The record-breaking tunnel being constructed from Denmark to Germany | EUROtoday

A record-breaking tunnel is being constructed beneath the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany, which is able to slash journey instances and enhance Scandinavia’s hyperlinks with the remainder of Europe.

Running for 18km (11 miles), the Fehmarnbelt would be the world’s longest pre-fabricated street and rail tunnel.

It’s additionally a exceptional feat of engineering, that may see segments of the tunnel positioned on high of the seafloor, after which joined collectively.

The undertaking’s primary building web site is situated on the northern entrance to the tunnel, on the coast of Lolland island within the south east of Denmark.

The facility spans greater than 500 hectares (1,235 acres), and features a harbour and a manufacturing facility that’s manufacturing the tunnel sections, that are known as “elements”.

“It’s a huge facility here,” says Henrik Vincentsen, chief govt of Femern, the state-owned Danish firm that’s constructing the tunnel.

To make every 217m (712ft) lengthy and 42m extensive ingredient bolstered metal is forged with concrete.

Most underwater tunnels – together with the 50km Channel Tunnel between the UK and France – burrow by way of bedrock beneath the seafloor. Here as an alternative, 90 particular person components might be linked up, piece by piece, like Lego bricks.

“We are breaking records with this project,” says Mr Vincentsen. “Immersed tunnels have been built before, but never on this scale.”

With a price-tag round €7.4bn ($8.1bn; £6.3bn) the scheme has largely been financed by Denmark, with €1.3bn from the European Commission.

It’s among the many area’s largest-ever infrastructure tasks, and a part of a wider EU plan to strengthen journey hyperlinks throughout the continent whereas lowering flying.

Once accomplished, the journey between Rødbyhavn in southern Denmark and Puttgarten in northern Germany, will take simply 10 minutes by automotive, or seven minutes by prepare, changing a 45-minute ferry voyage.

Bypassing western Denmark, the brand new rail route may also halve journey instances between Copenhagen and Hamburg from 5 to 2.5 hours, and supply a “greener” shortcut for freight and passengers.

“It’s not only linking Denmark to Germany, it’s linking Scandinavia to central Europe,” states Mr Vincentsen. “Everybody’s a winner,” he claims. “And by travelling 160km less, you’ll also cut carbon and reduce the impact of transport.”

Towered over by cranes, the tunnel entrance sits on the base of a steep coastal wall with glowing seawater mendacity overhead.

“So now we are in the first part of the tunnel,” broadcasts senior building supervisor Anders Gert Wede, as we stroll inside the long run freeway. It’s considered one of 5 parallel tubes in every ingredient.

There are two for railway traces, two for roads (which have two lanes in every path), and a upkeep and emergency hall.

At the opposite finish monumental metal doorways maintain again the ocean. “As you can hear, it’s quite thick,” he says tapping on the metallic. “When we have a finished element at the harbour, it will be towed out to the location and then we will slowly immerse it behind the steel doors here.”

Not solely are these components lengthy, they’re enormously heavy, weighing over 73,000 tonnes. Yet extremely, sealing the ends watertight and becoming them with ballast tanks, provides sufficient buoyancy to tow them behind tugboats.

Next it is a painstakingly complicated process, reducing the weather 40 metres down right into a trench dug out on the seafloor, utilizing underwater cameras and GPS-guided tools, to line it up with 15mm precision.

“We have to be very, very careful,” emphasises Mr Wede. “We have a system called ‘pin and catch’ where you have a V-shaped structure and some arms grabbing onto the element, dragging it slowly into place.”

Denmark sits on the mouth of the Baltic, on a stretch of sea with busy delivery lanes.

With layers of clay and bedrock of chalk, the subsurface is simply too gentle to drill a bore tunnel, stated Per Goltermann, a professor in concrete and constructions on the Technical University of Denmark.

A bridge was initially thought of, however sturdy winds may disrupt visitors, and safety was one other necessary consideration.

“There was the risk of ships crashing into bridges. We can build the bridge so they can withstand it,” he provides. “But this is rather deep water, and the biggest ships can sail there.”

So, provides Mr Goltermann, it was determined to go along with an immersed tunnel. “They looked at it and said, “Okay, what’s the most cost-effective? The tunnel. What is the most secure? The tunnel.”

Denmark and Germany signed an agreement to build the tunnel back in 2008, but the scheme was delayed by opposition from ferry operators and German conservation groups concerned about the ecological impact.

One such environmental group, Nabu (The Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union), argued that this area of the Baltic is an important habitat for larvae and harbour porpoises, which are sensitive to underwater noise.

However in 2020 their legal challenge was dismissed by a federal court in Germany, which green-lighted construction to go ahead.

“We have completed numerous initiatives to ensure that the impression of this undertaking is as small as doable,” says Mr Vincentsen, pointing to a 300-hectare wetland nature and recreational area that’s planned on reclaimed land, which has been built from the dredged up sand and rock.

When the tunnel opens in 2029, Femern estimates that more than 100 trains and 12,000 cars will use it each day.

According to plans, revenues collected from toll fees will repay the state-backed loans that were taken out to finance the construction, and Mr Vincentsen calculates that will take around four decades. “Ultimately, the customers are going to pay,” he says.

It’s also hoped the huge investment will boost jobs, business and tourism in Lolland, which is one of Denmark’s poorest regions.

“The locals down right here have been ready for this undertaking for lots of years,” said Mr Wede, who grew up nearby. “They’re trying ahead to companies coming to the realm.”