en.Wedoany.com Reported - The first prefabricated concrete tube of the world's longest immersed tunnel, the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, was successfully immersed in May, but project owner Femern A/S, a Danish state-owned company, stated that the project is at least two years behind the original schedule, with the road and railway sections to be opened in phases. The $8 billion tunnel, connecting Germany and Denmark, was originally scheduled to open in 2029.
Nearly 11 miles long, the tunnel features a five-tube design and lies approximately 140 feet below the Baltic Sea surface, connecting Puttgarden in northern Germany with Lolland Island in southeastern Denmark. It comprises four road lanes, two electrified railway lines, and a service channel in a dredged trench, and upon completion, it will become a vital transportation artery linking Scandinavia with Central Europe. Train travel is expected to take 7 minutes, and car travel 10 minutes, halving the rail journey between Hamburg and Copenhagen from 5 hours.
The joint venture Femern Link Contractors (FLC), led by Vinci Grands Projets SAS, is prefabricating 89 tube sections, including 79 standard tubes and 10 tubes housing electrical components, for towing and immersion into the dredged trench. Each standard tube measures 712 feet long, 138 feet wide, and 30 feet high, weighing 73,500 metric tons. Dredging of the trench, 260 feet wide and 33 feet deep, is being carried out by Fehmarn Belt Contractors, a consortium led by Royal Boskalis Westminster NV and Van Oord NV. Approximately 60 vessels participated in excavating 530 million cubic feet of material, with dredging starting in 2020 and completing in 2024. The excavated material has been used to create over 700 acres of natural and recreational land.
Due to issues with the vessel used for tube immersion, construction on the Danish side is about two years behind schedule. Last summer, German transport officials announced that the country's approval and permitting procedures would not allow the relevant railway facilities to be operational before 2029. German restrictions on underwater noise have further impacted progress and made it difficult to recover lost time. Project owner Femern and its parent company Sund & Baelt stated that an updated timeline will be released after the immersion of multiple tube sections.
Due to the delays, the road section of the tunnel will open before the railway section. Sund & Baelt CEO Mikkel Hemmingsen said in a statement: "A phased opening allows the tunnel to be used for road traffic earlier, while also reducing complexity in the final stages of the project." He added that the electrified railway section opening later than the road is "unfortunate for the green transition and rail passengers."
Despite these issues, tunnel construction is progressing, with thousands of workers involved. FLC has opened a prefabrication plant in Rodbyhavn, Denmark, where over 2,000 workers operate on six production lines, with another approximately 100 workers producing steel lattice reinforcement components. On May 4, five tugboats towed the contractor's dedicated immersion pontoons IVY 1 and IVY 2, along with the first tube section, about one mile to the Danish side entrance. Immersion work began on May 6 and took approximately 14 hours. Workers then used hydraulic arms to connect the tube to the tunnel entrance, while another vessel placed crushed stone locking fill on both sides of the tube to secure its position. After the successful immersion, Hemmingsen stated: "We are both happy and relieved. Our technology, equipment, and contractors have proven their capabilities, achieving an unprecedented feat."
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