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€114m consultancy contract awarded for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel

Posted: 23 March 2017 | | No comments yet

The tender for client consultancy on the upcoming Fehmarnbelt fixed link between Denmark and Germany has been awarded to a consortium. The 18km combined road and rail link will be the longest immersed tunnel in the world.

The tender for client consultancy on the upcoming Fehmarnbelt fixed link between Denmark and Germany has been awarded to a consortium. The 18km combined road and rail link will be the longest immersed tunnel in the world.

The Ramboll-Arup-TEC consortium is to continue as the principal consultant for Femern A/S who is responsible for designing and planning the fixed link between Denmark and Germany. The consortium has collaborated on the design of the immersed tunnel since April 2009 and has now won the bid for client consultancy.

The Fehmarnbelt tunnel will be one the largest construction projects in Danish history with an overall contract period of 15 years and an estimated value of €114 million.

With more than 30,000 employees between them, the Ramboll-led joint venture is one of the leading tunnelling consultants in the world, and their track record includes landmark infrastructure projects such as the Øresund Tunnel, Malmö’s City Tunnel, the Medway Tunnel, as well as underground systems in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Henrik Christensen, Technical Director of Femern A/S, said: “We have received a good and qualified offer from the Ramboll-Arup-TEC consortium. Choosing [them] for this project provides us with highly qualified client consultancy, especially when the construction project starts in earnest after the German regulatory approval.”

Søren Brøndum, Executive Director of Transport in Ramboll Denmark and Chairman of the consortium, said: “The project is technically challenging and complex, which goes well with our comprehensive specialist expertise at Ramboll. At the same time, we already have thorough knowledge of the project from the design phase.”

Facts about the Fehmarn fixed link

The total length of the tunnel is 18.1km from tunnel mouth to tunnel mouth. This is approximately five times the length of the Øresund Tunnel and three times the length of the Transbay Tube in San Francisco, which is currently the longest immersed tunnel in the world. Motorists will be able to drive at speeds of 110km/h in the tunnel and the journey will take around 10 minutes. For train passengers, the journey will last only seven minutes from coast-to-coast.