The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link: PROJECT AND REGION CONTENTS 1 Introduction 3 The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link 3 Background 4 Time schedule 4 A user-paid project 6 The preferred solution: an immersed tunnel 6 A safe tunnel 6 Driving experience 8 Tunnel construction 12 Production of standard elements 12 Tunnel element transport 15 Tunnel trench 16 New peninsulas 16 The Fehmarn coast 17 The Lolland coast 18 Other technical solutions 18 Cable-stayed bridge 19 Suspension bridge 19 Bored tunnel 20 Expectations for the project 22 Environment 24 The Fehmarnbelt Region 24 Delimitation of the regional area 24 Urban and rural areas 26 The region’s population 28 Politics and language 28 Economic factors 30 Labour market 31 Business and industry 32 Imports and exports 32 Changes in the traffic patterns 33 Traffic across the Fehmarnbelt 34 Tourism 36 New opportunities arising from a fixed link 36 Public attitudes to the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link 37 Now is the time! 38 Meet the players Introduction The upgrading of the infrastructure and acces- sibility will also create opportunities for change and development in the emerging Fehmarnbelt Region – a region that stretches from Northern Germany over Denmark to Southern Sweden and is home to nine million people. New rela- tions – economic, cultural and societal – will arise and foster new trade, tourism, jobs and Dear reader, new chances for living and working in the region. This is also what the experience from The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link between Germany the fixed links across the Øresund and the Great and Denmark is a project of international Belt has shown. Ultimately, these projects have dimensions; its physical scale alone placing it promoted prosperity and a higher standard of in the ranks of the world’s largest infrastructure living as the new infrastructure opportunities projects. were seized by the people. The aim of this publication is to provide informa- Many stakeholders are already committed to tion about the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link, both as forging the future of the Fehmarnbelt Region in regards the planning and technical design of the the knowledge that the fixed link will be a reality physical link and the socio-demographic facts by 2021. The commitment is local, regional, particular to the Fehmarnbelt Region. national and international, and all stakeholders are in the process of outlining their vision for The fixed link will improve the connection the future. between Central Europe and Scandinavia by means of an efficient and high quality transport The Fehmarnbelt Fixed link will bring people infrastructure. Upon completion, the link will closer together: Danes, Germans, Swedes and, provide for a direct connection between above all, Europeans. In times as today, where Copenhagen and Hamburg for rail and road Europe faces challenges, the Fehmarnbelt Fixed traffic, thereby creating new transport possibili- Link can become the cornerstone of a prosper- ties including capacity increases, greater flex- ous cross-border region that gives an encourag- ibility and time savings. At present it takes ing example how regional integration should 45 minutes by ferry between Puttgarden and function. Rødbyhavn, plus waiting time at the port. With a fixed link, however, the journey will be shortened to just seven minutes by train and approximately ten minutes by car. The journey time by train between Copenhagen and Hamburg will be reduced from the current Claus F. Baunkjær four and a half hours to around three. Managing Director Femern A/S Gothenburg SKAGERRAK Frederikshavn Aalborg DENMARK KATTEGAT SWEDEN Aarhus Elsinore Helsingborg Kristianstad JUTLAND SCANIA Copenhagen Malmö G r ZEALAND Ystad e Esbjerg a t Ø Trelleborg B Ringsted r e FUNEN e l t s u n Odense d BALTIC SEA LOLLAND – FALSTER Flensborg Rødby Sassnitz Fehmarn belt Gedser FEHMARN Puttgarden Heiligenhafen SCHLESWIG- HOLSTEIN Kiel Rostock Travemünde Swinoujscie Bad Schwartau Lübeck MECKLENBURG- WESTERN POMERANIA Bremerhaven HAMBURG GERMANY Oldenburg BREMEN Railway LOWER SAXONY Motorway BRANDENBURG 0 25 50 100 km SAXONY- ANHALT BERLIN Wolfsburg Hannover Gothenburg SKAGERRAK THE FEHMARNBELT FIXED LINK Frederikshavn Aalborg Background The Danish State DENMARK A fixed and direct link between Scandi- The Ministry of Transport KATTEGAT navia and Central Europe has been SWEDEN an enduring vision for many decades. Aarhus This vision is now about to be realised Elsinore Helsingborg in that the link that will cross the Sund & Bælt Kristianstad approx. 19 km wide Fehmarnbelt Holding A/S between Rødbyhavn and Puttgarden is due to open to traffic in late 2021. JUTLAND SCANIA Copenhagen Germany is Scandinavia’s largest Malmö trading partner and the route across A/S Storebælt A/S Øresund Femern A/S G r ZEALAND Ystad e Esbjerg a the Fehmarnbelt is the most direct t Ø Trelleborg B Ringsted r e rail and motorway link. FUNEN e l t s u n Odense d On 3 September 2008, the Ministers of Transport for Denmark and Germany signed a state treaty for the establish- ment of a fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt. The treaty was ratified BALTIC SEA by the Danish parliament on 26 March The Danish Planning Act of 2009 2009 to coincide with the enactment prescribes highly extensive preliminary LOLLAND – FALSTER Flensborg of the Danish Planning Act. The treaty investigations into how the fixed link Rødby was ratified by the German parliament and the associated Danish landworks Fehmar Sassnitz on 18 June 2009. will impact on factors such as the nbel Gedser t environment, navigational safety and FEHMARN Puttgarden In the state treaty Denmark and geotechnical features. Heiligenhafen Germany have agreed that Denmark SCHLESWIG- alone will be responsible for financing The company Femern A/S is responsi- Kiel HOLSTEIN the coast-to-coast project (and the ble for designing and providing the extension of the Danish landworks) basis for the official approval of the Rostock and will, therefore, be the sole owner coast-to-coast section of the Fehmarn- Travemünde Swinoujscie of the fixed link. Germany, in turn, will belt Fixed Link on behalf of the Danish Bad Schwartau finance and ensure the timely develop- Ministry of Transport. Femern A/S’ Lübeck ment of the landworks on the German sister companies have planned, built side. and are now operating the fixed links MECKLENBURG- WESTERN POMERANIA across Storebælt and (the Danish part It is stipulated in the treaty that the of the) Øresund. A/S Femern Land- Bremerhaven HAMBURG link will consist of a twin-track railway anlæg is coordinating the work on and a four-lane motorway. The toll the Danish landworks which is being station for the users of the fixed link planned by the Danish Transport GERMANY will be sited on the Danish side of Authority, Banedanmark and the Oldenburg the Fehmarnbelt. Danish Road Directorate. BREMEN LOWER SAXONY BRANDENBURG 3 SAXONY- ANHALT BERLIN Wolfsburg Hannover THE FEHMARNBELT FIXED LINK Time schedule The project is expected to be The investment in the coast-to-coast Since 2008 Femern A/S has been approved in 2014-2015, and construc- link and the Danish landworks conducting intensive investigations tion to commence in the summer is expected to be recouped within on both sides of the Fehmarnbelt and of 2015. The aim is for the fixed link a period of approx. 39 years. Excluding in the Fehmarnbelt itself, i.e. on land to be completed in 2021. the landworks, the coast-to-coast link and in the marine environment, ground would be repaid within 33 years. conditions and navigational safety. Tendering itself will run in parallel with the approval process. Femern A/S will It is estimated that a Fehmarnbelt In addition, Femern A/S has investi- first pre-qualify a number of contractors Tunnel will cost EUR 5.5 billion gated various bridge and tunnel to tender for the four construction con- (2008 prices). A final project budget solutions on an equal basis. As a result tracts. The tender process will be car- calculation will be presented by of these investigations, the company ried out by a so-called competitive dia- Femern A/S for the Danish Construction recommended to the Danish Transport logue, which first obtains preliminary Act. The landworks on the Danish side Minister in November 2010 an bids from the prequalified contractors, at an estimated EUR 1.1–1.2 billion immersed tunnel as the preferred after which follows a dialogue phase. It (2008 prices) will be financed in the technical solution. In February 2011, is only after the dialogue phase is com- same way as the fixed link itself and the Danish politicians behind the plete that the contractors will submit repaid from toll revenue from the link. project followed this technical recom- binding offers with prices. The signing mendation. of the contracts is expected to take Germany is responsible for developing place in May 2015. and financing the German landworks The last years have been devoted to (railway and road) serving the coast- the detailed planning of the construc- A user-paid project to-coast link. tion project in parallel with elaboration The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link will of an Environ mental Impact Assess- be owned by Denmark and financed The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link is ment (EIA). The final decision regarding by Danish state-guaranteed loans a priority project under the EU TEN-T the alignment and design of the pro- raised in the international financial (Trans-European Transport Network) ject will take into account the EIA. market. These loans will be repaid programme and has therefore been by the users of the fixed link. This granted substantial financial support. In Denmark, final approval of the well-proven state-guarantee model The project’s profitability calculations project will be effected by parliament’s was also used to finance the fixed assume that the TEN-subsidy will adoption of a so-called Construction links across Storebælt and Øresund.