Building of the entrance to the Fehmarnbelt tunnel is underway
(Press release Femern A/S:) Copenhagen, Denmark, 5 May 2022 - On 5 May 2022, work started on the Fehmarnbelt tunnel’s Danish portal building, where train and road traffic will descend and drive through the 18-km-long tunnel to Germany.
At the major construction site for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel, intensive work is underway to build the concrete factory which shall be used to cast the concrete elements that the tunnel will be made from. Each tunnel element will weigh 73,500 tonnes.
Close to the coastline, these tunnel elements will be connected by two major portal areas, which shall ensure a smooth transition between the motorway and rail line on land and the actual tunnel which will lie in a trench on the seabed.
On 5 May, work officially began on the tunnel portal on the Danish side of the fixed link and this means that for the first time, work has begun on the actual connection to the tunnel.
At the main contractor Femern Link Contractors and the sate-owned developer Femern A/S, it was a day to celebrate.
‘It’s a huge milestone for us. The construction of the factory, work harbour and workers’ town has taken up a lot of time and will continue to do so, but from now on, we will also work directly on the actual tunnel portal itself. We think that’s worth celebrating’, said Henrik Paaske Rasmussen, FLC Division Manager, Lolland.
An event was held on the construction site for workers to mark the beginning of the construction of the tunnel portal, and this included a performance by a choir from the Lolland School of Music.
At Femern A/S, project manager Christian Kaas Oldenburg is pleased that the work is now progressing to the next stage.
‘The construction of the tunnel portal will soon be one of the clearest signs yet that the construction is making rapid progress. It’s the equivalent of building the walls and roofs of a house. There are many years of work ahead, but before long you will be able to see the facade for the world’s longest immersed tunnel’, said Christian Kaas Oldenburg.
The construction of the portal building in Denmark alone will employ between 150 and 200 tunnel workers. The tunnel portal will be ready for connection to the first tunnel element in 2023.
The tunnel portal on the Danish side of the fixed link will be chiefly constructed on a 550 m wide and 300 m wide reclaimed area next to the coast. The building of the tunnel portal on the German side of the fixed link, at Puttgarden on the German island Fehmarn, will start in 2023.
Images and graphics for use by the media are available in the Femern A/S image archive.
Further information: Jens Villemoes, Head of Press, jvi@femern.dk.
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