"A great confirmation of our expertise."

Bregenz/Fehmarn, 4 December 2024 - All good things come in threes: the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group (RSRG) has been commissioned by Deutsche Bahn (DB) as part of the innovative "rail partnership model" to provide the railway technology for the rail link to the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link. This is the third time that the Austrian-Swiss full-service provider of railway technology has been a partner in such a construction alliance. Previously, it had already been entrusted by DB with the construction of the ICE maintenance halls at the "New Cottbus Plant" and the northern extension of the Gäubahn near Stuttgart.

This time, the project involves the realisation of around 55 kilometres of new track and upgrading of the five southern construction sections for the future-proof rail link between Germany and Denmark, the Fehmarnbelt link. Specifically, RSRG is responsible for the superstructure and the construction of the slab track between Lübeck and Lensahn near Oldenburg in Holstein. Construction is scheduled to start at the end of 2025, with completion of the double-track and electrified line planned for 2029.

When selecting the project partners for the total of eight award packages, DB not only paid attention to the price, but above all to the expertise of the potential contractors. In this way, the client ensures that the individual key services are carried out by the companies with the most experience and the most convincing concept. Robert Kumpusch, Managing Director of the project business of the Bahntechnik Group, was correspondingly pleased: "It makes me proud that we were able to convince Deutsche Bahn once again. On the one hand, this is a great confirmation of our expertise in railway construction and equipping challenging railway lines as well as our work in Cottbus and on the Gäubahn. On the other hand, of course, it is also a mandate to continue to deliver our full performance and commitment."

The idea behind DB's alliance model is to bring together the key project partners as early as the planning phase in order to implement extensive and complex major projects quickly, to a high standard of quality, at optimum cost and on schedule. By being involved at an early stage, all companies involved should be able to focus their full performance and innovative capacity on the optimisation, rapid implementation and efficient operation of the construction project. Experience, also from other European countries, shows that this innovative model of cooperation optimises construction implementation in terms of quality, costs and deadlines.

The construction of a fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt and its road and rail connections - from Lübeck to Puttgarden on the island of Fehmarn and on through the 18-kilometre Fehmarnbelt Tunnel to Copenhagen - was sealed in September 2008 in a state treaty between the Kingdom of Denmark and the Federal Republic of Germany: Denmark is building the immersed tunnel through the Baltic Sea and the connection for rail and road on the Danish side. Germany has undertaken to provide an efficient road and rail link on the German side. Among other things, an approximately 88-kilometre-long railway line will be newly built, expanded and electrified. In future, traffic between the island of Fehmarn and the Schleswig-Holstein mainland can be routed through a new, modern 2.2 kilometre long immersed tunnel with two tracks for rail and four lanes for road. The Fehmarnsund Bridge will remain open to pedestrians, cyclists and slow-moving road traffic, for example agricultural traffic. In addition, around 47 kilometres of noise barriers, more than 80 new bridges and seven new traffic stations will be built along the route. The common goal of all the measures is to create the necessary capacity to manage the constantly growing traffic flows through Europe in an environmentally friendly manner in the long term.