1997 MARKS MILESTONES FOR ORESUND LINK

This article reports progress on construction of the fixed road and rail link across the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Sweden. All aspects of construction work are proceeding well, so that there are good prospects of the link opening by the year 2000. Especially good progress has been made with the 18km long Danish landworks. This is because of the plans of Danish State Railways (DSB) to extend its regional and inter-city services to Kastrup Airport near Copenhagen in time for the June 1998 timetable. The section across the Oresund Strait leaves Denmark with a 3.7km immersed tube tunnel under the Drogden channel, to prevent any risk of bridge towers interfering with airport approaches. The tunnel surfaces on a 4km long artificial island in mid-channel. After that, the rail and road links climb onto a 7.8km long double-deck bridge, whose cable-stayed central section provides a 490m long span over the Flinterenden channel. The Swedish landworks start from the bridge's eastern abutment 7km south of Malmo. At the end of 1996, the Danish landworks were 66% complete, the coast-to-coast work was 15% complete, and the Swedish landworks were 11% complete. The remaining contracts for the coast-to-coast section will be awarded during 1997.