Railway Plans: Connecting the Scandinavian and German rail networks via the Fehmarnbelt tunnel

Abstract

This project is part of a master's programme course named Project in Railway Technology at Chalmers University of Technology. The report investigates the construction of the Fehmarnbelt fixed link between Denmark and Germany and analyses the effects and the coming demand following its opening. The opening of this sub-sea tunnel will have a massive impact on the transportation systems, in particular the railway networks of both Germany and Denmark, as well as Sweden and Norway. The research has been conducted through literature studies based on the available documents on construction and plans for its connections in the four most affected countries. The results indicate that Denmark has successfully improved and planned their infrastructure network for the opening of the connection, while Germany, Sweden and Norway are lagging behind, which in turn will result in the Fehmarnbelt fixed link not being able to meet its expected capacity until certain bottlenecks will be improved. The most critical bottlenecks that likely will still be in place after the opening of the tunnel is the Fehmarnsundbridge and the Swedish Southern Mainline.