Bornholm Tunnel

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The Bornholm Tunnel (Danish : Bornholmtunnelen, Swedish : Bornholmstunneln) is a proposed railway tunnel which would be built between the island of Bornholm, belonging to Denmark, and Scania in Sweden. The tunnel would provide a fixed link to the island, both using direct trains running from Copenhagen and with a motorail service to transport automobiles. The tunnel would be 40 kilometers (25 mi) long and provide a one-hour transit time for cars, including loading and unloading, and a two-hour service by rail to Copenhagen via the Ystad Line and the Øresund Line. The latter could be further reduced with construction of high-speed rail in southern Scania. [1]

Contents

Present traffic

Today the island is served by ferries operated by Bornholmslinjen from Rønne, the main town on the island, to Ystad in Sweden, Køge in Denmark and Sassnitz in Germany. Travel time from Ystad to Rønne is two and a half hours with conventional ferries and one hour twenty minutes with fast ferries, with three to eight daily sailings combined. From Rønne to Køge takes five and a half hours and has a single daily sailing, while from Rønne to Sassnitz is seasonal and offered three to ten times per week and takes three and a half hours. [2] Train connections between Copenhagen Central Station to Ystad Station are available using local train services with a transfer in Malmö. DSB sells tickets to this connection. Between 2000 and 2017 direct train services branded as Intercity Bornholm were available between Copenhagen and Ystad. [3] Danish Air Transport operates flights from Bornholm Airport to Copenhagen Airport. [4]

Cost

Costs for running the ferry service are DKK 400 million per year, of which DKK 150 million are subsidies. If the same user payment and subsidies was used to finance the tunnel, with a running time of 30 years, it would allow investments for DKK 10 billion. Estimates for the cost of the tunnel vary from DKK 5 to 50 billion. [5]

Politics

The Danish organization Foreningen Bornholmtunnel and the Swedish organization Föreningen Stöd Bornholmstunneln collaborate to raise awareness about the importance of a tunnel between Bornholm and Scania. [6] The Bornholm province decided in April 2013 not to pay for a detailed investigation [7]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rønne</span> Town in Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danske Færger</span> Danish ferry company

Danske Færger, styled as Færgen was a Danish ferry company. It was created on 1 October 2011 through the merger of Bornholmstrafikken and Scandlines' internal Danish activities. The company was a 50/50 partnership between the Danish state and Clipper Group. The company was first formed in April 2008 as Nordic Ferry Services. In 2018 Danske Færger was sold to Molslinjen.

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References

  1. "København på under 2 timer" (in Danish). Bornholmtunnelen. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  2. "Sejlplan 2018" (in Danish). BornholmerFærgen . Retrieved 25 November 2017.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. "Stop med kørsel af IC Bornholm pr. 10. december 2017". www.dsb.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  4. "Destinations" (in Danish). Bornholm Airport . Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  5. "Minister kalder tunnel spændende" (in Danish). Bornholmtunnelen. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  6. "Svensk opbakning til tunnel" (in Danish). TV 2/Bornholm. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  7. Politisk nej til tunnel-undersøgelse

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