Denmark and Germany will soon be connected by an 18 kilometer long underwater tunnel. The Fehmarnbelt will be the longest road and rail tunnel in the world when completed in 2029.
The €10 billion project will link Rødbyhavn on the Danish island of Lolland and Puttgarden in northern Germany and will feature two dual-lane highways and two electrified lanes.
It will therefore take seven minutes by train and 10 minutes by car, avoiding a detour of 160 kilometers through Danish territory. Train travel times from Hamburg to Copenhagen will be reduced from around five hours to less than three. A road link will replace an incredibly busy ferry service that carries millions of passengers a year.
Denmark also plans to build high-speed electric rail lines. The idea of connecting Germany to Denmark by a tunnel is not new. After 10 years of planning, construction started in 2020 on the Danish side and then in 2021 on the German side.
The tunnel will cost a total of €10 billion, with a €1.1 billion contribution from the EU.
