The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will open in two stages

Due to delays in the construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel and the adjacent land facilities on the German side, Sund & Bælt is now working towards opening the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel in two stages.

The revised plan means that the road connection will open first, while the railway will open later, once the necessary facilities on the German side are in place.

"It is unfortunate for the green transition and for rail passengers that the railway cannot open at the same time as the road connection. A phased opening makes it possible to put the tunnel into use earlier for road traffic, while also reducing complexity in the final stage of the project," says Mikkel Hemmingsen, CEO of Sund & Bælt.

In July 2025, the Federal Ministry of Transport in Germany announced that it would not be possible to bring the German railway land facilities into operation in 2029 as planned. This is mainly due to lengthy and complex approval and permit procedures for starting construction work in Germany.

At the same time, construction on the Danish side is currently around two years behind schedule, due to challenges with the specialized vessel used for immersing the tunnel elements.

The project is also affected by the conditions in the German authority's plan approval, which sets strict limits for underwater noise and for where and when work can be carried out in German waters. These conditions make it difficult to recover the lost time and may lead to further delays in the project.

Sund & Bælt will present a new time schedule after the immersion of the first tunnel elements, which will be based on the specific experiences with the immersion of standard and special elements and the handling of the conditions set out in the German authority's plan approval.