Construction of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link — the world’s longest immersed tunnel — is progressing on schedule, with 60% of the 18-km tunnel elements now placed on the seabed between Denmark and Germany. When completed in 2029, the tunnel will carry road vehicles and trains between the island of Fehmarn in Germany and the Danish island of Lolland, replacing the current ferry crossing.
The tunnel consists of 89 pre-cast concrete elements, each 217 metres long and weighing 73,000 tonnes, fabricated at a purpose-built factory on the Danish coast. The elements are then floated out and lowered with millimetre precision into a pre-dredged trench on the seabed.
The €7.4 billion project will cut travel time between Hamburg and Copenhagen by 160 km, transforming the economic geography of the Baltic Sea region and making Scandinavia significantly more accessible from Central Europe. Rail travel time will drop from 4.5 hours to under 2.5 hours.
