The project design of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link has now entered a new stage and Femern A/S are busy negotiating new prices on the construction work; these new negotiated prices must be ready this autumn.
Both the Swedish and the Norwegian Ministers of Transport have just now voiced their support of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link. They strongly emphasize that the Fixed Link has essential importance for northern Europe’s connection to the rest of the EU – and to industry and commerce in the whole of both Norway and Sweden.
Read more on Sweden and Norway’s support here
Getting in sync
Femern A/S have answered the 3,100 written protests against the tunnel construction on German territory and presented them to the German authorities for their assessment.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bahn and the German rail authority have finished their preliminary technical planning of the rail track from Lübeck/Bad Schwartau to the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel. Deutsche Bahn have said yet again – tentatively – the rail tracks will be ready in 2024.
A slower construction pace is a part of the negotiations between Femern A/S and the construction consortia: So maybe the completion of the new German rail connection will be the same time that the Fixed Link is completed?
German process on track
The German authorities have just undergone Femern A/S’s responses to the 3,100 protests in connection with the planning- and environment permissions for the tunnel and access ramp constructions on the German side. The response has taken almost a year, due to the large amount of protests.
Now involved citizens, local authorities, businesses and environmental organisations have the opportunity to elaborate on their concerns at public hearings. The invitations are being sent out and the first hearings will take place in Kiel on the 13th and 17th of July to continue throughout September.
Technical planning done
The preliminary planning for the German rail connection to and from the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel has just been completed. Deutsche Bahn has suggested a track that has taken legal rights and due process into consideration which means that the track line is a compromise, compared to the line the federal state Schleswig-Holstein have favoured earlier.
– We wanted to avoid our plans being torpedoed through court rulings, said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson- Maja Weihgold to the Lübecker Nachrichten. Because that would wreck our time schedule.
– We expect to cut first turf in 2019. Unless something unexpected arises, the track will be ready in 2024, Maja Weihgold continued.
After the summer holiday, Deutsche Bahn will present the estimated budget for the rail construction. Also after the holiday period, Deutsche Bahn will go on a road show through the municipalities concerned to present the track lines in more detail.
Read more!
On the TEN-T conference in Riga on the 22nd -23rd June 2015
Read a report on costs, should the TEN-T not be finalised by 2030
