Milestone at Fehmarnbelt: Casting of the tunnel elements underway

Equipment

Casting of the tunnel elements for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel is now in progress, approximately two and a half years after the start of construction of the world’s largest precast concrete element factory in Rødbyhavn.

femern.com photo

The Fehmarnbelt project has therefore reached a crucial stage in its history so far where the past few years have been concerned with the construction of the tunnel element factory so as to commence the casting of the tunnel elements.

This means that the first 24 metres of the 18 km long immersed tunnel between Denmark and Germany have now been cast.

Of the 89 tunnel elements to be cast, 79 are standard elements that are 217m long, 42m wide and 9m high. One standard element is produced from nine castings, also known as segments, each approximately 24m in length. The very first segment of the 711 segments, therefore, has now been cast.

The first tunnel element is expected to be immersed in the Fehmarnbelt in 2024 in the special tunnel trench, which is currently being dredged.

More than 90 per cent of the dredging operations have now been completed.

Production of the tunnel elements will continue until 2027, when the final tunnel element for the Fehmarnbelt link is expected to be ready.

The Fehmarnbelt link opens in 2029.