New bridge to link Denmark and Germany
The German and Danish governments have agreed to the construction of a bridge across the Fehmarn strait to connect the two nations After nearly six years of proposals and meetings, the governments of Germany and Denmark agreed Friday to make a bridge between the two countries over the Fehmarn Strait a reality, reports public broadcaster DR. But Denmark will be the only country putting money into the project - an estimated DKK 35 billion guaranteed by the state. Denmark wrote the bridge into its government programme in 2001 and finally persuaded Germany to do the same in November 2005. But the Germans' interest in the bridge has dwindled over the past year, and as late as March they indicated the only way the bridge would be built was if the Danes footed the bill. Flemming Hansen, the transport minister, called it 'a historic day' when the agreement was presented at a press conference in Berlin, while his German counterpart, Wolfgang Tiefensee, said the bridge was 'purely a Danish project'. Construction of the 19-kilometre bridge is set to begin in 2011 and is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The bridge will stretch from Puttgarden in Germany to Rødby on the island of Lolland. Hansen said the project would provide a long-awaited connection between Scandinavia and the European continent. 'I'm extremely proud that we succeeded in coming to an agreement on such a visionary international project,' he said. 'It's a huge victory for the Danish government. The decision shows how far we've come in the European co-operation that we have now literally built bridges to our neighbours.' The bridge's costs will reportedly be recovered through tolls, though no projections were given as to how long that repayment would take.

Now the agreement is signed... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7598090.stm It should be completed by 2018. This will be the end of the Roedby Puttgarden train ferry service which currently carries the ICE-D units between Hamburg and Copenhagen.

New bridge to link Denmark and Germany
Whether the Germans help pay or not, when they, or anyone else cross, - private and personal, they have to pay at a toll. How many tolls? How much at each one? Just another expense for Europeans to pay for. How many permenant jobs will this create? Who pays for the maintenance? It sounds like a big, expensive mistake to me. JMHO. Pierre Klee

I won't be happy to see the end of this train ferry service which I first experienced in the early 70's. I took the overnight train to Copenhagen which meant the train was split at Puttgarden and shunted onto parallel tracks on board the ferry. I managed a few winks of sleep after the train was reunited before arriving in Copenhagen before 7 am.