WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
A record-breaking tunnel is being built under the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany, cutting travel times and improving Scandinavia's links with the rest of Europe.
At 18km long, the Fehmarnbelt will be the world's longest prefabricated road and rail tunnel.
It is also a major engineering feat, with tunnel segments laid on the seabed. The project's main construction site is at the northern entrance to the tunnel, on the coast of the island of Lolland in southeastern Denmark.
The facility includes a port and a factory that produces the tunnel sections, called "elements". Each 217m long and 42m wide element is made of reinforced steel poured into concrete.
Most underwater tunnels, including the 50km-long Channel Tunnel between the UK and France, are cut through rock beneath the seabed. Here, instead, 90 individual elements will be connected, piece by piece, like Lego bricks.
“We are breaking records with this project. Immersed tunnels have been built before, but never on this scale,” said Henrik Vincentsen, CEO of Femern, the state-owned Danish company building the tunnel.
At a cost of around 7.4 billion euros, the project was mainly financed by Denmark, with 1.3 billion euros from the European Commission.
It is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the region and part of a wider EU plan to strengthen road connections across the continent while reducing flights.
When completed, the journey between Rødbyhavn in southern Denmark and Putgarten in northern Germany will take just 10 minutes by car or seven minutes by train, replacing the 45-minute ferry journey.
Bypassing western Denmark, the new rail route will also halve the journey time between Copenhagen and Hamburg from five to 2.5 hours and provide a “greener” shortcut for freight and passengers.
"It not only connects Denmark to Germany, but it connects Scandinavia to central Europe. Everyone wins. And by traveling 160 km less, you reduce pollution and the impact of transport," Vincentsen said.
The tunnel will have five parallel tubes. Two for railways, two for roads (which have two lanes in each direction) and a corridor for maintenance and emergencies.
At the other end, a huge steel gate holds back the sea.
