Vogelfluglinie

The Vogelfluglinie (German) or Fugleflugtslinien (Danish) is a transport corridor between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Hamburg, Germany.

Apart from the Danish and German name meaning bee line (literally: "bird flight line"), the corridor is also an important bird migration route between arctic Scandinavia and Central Europe.

Ferry link

The core of the connection is the convert|19|km|mi|lk=on|adj=on ferry link between Rødby (Denmark) and Puttgarden (Germany). The line is operated by the jointly Danish and German state-owned Scandlines. Ferries take 45 minutes and operate twice an hour, 24 hours a day. The ships act as car and train ferry simultaneously.

The projected Fehmarn Belt bridge will eventually replace the ferries. Danish-German negotiations on June 29, 2007 culminated in an agreement to complete the bridge by 2018, essentially on the basis of Danish funding.

Landside connections

The road connection consists of:
*European route E47 on the Danish side.
*Autobahn A1 (European routes E 47 and E22) on the German side, and the two-lane Bundesstraße 207/E 47 on the northernmost section. An additional convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on of motorway will be completed by 2008, still leaving the last convert|25|km|mi|abbr=on a two-lane road.

The rail connection consists of:
*convert|118|km|mi|abbr=on of double track from Copenhagen to Vordingborg; maximum speed 140 to 180 km/h (87 to 112 mph); electrified for convert|64|km|mi|abbr=on to Ringsted
*convert|65|km|mi|abbr=on of single track from Vordingborg to Rødby; maximum speed convert|120|km/h|mph|abbr=on
*convert|89|km|mi|abbr=on of single track from Puttgarden to Lübeck
*convert|64|km|mi|abbr=on of double track from Lübeck to Hamburg, with electrification underway

Passenger services between Copenhagen and Hamburg number three to five EuroCitys a day in each direction, operated with Siemens Venturio Class 605 trains of Deutsche Bahn and Danish IC3 trains. Since completion of the Great Belt Bridge freight trains are not directed via Rødby-Puttgarden any more, but via Funen and Jutland which is convert|160|km|mi|abbr=on longer. Same applies to the CityNightLine train between Copenhagen and Munich/Dortmund/Basel/Amsterdam.

These current bridges and tunnels are part of the connection:
*Masnedsund Bridge, Denmark (rail)
*Storstrøm Bridge, Denmark (rail)
*Frederick IX Bridge, Denmark (rail)
*Farø Bridges, Denmark (motorway)
*Guldborgsund Tunnel, Denmark (motorway extension opened in late 2007)
*Fehmarn Sound bridge, Germany (two-lane road and rail)

History

The connection was completed in 1963. Formerly traffic between Copenhagen and Hamburg would either be directed over the Great Belt ferry, Funen and Jutland or the Gedser-Warnemünde ferry. Proposals for a more direct "bird flight line" date back from the 1920s. Construction was started on the Danish side in 1941 after the Nazi occupation force pushed the matter, but work was halted again in 1946.

After World War II, Warnemünde ended up in East Germany and became inconvenient for traffic between Denmark and West Germany. Construction of the "bird flight line" was restarted in 1949. From 1951 to 1963 a ferry line from Gedser to Großenbrode operated as a temporary solution.

M/S "Prinsesse Benedikte", one of the ferries
IC3 train in Hamburg Central Station
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ICE-TD/type 605 is now used on the Vogelfluglinie
Storstrøm Bridge
Farø Bridges
Fehmarn Sound Bridge

See also

*Scandlines
*Fehmarn Belt bridge
*Gedser-Rostock bridge

External links

* [http://scandlines.dk/DKFront/Front_COM Scandlines]