Germany and Denmark sign Fehmarn Bridge agreement

摘要

The Danish transport minister Ms Carina Christensen and her German counterpart Mr Wolfgang Tiefensee have signed a formal agreement to build a road and rail bridge across the 20km Fehmarn Belt between Rodby in Denmark and Puttgarden in Germany. The €5.4 billion link has received broad political support in both countries, and when it opens in 2018, will allow rail journey times between Copenhagen and Hamburg to be cut from 4h 34min to around three hours. The Danish government is providing €4.8 billion for the construction of the bridge and associated works on the Danish side. It intends to recoup this expenditure through road tolls. Germany will only have to fund its link to the bridge and will not receive any income from the bridge's operation. The road and rail infrastructure works proposed on the Danish side of the link are expected to cost around €4.3 billion. The project will see the electrification of the existing Ringsted - Rodby line, and a second track will be laid on the Vordingborg - Rodby section. However, the bridge across the Storstrams Belt will remain single track.