The Fehmarn Sound Tunnel between the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

mainland and the island of

Fehmarn Fehmarn (, da, Femern; from Old Wagrian Slavic "''Fe More''", meaning "''In the Sea''") is an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is Germany's third-largest island, after Rüg ...

is projected to be built by 2028, and is projected to cost €718 million. The tunnel will be near

Großenbrode Großenbrode is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Baltic Sea coast, opposite Fehmarn, approx. 8 km (5 mi) east of Heiligenhafen. Until 1963 it had a ferry connection to G ...

Background

The treaty of 2008 between Germany and Denmark provides that the hinterland connection to the Fehmarnbelt link is to be expanded on the German side, but the Fehmarnsund Crossing connection should remain two-lane road and single-track railway. The bridge was considered to be able to handle the increase of traffic. It was later decided that the increase of traffic can't be handled by the existing

Fehmarn Sound Bridge The Fehmarn Sound Bridge (german: Fehmarnsundbrücke) connects the German island of Fehmarn in the Baltic Sea with the German mainland near Großenbrode. Description The crossing includes the network arch bridge which carries road and rail o ...

, especially the rail traffic.Deutsche Bahn. ''Entscheidung zur neuen Fehmarnsundquerung.''
(in German) Retrieved 11 June 2021 In March 2020 the Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure and Deutsche Bahn announced that they compared all investigated variants and opted for an immersed tunnel for road and rail (estimated cost: 714 million euros) and that the Fehmarnsund Bridge is to be preserved.

Design

The design of the tunnel is very similar to the standard elements of the

Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link The Fehmarn Belt fixed link ( da, Femern Bælt-forbindelsen, german: Fehmarnbelt-Querung) or Fehmarn Belt tunnel is an under-construction immersed tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn, cros ...

currently being built. This is to be expected since both tunnels have been designed by groups with

COWI COWI A/S is an international consulting group, specialising in engineering, environmental science and economics, with headquarters in Lyngby, Denmark. It has been involved in more than 50,000 projects in 175 countries and has approximately 7,300 em ...

involved. It has even been proposed to have the needed elements be built at the factory making the elements for the

, since the Fehmarn Sound is around 900 meters and the elements for the

is 217 meters so the Fehmarn Sound would consist of 4 or 5 such elements. Also, suggestions have been made to preserve the factory for future projects.

References

Buildings and structures in Schleswig-Holstein 2028 in rail transport Railway tunnels in Germany Immersed tube tunnels in Germany {{Europe-rail-transport-stub