The European TEN-T corridor is in focus.
In Sweden, politicians and the business community are calling for faster expansion, in Denmark there are calls for a comprehensive plan, and in Germany the expansion of the line between Puttgarden and Lübeck is gaining real momentum this year.
Ahead of the opening of the Fehmarn Belt fixed link, pressure is increasing to develop the important TEN-T corridor into a coherent and efficient rail network stretching from Northern Scandinavia to Sicily.
In particular, the Swedish rail network is today regarded as an obstacle to fully realising the benefits of the fixed link between Denmark and Germany.
Most recently, the chairman of the Regional Council of Region Skåne, Carl Johan Sonesson, who has been elected chairman of the Danish-Swedish cooperation organisation between regions and municipalities in southern Sweden and eastern Denmark, Greater Copenhagen, has highlighted the issue.
“We must put pressure on the Swedish government to ensure that important investments in rail infrastructure are included in the national plan to be adopted in the spring. This applies especially to the Lund–Hässleholm and Helsingborg–Maria lines. To a large extent, this is about preparing the region so that we can fully exploit the potential that the Fehmarn Belt fixed link will create,” says Carl Johan Sonesson.
Risk of losing competitiveness
Previously, the spokesperson for Region Jönköpings Län, Rachel De Basso, and the director of Femern Belt Development, Stig Rømer Winther, have pointed to the Swedish rail network as a significant bottleneck on the European TEN-T corridor from Northern Scandinavia to Sicily.
This was stated, among other occasions, in connection with the European rail conference “A New Railway for a New Europe” in Brussels.
“Without a coherent national network including key routes such as Stockholm–Linköping–Gothenburg–Borås, Jönköping–Borås, the four-track expansion in Skåne, the Vättern link, as well as Oslo–Gothenburg and Oslo–Stockholm, Sweden risks losing both its international competitiveness and national confidence in the rail system,” says Rachel De Basso.
Support for Swedish business
“Both Denmark and Germany are investing heavily in rail expansion, but Sweden is not keeping up the pace. There is a risk that Sweden – which once strongly pushed for the Fehmarn Belt fixed link – could now instead become a bottleneck,” says Stig Rømer Winther, director of Femern Belt Development.
He points out that several major Swedish logistics companies emphasise that the Fehmarn Belt fixed link opens up entirely new opportunities for increased trade between continental Europe and Scandinavia, but that the current Swedish rail network represents a bottleneck.
“I therefore encourage both Denmark and Germany to support the wishes of Swedish business for an expansion of the rail network,” says Stig Rømer Winther.
Call for a comprehensive Danish plan
The Confederation of Danish Industry (Dansk Industri) is also focusing on rail transport and the opportunities arising from the Fehmarn Belt fixed link.
Hakon Iversen, sector director at DI Transport and vice-chairman of Femern Belt Development, writes in an article on Dansk Industri’s website that there is a need for a comprehensive plan for the future of rail, and that public transport – including rail – is crucial to everyday life for many people and to the opportunities available to businesses.
“Rail also has a significant role to play in freight transport, especially in the future between Scandinavia and the continent, when the new Fehmarn Belt link opens up entirely new opportunities – and likewise as part of future military mobility. In the military field, rail already plays a strategic role among our allies both in Scandinavia and towards the south and southeast,” Hakon Iversen states in his article, which has also been published by Altinget.
Momentum in the expansion of the German rail line
In Germany, the 88-kilometre rail line through Ostholstein from the future Fehmarn Belt tunnel to Lübeck is being expanded to double track.
Construction work began in 2025 and will gain significant momentum in 2026.
The project is divided into eight sections. In addition to the rail line itself, new bridges will be built for intersecting road traffic, and noise barriers will be constructed along parts of the 88-kilometre route.
Planning of one of the largest individual elements on the route between Puttgarden and Lübeck, the combined road and rail tunnel under the Fehmarnsund, will also begin this year.