Trains through Fehmarnbelt tunnel reportedly delayed to 2035

The first trains through the Fehmarnbelt tunnel between Denmark and Germany will not run before 2035, three years later than previously expected. This is the assessment of Danish state-owned operator DSB, according to Danish media outlet Ingeniøren, while road traffic could start using the tunnel several years earlier. The forecast is contained in a memo DSB prepared for a meeting with the Danish Ministry of Transport and infrastructure manager Banedanmark. Danish media Ingeniøren, obtained access to document saying that the delay is most likely linked to the German side of the project. Until now, the expectation was that trains would be able to cross the Fehmarn Belt in 2032.

The bottleneck is not the 18-kilometre immersed tunnel itself, but the Fehmarnsund crossing between the island of Fehmarn and the German mainland. Today, trains reach the island via a single-track bridge from the 1960s, which is not equipped to handle the additional traffic expected once the Fehmarnbelt tunnel opens. Germany is therefore planning a new tunnel under the Fehmarnsund, with two rail tracks and four road lanes.

The DSB memo matches the signals coming from Berlin. Earlier this month, the new ‘Infraplan’ of the German Federal Ministry of Transport indicated that the Fehmarnsund tunnel would enter service “by 2035”, according to German news agency dpa. Until then, the transport ministry of Schleswig-Holstein had been working with a completion date of 2031 or 2032.

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