will slash travel times and improve Scandinavia’s links with the rest of Europe.
Running for 18km (11 miles), the Fehmarnbelt will be the world’s longest pre-fabricated road and rail tunnel.
It’s also a remarkable feat of engineering that will see segments of the tunnel placed on top of the seafloor, and then joined together.
The project’s main construction site is located at the northern entrance to the tunnel, on the Coast of Lolland Island in the south east of Denmark.
The facility spans more than 500 hectares (1,235 acres), and includes a harbour and a factory that is manufacturing the tunnel sections, which are called “elements”.
“It’s a huge facility here,” says Henrik Vincentsen, chief executive of Femern, the state-owned Danish company that is building the tunnel.
To make each 217m (712ft) long and 42m wide element reinforced steel is cast with concrete.
Most underwater tunnels – including the 50km Channel Tunnel between the UK and France – burrow through bedrock beneath the seafloor. Here instead, 90 individual elements will be linked up, piece by piece, like Lego bricks.
“We are breaking records with this project,” says Mr Vincentsen. “Immersed tunnels have been built before, but never on this scale.”
With a price-tag around €7.4bn ($8.1bn; £6.3bn) the scheme has mostly been financed by Denmark, with €1.3bn from the European Commission.
It’s among the region’s largest-ever infrastructure projects, and part of a wider EU plan to strengthen travel links across the continent while reducing flying.
Once completed, the journey between Rødbyhavn in southern Denmark and Puttgarten in northern Germany, will take just 10 minutes by car, or seven minutes by train, replacing a 45-minute ferry voyage.
Bypassing western Denmark, the new rail route will also halve travel times between Copenhagen and Hamburg from five to 2.5 hours, and provide a “greener” shortcut for freight and passengers.
“It’s not only linking Denmark to Germany, it’s linking Scandinavia to central Europe,” states Mr Vincentsen. “Everybody’s a winner,” he claims. “And by travelling 160km less, you’ll also cut carbon and reduce the impact of transport.”