Construction begins on the world’s longest immersed tunnel
The Femern project involves construction of an 18km combined road and rail tunnel linking Germany and Denmark.
The tunnel, which will 9m high and 43m wide, is being built by the Femern Link Contractors. The joint venture comprises Vinci Construction Grands Projets (lead company for the two contracts covering construction of the immersed tunnel and the tunnel precast element factory), Per Aarsleff Holding (lead company for the third contract, which covers the tunnel access ramps), Soletanche Bachy International (a Vinci Construction subsidiary), CFE, Dredging International, Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau, Max Bögl Stiftung & Co, BAM Infra and BAM International. The consultant is Cowi.
The project will have a workforce of 2,000 employees at the peak of activity.
Works have started on the Danish side, with the construction of the factory that will manufacture the 200m precast concrete box girders elements that will be immersed to form the fixed link between Denmark’s Lolland Falster region and Germany’s Schleswig Holstein Land.