Inside the €7 billion tunnel under the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany

A record-breaking tunnel is being built under the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany, which will shorten travel times and improve Scandinavia's connections with the rest of Europe.

With a length of 18 km, the Fehmarnbelt will be the longest "prefabricated" road and rail tunnel in the world, foreign media write, according to Telegraph.

It is also an extraordinary engineering feat, which will see segments of the tunnel placed on top of the seabed, and then joined together.

The main construction area of ​​the project is located at the northern entrance of the tunnel, on the coast of the island of Lolland in southeastern Denmark.

The facility covers more than 500 hectares and includes a port and a factory that produces the tunnel sections, which are called "elements."

“It’s a big space here,” says Henrik Vincentsen, chief executive of Femern, the Danish state-owned company that is building the tunnel.

With a price tag of around 7.4 billion euros, the scheme is mainly funded by Denmark, with 1.3 billion euros from the European Commission.

It is considered one of the largest infrastructure projects in the region and part of a wider EU plan to strengthen travel links across the continent by reducing flights.

Once completed, the journey between Rødbyhavn in southern Denmark and Puttgarten in northern Germany will take just 10 minutes by car, or seven minutes by train, replacing a 45-minute ferry journey.

Bypassing western Denmark, the new rail route will also halve the travel time between Copenhagen and Hamburg from 5 to 2.5 hours and provide a “greener shortcut” for goods and passengers.

“It’s not just connecting Denmark to Germany, it’s connecting Scandinavia to Central Europe,” says Mr Vincentsen. “Everybody wins,” he says. “And by travelling 160km less, you’ll also reduce your carbon footprint and reduce the impact of transport.”

Denmark and Germany signed an agreement to build the tunnel in 2008, but the scheme was delayed by opposition from ferry operators and German groups concerned about the ecological impact.

However, in 2020 their legal challenge was rejected by a federal court in Germany, which gave the green light to continue construction.

When the tunnel opens in 2029, Femern estimates that more than 100 trains and 12,000 cars will use it every day.

According to plans, revenue collected from the fees will repay the state-backed loans that were taken out to finance the construction, and Vincentsen estimates that this will take about four decades.

"Ultimately, users will pay," he says.

It is also hoped that the major investment will boost jobs, business and tourism in Lolland, which is one of Denmark's poorest regions. /Telegraph/