A stunning tunnel stretching 18km across the Baltic Sea is set to link Germany and Denmark and slash journey times between the two nations, making it one of the largest in Europe.
The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link is a major €7 billion (£5.9billion) project that will see the construction of an incredible underwater structure scheduled for completion by 2029.
It will consist of nearly 100 217-metre-long tunnel components weighing a staggering 73,500 tonnes each.
Construction teams are digging a vast ocean trench along the sea floor while the individual tunnel pieces are being built on land.
A tunnel portal connecting the motorway and a railway on land with the immersed tunnel is also being built on both sides of the Fehmarnbelt.
Work at sea started in June 2020, with builders using some 2 million tonnes of Norwegian granite to create an entirely new stretch of coastline.
Construction efforts on the German side of the tunnel began in 2021, but it has been in the pipeline for at least 15 years.
It is funded by a £5 billion loan from the Danish government, which will be repaid through tolls. The European Commission is contributing an additional 1 billion (£844 million) euros to the project.
The project was previously expected to cost 55.1 billion kroner (£4bn), including funding from an EU grant of €1.1bn (£933m) and €117 million (£99m) from associated railway facilities.
The vast structure will allow for the transportation of goods, including steel, by rail from as far north as the top of Norway to central and southern Europe.
It will also reduce train journey times between Copenhagen and Hamburg by 4.5 to 2.5 hours.
Speaking to Euronews Travel, Denise Juchem, spokesperson from Femern A/S, the Danish firm preparing the project, previously said: “For commuters, it means a faster and more reliable connection between Denmark and Germany, significantly reducing travel time and making daily commutes much more convenient.”
While the tunnel will be a major boost to drivers, the even faster travel times promised by the project's train transport element will hopefully encourage commuters to move from road to rail.
“This shift is expected to reduce CO2 emissions substantially, as rail transport is more efficient and less polluting than road transport,” Juchem told the outlet.
Michael Løvendal Kruse, a spokesperson for the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, said the organization sees the Fehmarnbelt link as “a very important project as far as the climate is concerned.”
The outlet reports that the team has also said the tunnel will reduce congestion on pre-existing road and rail routes and make it easier for tourists to visit and explore both countries.
The project is also expected to bring more European tourists through Denmark and into Sweden.