DENMARK: The European Investment Bank has signed a €200m state-guaranteed loan agreement with Femern Landanlaeg, the state-owned company which is managing Danish railway upgrading works associated with the Fehmarn Belt fixed link to northern Germany.
The loan will finance work to double-track, electrify, install ETCS and raise the line speed on the 80 km route between Ringsted and Nykøbing Falster, as well as bridge works on the 40 km between Nykøbing Falster and Rødby.
‘We all know that to reach the goals set by the Paris agreement, we need to cut our CO2 emissions’, said EIB Vice-President Alexander Stubb on May 24. ‘You can do this by cutting travel, business and tourism, but the better option is probably to provide alternative modes of transportation that do not hurt the environment as much. The EIB is the biggest financier of climate-relevant projects in the world, and we’re 100% behind the Fehmarn Belt railway link.’
Opening of the fixed link is planned for 2028. It is ‘a key project to bring Europeans closer’, said Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport. ‘The combination of a €123
5m grant from the Connecting Europe Facility with the EIB’s loan will allow decisive progress on the Danish access route, mobilising an overall investment of more than €500m in the EU economy.’
