Fehmarn Strait tunnel between Denmark and Germany

[Alex]

Fehmarn link: Denmark opts for sea tunnel to Germany

2 February 2011 Last updated at 10:38 ET

Denmark is to build an underwater tunnel to Germany, cutting road and rail journey times between western Europe and Scandinavia.

The Danish parliament rejected plans for a bridge across the Fehmarn Strait in favour of the tunnel, deciding it would be safer and greener.

Denmark and Germany agreed on the need for the 18km (11.6 miles) link in 2008.

Construction of the Danish-funded tunnel is to begin in 2014 and should be completed within six years.

A budget of 32bn kroner (4.2bn euros, £3.7bn, $5.9 billion) has been drawn up.

The tunnel will be built between the Danish island of Lolland and the German island of Fehmarn. Both islands are already connected by bridges to the rest of their respective countries.

When the tunnel is completed, the duration of a rail journey between Hamburg and Copenhagen will be cut from about 4.5 to three hours, the project's website says.

Journey times to Sweden, which is connected to Denmark by the Oresund sea bridge, will also be reduced significantly.

In return for funding the tunnel, Denmark will have ownership and will collect tolls.

[Chris]

The road tolls are estimated at around € 54 or $ 75 one-way.

However, I think the tunnel option is the wrong choice. Tunnels are more sensitive to cost escalation and operational costs are much higher, not to mention the renovation costs after 30 years. In 2020 the Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland needs to be renovated, and cost estimates are close to € 800 million (18 km, 1 tube). I think the bridge option was better, but somehow they engineered the project cost for the tunnel to be marginally lower than the bridge option. What strikes me most is how they argue that a tunnel is safer than a bridge... Nearly all major fatal road incidents in Europe were tunnel fires. Not to mention the impact on hazardous cargo trucks which will likely be banned from the tunnel while they may be the largest potential contributor in toll revenue. It wouldn't surprise me if the truck toll will hover around € 250 or $ 350 one-way.

[mightyace]

In 2020 the Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland needs to be renovated, and cost estimates are close to € 800 million (18 km, 1 tube).

Will the Gotthard Base Tunnel be open by then?  If so, closing it for rehabilitation shouldn't be too bad.

[DAL764]

The reason why they are going with a tunnel is probably the high winds very often occurred in the Fehmarn Strait, which often close the bridge leading from the main land to Fehmarn, where the tunnel is to begin.

[Chris]

Sounds plausible as western winds are dominating in this area. The Great Belt Bridge and the Øresund Bridge are both east-west so are less susceptible to crosswinds.

[cpzilliacus]

Happened to look at the Femern A/S Web site (in English) today, and there is a fair amount of new content.

They are definitely going with an immersed-tube tunnel about 17.6 km long - two tubes for motorway traffic (two lanes each) and two tubes for railroad traffic (one track each way).

Scheduled completion is 2021, which is a delay of a few years. 

Estimated cost to build is about EUR 5.5 billion.

[Chris]

This tunnel may break the record for immersed road tunnels by a factor of 5. Usually immersed tunnels are not very long and cross rivers, not sea straits.

The tunnel segments are 217 meters - 712 ft long each, which is longer than the usual immersed tunnel in Europe. They are also fairly wide to support the 4 road and rail tubes, each segment is 42.2 meters (138.5 ft) wide. There is an immersed tunnel in the Netherlands that is 48.6 meters wide, but that one is not one segment, but rather 4 connected segments because of transportation considerations over narrow rivers.

They are rather secretive about the future tolls. No official toll rates have been given, however they say the tunnel construction costs € 5.5 billion and will be repaid in 39 years, which means at the forecasted 10,800 vehicles per day, or 3,942,000 vehicles per year, the average toll should be around € 35 - 36. However this may not include the coverage of operational costs after opening. Of course tolls for trucks are substantially higher than for passenger cars.

[mgk920]

This tunnel may break the record for immersed road tunnels by a factor of 5. Usually immersed tunnels are not very long and cross rivers, not sea straits.

The tunnel segments are 217 meters - 712 ft long each, which is longer than the usual immersed tunnel in Europe. They are also fairly wide to support the 4 road and rail tubes, each segment is 42.2 meters (138.5 ft) wide. There is an immersed tunnel in the Netherlands that is 48.6 meters wide, but that one is not one segment, but rather 4 connected segments because of transportation considerations over narrow rivers.

They are rather secretive about the future tolls. No official toll rates have been given, however they say the tunnel construction costs € 5.5 billion and will be repaid in 39 years, which means at the forecasted 10,800 vehicles per day, or 3,942,000 vehicles per year, the average toll should be around € 35 - 36. However this may not include the coverage of operational costs after opening. Of course tolls for trucks are substantially higher than for passenger cars.

What do the current ferries charge?

Mike

[Chris]

That ferries, uh varies An economy booking is € 40 in the low season to € 70 in the peak season. These ferries run frequent but there can be incredible waiting times on certain Saturdays. A colleague of mine once had to wait 4 hours, the waiting line already began 20 kilometers before the ferry.

[cpzilliacus]

This tunnel may break the record for immersed road tunnels by a factor of 5. Usually immersed tunnels are not very long and cross rivers, not sea straits.

The only immersed tube tunnel that I can think of in something similar to a sea strait in the U.S. is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, but the undersea segments are relatively short, at about 1 U.S. mile each. 

The tunnel segments are 217 meters - 712 ft long each, which is longer than the usual immersed tunnel in Europe. They are also fairly wide to support the 4 road and rail tubes, each segment is 42.2 meters (138.5 ft) wide. There is an immersed tunnel in the Netherlands that is 48.6 meters wide, but that one is not one segment, but rather 4 connected segments because of transportation considerations over narrow rivers.

The dimension (in width) of the tunnel segments sounds very similar to the (short, at about 4 km) tunnel part of the Øresund Bridge (or as I prefer to write it, Øresund Bridge Tunnel).

They are rather secretive about the future tolls. No official toll rates have been given, however they say the tunnel construction costs € 5.5 billion and will be repaid in 39 years, which means at the forecasted 10,800 vehicles per day, or 3,942,000 vehicles per year, the average toll should be around € 35 - 36. However this may not include the coverage of operational costs after opening. Of course tolls for trucks are substantially higher than for passenger cars.

The one-way cash toll for a private automobile at the Øresund Bridge Tunnel is currently SEK 375 or US $58 or €44 (and I believe they once accepted U.S. dollars there (!) for payment of the toll, but not any longer).  They do take credit cards for toll payment.

[cpzilliacus]

That ferries, uh varies An economy booking is € 40 in the low season to € 70 in the peak season. These ferries run frequent but there can be incredible waiting times on certain Saturdays. A colleague of mine once had to wait 4 hours, the waiting line already began 20 kilometers before the ferry.

At one point I believe the tolls to cross the Øresund Bridge Tunnel were to have been set according to what the ferries charged for transport of similar traffic between Sweden and Denmark.  But now all of the ferries are out of business, so that is no longer really an option.

Given a choice of waiting that long, I would much rather just drive across the Storebælt (Great Belt) Bridge (one-way cash toll is € 40) to the Jutland peninsula ("mainland" Denmark), then south to Germany.

[Chris]

Given a choice of waiting that long, I would much rather just drive across the Storebælt (Great Belt) Bridge (one-way cash toll is € 40) to the Jutland peninsula ("mainland" Denmark), then south to Germany.

I always take the bridge route. It's similarly expensive and takes about the same time to drive while not being dependent on ferry runs or possible queues. Plus, driving across the Great Belt Bridge is a real treat. It's the world's third largest suspension bridge, the main span is about quarter mile longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.

[cpzilliacus]

Given a choice of waiting that long, I would much rather just drive across the Storebælt (Great Belt) Bridge (one-way cash toll is € 40) to the Jutland peninsula ("mainland" Denmark), then south to Germany.

I always take the bridge route. It's similarly expensive and takes about the same time to drive while not being dependent on ferry runs or possible queues. Plus, driving across the Great Belt Bridge is a real treat. It's the world's third largest suspension bridge, the main span is about quarter mile longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.

I agree with your choice of route - and the Great Belt suspension span is cool, and that crossing also includes the long box girder bridge immediately to the west of the suspension structure - the transition is made on Sprogø, a small island that existed before any of the crossing was built. 

Added notes regarding Sprogø - it is the site of a historic (and protected) lighthouse, visible from the E20 motorway, and for a good part of the 20th Century, it was an (isolated) home for women who had been declared legally incompetent.

EDIT: More annotation regarding Sprogø added.