Page 23 - Hafen Hamburg | Broschüre | Port of Hamburg Magazine 4.2020

INFRASTRUCTURE PORT ■
Impression of the entrance
to Fehmarn Belt tunnel in 2029
Europe moving closer together
While it will take almost another ten years until the Fehrmarn Belt Fixed Link is finished, Germans, Danes and Swedes are already expecting positive effects. They are hoping for a shift of freight to rail, reckoning with new jobs and further economic growth.
It will be possible to build the Fehmarn Belt Link. At the beginning of November, a green light came from Ger- many. The Federal Administrative Court dismissed the five still pending lawsuits. Now the European project can tie Scandinavia closer to Central Europe. The pro- ponents of the Fehrmarn Belt Fixed Link are at one about this. The planned 18-kilometre immersed tunnel, to be constructed between Puttgarden on the island of Fehmarn and Lolland on the Danish side, is planned to ensure flexible freight and passenger transport by road and rail. It can be used round the clock, since it is inde- pendent of weather and time delays. The railway will consist of two electrified tracks in separate tubes, and the motorway will be in a separate tube with two lanes in each direction. The planned construction period is 8.5 years, with the tunnel opening in 2029.
“In view of their geographical position, it is not sur- prising that the Scandinavians are extremely inter-
ested in a fast connection,” said Dr. Bernd Buchholz, Minister for Economics, Transport, Employment, Technology and Tourism in Schleswig-Holstein. “Closing the gap will also however create growth stimuli for us, leading to opportunities for close co- operation northbound,” he added. The project will strengthen European cohesion and intensify the economic and cultural interchange between the re- gions. “Moreover, as the major infrastructure project in Northern Europe, this will create many jobs direct- ly for a number of years on both sides of the Feh- marn Belt,” Buchholz added.
SWEDEN HOPING FOR THE CROSSING
From the Swedish perspective too, the fixed crossing is indispensable. “We are longing for it,” said Stephan Müchler, CEO of the Southern Swedish Chamber of Commerce, stressing that it is a German-Scandinavian
8.5
years construction period
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