By Ashley Karen
Femern A/S issued a tender for the construction task of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel railway. The contract is being released to tender with an envisioned total tender price of about DKK 1.5 billion.
Femern A/S is inviting tenders for the last of the major contracts, the construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel in Germany. It involves a 25 km railway section equipped with a catenary system, with a focus on climate-friendly solutions.
The TTC (Tunnel Track and Catenary) contract contains a 200 km/h dual-track railway, plus overhead contact lines, of which nearly 18 km are in the tunnel itself and almost 7 km beyond it on the German and Danish sides.
The tender starts with a pre-qualification, intending to acquire the best and most appropriate bidders on board and deliver ideal competition.
Femern A/S’ tender prerequisites are that the tenderer, in addition to a considerable annual turnover and solvency ratio, must have documented experience in carrying out similar tasks. Moreover, there are schedule expectations, fulfilment of CSR requirements and climate-friendly solutions.
Kirsten Christensen, Contract Director at Femern A/S, with responsibility for the railway installations, declared: “The railway is a contribution to the green transition of the transport sector, where freight and passenger traffic will have greatly improved opportunities for fast and direct travel. It is also important for us to have a construction and operational phase that is as climate neutral as possible. So, as with the other major contracts, we have a special focus on climate-friendly solutions in this tender too, including the technical solutions and choice of materials.”
Kirsten Christensen expressed that Femern A/S performed a market survey in 2022 to guarantee the best possible tender. This comprised the industry being consulted to acquire the latest knowledge on sustainable solutions. Simultaneously, it was a declaration to the market to gather and develop potential consortia for the task.
She pointed out: “Based on the information that was returned during the market survey, we’re anticipating that several well-known international players will bid for the contract. We look forward to completing the tender and finding the best possible partner for this key task in the overall project”.
Femern A/S predicts the pre-qualification to take place in summer. Then, the tender negotiations will be done until the end of 2024, once the contract is said to be granted. Nevertheless, the early work on the task is anticipated to begin in 2025.
Once the Fehmarnbelt tunnel is operational in 2029, it will be a green shortcut for freight and passenger transport to Europe, with a travel time of seven minutes. The tunnel will prevent the present detour of around 160 km.
The tender is available here.
