Bird airline

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The route of the Vogelfluglinie from Hamburg via Lübeck, Fehmarn, Lolland and Falster to Zealand
Satellite image with the 19 km long ferry connection of the Vogelfluglinie

The Vogelfluglinie (Danish: Fugleflugtslinjen ) is the direct rail and road connection between the greater Copenhagen and Hamburg areas , which runs over the islands of Fehmarn , Lolland , Falster and Zealand and only includes a 19 km ferry connection across the Fehmarnbelt between Puttgarden and Rødbyhavn . One hundred years after the first concrete plans, the Vogelfluglinie was founded in 1963 by the Danish King Frederik IX. and the German Federal President Heinrich Lübke opened by inaugurating the Fehmarnsund Bridge . Its name is derived from the parallel flight route of the cranes and other arctic water birds between Central Europe and Scandinavia .

On December 14, 2019, the railway ferry connection on the Vogelfluglinie was closed due to track work on the Danish side in the course of the construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel ; instead, all long-distance trains between Hamburg and Copenhagen now run on the Jutland line , i.e. the Flensburg – Kolding – Odense route and the Great Belt crossing .

history

"Vogelfluglinie" as a connection between København and Hamburg

On June 4, 1863, the Royal Danish master builder Gustav Kröhnke presented the Danish government for the first time with mature plans for the shortest connection between Copenhagen and Hamburg , roughly following the line that migratory birds take on their flight to the south and back (“Vogelflug- Line"). On behalf of the Danish King Christian IX. In 1864 he developed a direct route between Copenhagen and the free cities of Lübeck and Hamburg via the territories of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein , which were then ruled by the Danish king in personal union. For this purpose, the road and rail routes on the Danish islands of Zealand , Falster and Lolland were to be expanded, a ferry connection to the Schleswig island of Fehmarn was to be created, which crosses Fehmarnsund with a dam and a connecting route to the Holstein mainland via the cities of Neustadt in Holstein and Lübeck Hamburg to be built.

The German-Danish War ended the rule of the Danish crown in Schleswig and Holstein in 1864 and moved the border of their sphere of influence from the mainland back to the Baltic Sea. This ended the further pursuit of the large Danish project.

Vogelfluglinie (red) and Inselbahn KOE (light blue)

On the German mainland, the construction of the new line from Hamburg to Lübeck , which had begun in 1863 and had been rejected by the Danish government, was quickly completed by the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn (LBE) in 1865. In 1866 the Altona-Kieler Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (AKE) completed a connection between Eutin and Neustadt with its Ostholsteinische Bahn.

The new line of the Eutin-Lübecker Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (ELE) from Lübeck to Eutin, which was opened in 1873, connected both lines, so that within a decade a continuous connection from Hamburg to the Baltic Sea port of Neustadt was created via the complementary lines of three railway companies. This was expanded in 1881 by the route from Neustadt to Oldenburg of the Oldenburger Eisenbahn (KOE) district. After that, however, railroad construction stagnated in the thicket of federal interests. In 1887 the AKE was sold to the Prussian State Railways. In 1889 a continuation came about to Lütjenbrode and Heiligenhafen.

On the Danish islands of Zealand, Falster and Lolland, a railway network with a connection to Copenhagen was installed with comparable speed; with Nykøbing (1872), Nakskov (1874) and Rødby (1874) these new lines extended all the way to the Baltic Sea.

Since Denmark already had a mail steamer connection to Warnemünde from Gedser, its new railway network was quickly expanded from Nykøbing to Gedser (1886) and a ferry station was built there. The entire network belonged to the Danish State Railways (DSB) from 1893 and the railway ferry service to the German Empire was started in 1903 via Warnemünde instead of Fehmarn with steam ferries. The Kingdom of Denmark had contractually agreed the implementation of this project with the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg in 1900.

Fehmarnsund Bridge, view from Fehmarn to the mainland

In 1912, the Caesar und Krebs engineering firm presented an initial plan for a railway bridge across the Fehmarnsund.

By the State Treaty of 1920, the Prussian State Railways were taken over by the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen . In 1928 a direct connection to Lübeck via Schwartau was established from Neustadt train station. The other private railway companies had also built smaller sections in Holstein up to that point. They were all incorporated into the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) between 1938 and 1941 .

Since a fixed crossing of the sound ( Storstrømsbroen ) for road and rail traffic between the islands of Zealand and Falster was built in Denmark from 1933 to 1937 , the direct connection from Hamburg to Scandinavia gained great strategic military importance during the Third Reich. The first plans for a "Vogelfluglinie" (Fehmarnsund Bridge and ferry connection to Denmark) were ready for construction after the German occupation of Denmark in 1940 by the architect Heinrich Bartmann on behalf of Hamburg Gauleiter Kaufmann . In contrast to the old plan from 1912, a Fehmarnsund bridge should now connect not only the railroad but also a four-lane Reichsautobahn RAB 90 to Copenhagen. Even then, Bartmann suggested building a bridge over the Fehmarnbelt . In September 1941, the Todt organization started embankment work and the construction of a small motorway bridge on Fehmarnsund. But they had to be discontinued in 1943 due to the war . Ferry traffic between the German Empire and Denmark continued through the ports of Warnemünde and Gedser until the end of the war .

After the end of the war, ferry traffic from Gedser to Warnemünde was resumed by the DSB in 1947.

The immediate forerunner of the Puttgarden – Rødby ferry connection was the connection via the Großenbrode – Gedser railway ferry from 1951 to 1963, from the beginning with the old Danish steam ferries Danmark and Prins Christian , and from 1953 also with the new ferry Germany of the Deutsche Bundesbahn .

  • Danish steam ferry Danmark
    1951–1963

  • Danish steam ferry
    Prins Christian
    1951–1954

  • German ferry
    Germany
    1953–1963

  • Danish ferry
    Dronning Ingrid
    1954–1963

  • Danish ferry ship
    Kong Frederik IX
    1954–1963

  • German ferry
    Theodor Heuss
    1957–1997
    model in the DB Museum in Nuremberg

German postage stamp for the inauguration of the Vogelfluglinie

At the beginning of 1958, the plans from 1941 were taken up again and the construction of the Fehmarnsund Bridge as well as the port and track systems in Puttgarden and Rødbyhavn began . The inauguration of the Fehmarnsund Bridge and the ferry connection across the Fehmarnbelt took place on May 14, 1963 in the presence of the Federal President Heinrich Lübke and the Danish King Frederik IX. instead of. It took a century from the first plan in 1863 to the inauguration in 1963, and during this time the importance of the railroad for freight transport had shifted to trucks. The Vogelfluglinie in its current form enables a direct rail and motorway connection between the two major cities of Copenhagen and Hamburg. Only the connection between Heiligenhafen-Ost and Fehmarn has remained a federal road to this day; As part of the expansion of the hinterland connection to the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link , an extension to the federal motorway is planned .

Since then, many important long-distance trains such as the Nord-Express (Copenhagen – Paris) and the Italia-Express (Copenhagen – Rome) have operated on the Vogelfluglinie . There was also a brisk freight train traffic. In 1994, for example, 190,757 freight wagons were hauled . The four half-hourly ferries carried 0.28 million trucks, 1.6 million cars and 6.4 million passengers in 2003, and in 2010 even 0.35 million trucks, 1.6 million cars and 6.2 million Passengers. Four times more is transported on the Vogelfluglinie than on the Gedser – Warnemünde ferry route. However, the trajectory of freight and passenger wagons was discontinued when the changeover to double-ended ferries occurred in 1997 and since then only diesel multiple units ( ICE-TD , IC3 ) have been transported over the ferry route, this also ended in December 2019. There have been none since December 15, 2019 Transport of rail vehicles more by ferry.

Ferry ships on the Fehmarnbelt

Puttgarden ferry station, at the piers are the DSB's Kong Frederik IX and the DB's Theodor Heuss , July 1981

The ferries Deutschland , Theodor Heuss and Kong Frederik IX started ferry operations in 1963 with a total of 18 double trips a day. Since the three ferries were not sufficient due to the continuous increase in passenger and freight volumes, the fleet was expanded and modernized accordingly. The maximum load was reached in the 1990s while the summer ferry schedules were valid, when six ferries served the line every 30 minutes with a total of 48 double trips (i.e. a total of 96 belt crossings) daily.

The average travel time has been reduced from 60 to 45 minutes since 1997 with the introduction of the new ferries. The shorter journey time results from the fact that the ships had to turn once on the voyage from Denmark to Germany after leaving Rødbyhavn and before entering Puttgarden. The new ferries are double-ended ferries that cross the Fehmarnbelt in both directions without turning. The double-ended ferries only have one railroad track; earlier ferries had three tracks.

Loading and unloading

Ferry in Puttgarden, above: access for cars, below: access for trains and trucks, 2005
Two class 218 locomotives pull an intercity train off board the ferry Germany

For loading and unloading, trucks and trains use the lowest deck, lighter cars and caravans the decks above. There are several ramps and road lanes in the ports so that all decks can be fully loaded and unloaded within 15 minutes.

Until 1993, the trains were loaded by uncoupling the locomotive in the port and pushing the wagons onto the ferry by another locomotive . In the port of destination, another locomotive pulled the wagons from the deck of the ship to continue their journey. With the introduction of the diesel-electric IC3 trains , shunting was no longer necessary. The same procedure had already been practiced in the late 1950s and 1960s with the VT-12.5 multiple units used by the Deutsche Bundesbahn at the time . The Danish IC3 trains served all Eurocity traffic between Copenhagen and Hamburg until the timetable change on December 15, 2019. The ICE-TD multiple units of Deutsche Bahn used after the timetable change in 2007 have not been in operation since October 2017. After the rail project on the Vogelfluglinie was discontinued in December 2019, all long-distance trains between the metropolises of Hamburg and Copenhagen will be routed via the Jutland line , i.e. the Flensburg-Kolding-Odense route and the Great Belt crossing .

Accidents and accidents

Most accidents resulted from strong winds or were caused by particularly strong and sudden currents:

  • On July 4, 1965, the ferry Germany collided with the coaster Denia , which entered the port of Rødbyhavn at the same time.
  • On March 14, 1969, after 22 hours of severe hurricane in the Fehmarnbelt, the ferry Theodor Heuss rammed the Puttgardener Ostmole without injuries while attempting to enter.
  • On July 23, 1969, the ferry Germany collided in thick fog with the east pier in Puttgarden. There were numerous injuries.
  • On March 14, 1991 at 4 o'clock in the thick fog off Rødbyhavn, the ferry Dronning Margrethe II was rammed amidships by the Finnish freighter Bore Brittanica . The ferry was aground and could not be towed until two weeks later. The cargo was heavily damaged and an employee of the DSB had a fatal accident.
  • On October 11, 1997, the Schleswig-Holstein ferry rammed the Puttgardener Ostmole twice. The hull tilted when docking in the Flender shipyard in Lübeck.
  • In December 1997, the Schleswig-Holstein ferry ran aground in Rødbyhavn.
  • On June 19, 2001 at 1 p.m. the ferry Prins Richard crashed into the Puttgarden east pier. The boundary of the port was destroyed and the ship had to be towed free by two tugs.
  • On August 24, 2009 at 4 a.m., the ferry Schleswig-Holstein crossed the American sailing yacht Mahdi shortly after leaving Puttgarden .

History of the ferry ships

The following ferries have been in service since the start of operations in 1963:

On the German side, the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) brought in its own ferries procured for this purpose, left them in 1993 to the legal successor Deutsche Fährgesellschaft Ostsee (DFO), created jointly with the DR, and in 1998 handed them over to the operating company Scandlines , which was spun off from the Danish State Railways , and which forms the subunit ScandLines Germany form:

  • Germany , built in 1953 , initially connected Großenbrode with Gedser and was in service on the Vogelfluglinie from 1963 to 1972; In 1972 she was sold to Greece and broken up in 1979.
  • The Theodor Heuss , built in 1957, was in use here from 1963 to 1997, took over the task of ferrying dangerous goods from 1981 and was scrapped in 1997.
  • Germany , built in 1972, was in use until 1997 and was scrapped in 1999.
  • Karl Carstens followed in 1986 , was in use until 1997, after which it was converted into the Helix Producer oil platform ship
  • In 1997, the double-ended ferries took over Germany and Schleswig-Holstein
  • Since 2017, the former Danish intercity ferry Kronprins has been providing regular support to Frederik on the busiest days with trucks on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and, if necessary, on other days on this route.

  • German ferry
    Germany (II)
    1963–1972

  • German ferry
    Theodor Heuss
    1963–1997

  • German ferry
    Germany (III)
    1972–1997

  • German ferry
    Karl Carstens
    1986-1997

  • German ferry
    Germany (IV)
    from 1997

  • German ferry
    Schleswig-Holstein
    from 1997

On the Danish side, the Danish State Railways (DSB) initially operated the ferry line itself with its own ferries, but outsourced the operating company and thus founded Scandlines as legal successor and manages these ferries as ScandLines Danmark :

  • The Kong Frederik IX , built in 1954 , initially drove between Großenbrode and Gedser, was used on the Vogelfluglinie from 1963 to 1968 and was scrapped in 2005.
  • The Prinsesse Benedigte , built in 1959, took over amplifier drives in the summer until 1987 and was scrapped in 2001.
  • The new building from 1961 Knudshoved was in use with interruptions from 1964 to 1997 and was scrapped in 1998.
  • The Danmark , newly built in 1968, was in use until 1997 and was scrapped in 2000.
  • In 1973 the new Dronning Margrethe II came into use from 1982 to 1997, which was scrapped in 2005.
  • Prins Henrik from 1974, was in use from 1981 to 1997, was sold to Italy in 1999 and scrapped in 2007.
  • Holger Danske , built in 1976, started sailing as a dangerous goods ferry in 1999.
  • Lodbrog from 1982, was in use from 1987 to 1999, from 2000 it was sold to Great Britain as a cable laying company.
  • Prins Richard and Prinsesse Benedektiven followed in 1997 as double-ended ferries

  • Danish ferry ship
    Kong Frederik IX
    1963–1968

  • Danish ferry
    Danmark
    1981–1997

  • Danish ferry
    Dronning Margrethe II
    1982–1997

  • Danish ferry
    Prins Henrik
    1981–1997

  • Danish ferry
    Lodbrog
    1987–1997

  • Danish dangerous goods ferry
    Holger Danske
    since 1999

  • Prins Richard (DK, 1997)

  • Prinsesse Benedigte
    (DK, 1997)

  • Kronprins Frederik
    (from 2017)

Operating companies

Initially, the ferries belonged to the national railway companies, but in the 1990s, outsourcing and privatization efforts resulted in constantly changing operator and ownership relationships.

  • 1963: The shipping companies of the state railway companies Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) and Danske Statsbaner (DSB) cooperate with their own ferries
  • April 1, 1993: The DB and DR shipping company shares were spun off into a Deutsche Fährgesellschaft Ostsee mbH (DFO), the owners remained DB and DR
  • January 1, 1994: Merger of the two German state railways Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) and Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) to form Deutsche Bahn AG
  • 1995: Spin-off of the DSB-Reederei shares into a DSB Rederi A / S , owner remains the Kingdom of Denmark, represented by its Ministry of Transport
  • 1997: Renaming of DSB Rederi A / S to Scandlines A / S
  • July 21, 1998: DFO and Scandlines A / S merge to form Scandlines AG , the owners are DB AG and the Danish Ministry of Transport in equal shares
  • August 30, 2007: the state owners sell their shares to the British 3i Group (40%), the German Allianz Capital Partners GmbH (40%) and the Deutsche Seereederei GmbH (DSR) (20%)
  • November 6, 2008: Conversion of Scandlines AG to Scandlines GmbH (seat in Rostock), consisting of 50% Scandlines Deutschland GmbH (seat in Rostock) and 50% Scandlines Danmark A / S (seat in Copenhagen)
  • 29 August 2010: DSR sold their shares, owners are in equal proportions, the British 3i Group and the German Allianz Capital Partners GmbH , which Scandferries Holding GmbH and Scandferries GmbH the Scandlines GmbH hold.
  • In December 2013, 3i acquired Allianz's stake and 3i is now the sole owner of Scandlines.

Road and rail lines

Railway lines

VT 12 as the Copenhagen Express when leaving the ferry Theodor Heuss at the Großenbrode Kai, 1959
EuroCity exiting the ferry
German ICE-TD in double-ended ferry

From Copenhagen the route goes over the electrified double-track railway line København – Ringsted (part of the "Vestbanen") and from Ringsted on the non-electrified double-track railway line Ringsted – Rødby Færge ("Sydbanen") to Vordingborg . A single-track route leads over the small Masnedsundbro and Storstrømsbro near Masnedø to the island of Falster , where in Nykøbing / F the railway traffic to Gedser and Rødbyhavn used to be divided. To the ferry terminal Rødby Færge the railroad crosses over the Kong Frederik d. IX's Bro den Guldborgsund on the island of Lolland .

From the Puttgarden ferry port on Fehmarn , the non-electrified, single-track railway line Puttgarden – Lübeck is used over the Fehmarnsund Bridge. Between Bad Schwartau and Lübeck it joins the twin-track Lübeck – Lübeck-Travemünde Strand railway line, electrified since 2008, at the Schwartau Wr junction , which merges south of Lübeck into the Lübeck – Hamburg railway line, which is also electrified .

Steam locomotives operated in both countries in the 1950s . For the Copenhagen Express between Hamburg and Copenhagen via Großenbrode Kai, fast class VT 12 diesel multiple units were used for the first time from 1953 .

From 1963, diesel locomotives of the DB class V 200.1 , which were successively replaced from 1978 by locomotives of the DB class 218 , ran on German long-distance traffic north of Hamburg. After German reunification, diesel locomotives of the 232 and 234 series were also used here . In Denmark, DSB initially used locomotives of the MY series for long-distance travel , and later diesel locomotives of the MZ series .

From 1993 to 2007, Danish IC3 railcars took over all EuroCity travel between Hamburg and Copenhagen. Between the end of 2007 and October 2017, Deutsche Bahn once again participated in EuroCity travel with the ICE-TD, which was reactivated after it was previously out of service .

The four new double-ended ferries on the Vogelfluglinie (built in 1997) were significantly smaller than the earlier ferries. Compared to the 1990s, ferry passage costs for travel have more than doubled. Rail traffic on the Vogelfluglinie between Hamburg and Copenhagen, which was discontinued in December 2019, was limited to short Intercity Express trains from DB and EuroCity trains from DSB. The railway tracks in Puttgarden and Rødbyhavn for freight traffic are idle.

International sleeper trains hauled by locomotives between Denmark and Germany ran from 1997 to December 2014 only on the longer Jutland line , which was not dependent on ferries .

On December 14, 2019 at 8:02 p.m., the last train from DSB and Deutsche Bahn landed in Rødbyhavn, ending the award for Danish Rail Ferries. The trains between Hamburg and Copenhagen run to the Fehmarnbelt connection via Funen and Jutland.

Road links

Road links in Denmark in 1960
Course of the Vogelfluglinie 2011

With the construction of the railway network in Denmark, a railway bridge was also built in Nykøbing in 1875 to connect the islands of Falster and Lolland across Guldborgsund. For road traffic, the "Christian IX Bro" had existed in parallel since 1867. Both of them were replaced by the new Frederik IX Bro in 1963 .

In the course of increasing automobilization, the Guldborgsund Bridge near Guldborg (1934) and the Storstrømsbroen near Vordingborg (1937) were built for long-distance traffic . The islands of Zealand, Falster and Lolland were connected to Copenhagen by trunk roads.

  • Guldborgsund Broen (built in 1934) between Lolland and Falster

  • Storstrømsbroen (built in 1937) and Masnedsundbroen between Falster and Zealand

  • Frederik IX Broen (built 1963) between Lolland and Falster

  • Farø Broen (built 1985) between Falster and Zealand

In the Third Reich, the expansion of the Reichsautobahn RAB 1 from Hamburg to Lübeck (1938) was pushed ahead. In the autobahn plans of 1933, no autobahns north of Lübeck were originally planned. The existence of these bridges in Denmark aroused great interest during the Third Reich, and so after the German occupation of Denmark in 1940, construction began on the first motorway from Rødby via Maribo and Sakskøbing to the Guldborgsund Bridge. On the island of Lolland there are still numerous road bridges from that time that cross this motorway.

  • Bridge over the E47 east of Rødby, built 1941–1944

  • E47 viaduct east of Rødby

  • Bridge over the E47 south of Maribo, geb. 1941–1944 with German granite stone facing

  • E47 viaduct for Lollandsbanen north of Maribo

This first expressway, the E47, was only completed when the Fehmarnsund Bridge was inaugurated in 1963. After that, a motorway network was built in Denmark in the Copenhagen region and in Germany the connection to Puttgarden was opened up with federal highways. By 1985, the existing highways on Zealand were upgraded to the E47 / E55 ("Sydmotorvejen") and in Holstein those up to Oldenburg to the BAB 1 motorway .

When the Farø bridges were inaugurated in 1985 and the Guldborgsund tunnel in 1988 , the E47 motorway took a significantly more favorable route across the three Danish islands for the first time. Most recently, missing lines between Ønslev and Sakskøbing and to Heiligenhafen had been upgraded to four lanes until 2008. Danish motorways do not always have a hard shoulder and are then comparable to motorways in other countries.

Alternative routes

Jutland traffic

The route between Hamburg and Copenhagen is 160 km longer via the Jutland line than via the Vogelfluglinie. Since the completion of the Storebælt Bridge between the Danish islands of Funen and Zealand in 1997, all international freight trains and sleeping car trains have been traveling this longer route via Flensburg . The travel times on both routes are comparable, as the time-consuming ferry passage is not necessary on the longer route. The Jutland line has also been available to road traffic since 1998. Use of the 18 km long crossing is subject to a toll and costs around 50% of the ship's passage on the Vogelfluglinie.

Rostock-Warnemünde - Gedser

Since the end of 1995, no rail cars have been transported on the Gedser – Warnemünde sea route. The Gedser – Nykøbing railway connection , formerly the key link to Germany in 1903, was discontinued in 2009 and all track systems in the Danish Gedser railway station were dismantled from 2011 onwards.

Branch line Gedser - Lübeck and their ferries

In 1963, when the relocation of the West German ferry business to Rødbyhavn made many systems useless, the Danish company Moltzau Line A / S , Gedser, was founded in Gedser. It was limited to the ferry transport of road vehicles between Gedser and Lübeck-Travemünde. Due to the considerably longer sea route, this did not represent any serious competition for the state connection Rødbyhavn – Puttgarden.

In 1973 the company was sold to the Swedish shipping company AB Nordö , which was renamed Gedser-Travemünde Ruten A / S in 1975 and GT lines in 1986 .

In 1987 the Swedish shipping company AB Sea-Link bought the company and renamed it GT-Link .

From 1990, Gedser no longer served Lübeck-Travemünde under the name of Europa-Linien , but rather Rostock . In 1996 the car ferry line was sold to the competitor DSB Rederi A / S on the Gedser – Warnemünde route . The Danish DSB Rederi A / S had lost transport volume in September 1995 because the international rail traffic via Gedser had ceased.

The following ferries drove on this "branch route" of the Vogelfluglinie:

  • Gedser (I) (built in 1963, IMO 5404407), in service until 1968, renamed Falster in 1968, sold in 1968, scrapped in 2002
  • Travemünde (I) (built in 1964, IMO 6411225), in use until 1969, sold in 1969, probably scrapped in 2011
  • Gedser (II) (year of construction 1968, IMO 6803246), in use until 1975, sold in 1976, scrapped in 2007 in Alang (India)
  • Vikingfjord (built in 1969, IMO 6922341), in use 10/1970, scrapped in 2007 in Alang (India)
  • Travemünde (II) (year of construction 1971, IMO 7104441), in use until 1981, sold in 1981, today NOOR
  • Falster (year of construction 1975, IMO 7382940), in use 1975, 1981 sale, scrapped 2004 in Aliage (Turkey)
  • Gedser (III) (built in 1976, IMO 7500451), in use until 1986, sold in 1986, today Larkspur
  • Travemünde (III) (built in 1981, IMO 8000226), in use until 1988, renamed Travemünde Link in 1987, sold in 1988, today Wasa Express
  • Gedser (IV) (built in 1976, IMO 7358743), in use 1986 to 1989, renamed to Gedser Link in 1987, sold in1989, scrapped in 2010 in Alang (India)
  • Falster Link (built in 1969, IMO 6910453), in use 1987 to 1998, 1998 sale, scrapped 2006 in Alang (India)
  • European Gateway (built in 1975, IMO 7400261), later Travemünde Link in use from 1988 to 1999, sold in 1999, later Penelope and scrapped on July 16, 2013 as "Lopi"
  • Europa Link (built in 1966, IMO 6601997), in use from 1990 to 1996, renamed Al Salam 93 in 1993 , scrapped in 2004

  • St Clair ferry
    formerly Travemünde (II)
    1971–1981

  • Ferry Larkspur
    Former Gedser (III)
    1976-1986

  • Ferry ship Travemünde (III)
    1981–1988
    today ferry ship Wasa Express

  • Gedser ferry (IV)
    1986–1989

  • Falster Link ferry
    1987-1998

  • Penelope ferry
    formerly Travemünde Link
    1988–1999. built in 1975 as a European Gateway

outlook

To speed up traffic with Denmark, the Vogelfluglinie was favored over the Jutland line instead of a fixed Rostock-Gedser crossing . It was planned to set up a fixed Fehmarnbelt link by 2021. For a long time it remained uncertain whether this would be a bridge or a tunnel. On September 3, 2008, the state treaty between Germany and Denmark necessary for the project was concluded. The Danish operator Femern A / S will be the client and operator of the Fehmarnbelt link . The construction costs of around 5.5 billion euros (2008) are to be refinanced through tolls in the amount of today's ship passage costs. Femern A / S rejected the offer of a Chinese stake in October 2012 .

After completion, Deutsche Bahn anticipates an increase in traffic to 118 trains and 17,700 vehicles per day and, based on the results of a static recalculation with current load assumptions, calls for the Fehmarnsund Bridge to be upgraded. The Fehmarnsund Bridge is sufficiently dimensioned and safe for the current volume of traffic on the Vogelfluglinie. Several variants are being discussed for the increase in traffic after the opening of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link. In October 2014, Federal Transport Minister Dobrindt and State Transport Minister Meyer agreed to take a closer look at other options in addition to the construction of two bridges.

The rail ferry service on the Vogelfluglinie was discontinued on December 14, 2019. A resumption is not planned until the Fehmarnbelt fixed link goes into operation (at the earliest in 2028). The Eurocity from Hamburg to Copenhagen runs on a different route via Padborg and does not stop in Schleswig-Holstein.

Worth knowing

The Vogelfluglinie is sometimes also a setting in literature and film. These include the film Migratory Birds ... Once After Inari (1997) and the crime scene episode Kressin stops the Nordexpress (1971). The novels whose setting is (also) set here include Rødby-Puttgarden by Helle Helle , Dietrich Petersen : Todesbelt , Larissa Bendel : Puttgarden Mitte See or Tilmann Schott-Mehrings : Jenseits vom Øresund .

See also

literature

  • Deutsche Bundesbahn (Ed.): Bridge to the North. The book from Vogelfluglinie . Athenaeum publishing house, Frankfurt 1963.
  • Friedhelm Ernst: The Vogelfluglinie . In: Eisenbahn-Kurier Spezial . No. 53 . EK-Verlag, Freiburg.
  • Günther Meier: The Vogelfluglinie and its ships . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1988, ISBN 3-7822-0441-7 .
  • Günther Meier: Across the sea to the north. 40 years of the Vogelfluglinie . In: Lok Magazin . No. 260 , 2003, ISSN  0458-1822 , p. 90-95 .
  • Carsten Watsack: A Way North - History of the Vogelfluglinie . In: ModellWerft . No. 6/1992 . Verlag für Technik und Handwerk neue Medien GmbH, 1992, ISSN  0170-1819 .
  • Carsten Watsack: Puttgarden – Rødby. The history of the Vogelfluglinie (=  Edition Ostseeland ). Books on Demand , Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-8311-0357-7 .
  • Rüdiger Block: The short way to the north. 50 years of the Vogelfluglinie . In: railway magazine . No. 1/2013 . Alba publication, January 2013, ISSN  0342-1902 , p. 22-25 .
  • Carsten Watsack: The history of the Vogelfluglinie Puttgarden-Rödby . EK-Verlag , Freiburg 2013, ISBN 3-935944-04-7 .
  • Winfried Dolderer: Artery in the European organism. In: Broadcast series calendar sheet. Deutschlandfunk, May 14, 2013, accessed on May 14, 2013 (manuscript of the radio broadcast for the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Vogelfluglinie over Puttgarden on May 14, 2013, 9:05 a.m.).
  • 50 years of the Vogelfluglinie to Fehmarn . In: Daily port report , May 2, 2013, p. 19.
  • Lars-Kristian Brandt: 50 years of the Vogelfluglinie . L.-K. Brandt, Rotenburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-9815376-6-6 .

Web links

Commons : Fehmarnsundbrücke  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Lübeck-Puttgarden railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Railway stops traffic across the Fehmarnbelt , on kn-online, from March 5, 2019. Accessed December 15, 2019.
  2. ^ First bridge plan from 1912, published in "Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau" in May 1963
  3. ^ Second bridge plan from January 1941. Compared to RAB plans from 1939, a RAB 90 Lübeck-Puttgarden appears for the first time in 1940 as an extension of RAB 1 Hamburg-Lübeck.
  4. ^ Sketch of all Reichsautobahn as of May 1, 1941 ( see article from October 9, 2011 )
  5. ^ First groundbreaking ceremony September 14, 1941 Youtube - original film recordings (from 0:48 min)
  6. ↑ Building relics from 1941–1943
  7. ^ History of the Gedser Ferry Port ( Memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Ferry connection from Großenbrode quay
  9. ↑ https://www.reisecenter-fehmarn.de/fehmarn-geschichte.html
  10. ↑ Figures for 1994 from DB documents, 2010 from Scandlines' annual reports for 2009 and 2010.
  11. ↑ Premiere of the Danish IC3 on the German railway line ( Memento from July 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ^ Press report from the Danish accident . TV report
  13. ↑ DIE WELT of June 21, 2001 - Maritime Administration determined after the ferry accident on June 21, 2001
  14. ^ Investigation report of a minor collision August 24, 2009
  15. ↑ Timeschedule for ferries in dan. Waters
  16. ↑ Data and photos from Theodor Heuss
  17. ↑ Data and photos of the "Germany"
  18. ^ The old "Karl Carstens" in the oil operation in the Gulf of Mexico . Fehmarn24.de. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  19. ↑ Data and photos from Karl Carstens
  20. ^ Dredging for the "Kronprins Frederik", March 14, 2017
  21. ↑ Data and photos of the Kong Frederik IX .
  22. ↑ Data and photos of the Prinsesse Benedektiven .
  23. ↑ Data and photos from Knudshoved .
  24. ↑ Data and photos of the "Danmark". Deck plan.
  25. ↑ Data and photos of the Dronning Margrethe II
  26. ↑ Data and photos of the Prins Henrik
  27. ↑ Data and photos from Holger Danske .
  28. ↑ Data and photos from Lodbrog .
  29. ^ Scandlines History ( Memento from February 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  30. ↑ Scandlines privatized in 2007 ( Memento from January 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  31. ↑ Scandlines About Us ( Memento from June 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  32. ^ Rostock District Court, HRB 7831, announcement of November 7, 2008.
  33. ↑ Scandline company history
  34. ↑ Electrification in the DSB network (PDF; 1.2 MB)
  35. ↑ Tracks in the DSB network (PDF; 1.2 MB)
  36. ↑ Noiseless farewell: Saturday the last train rolls onto the ferry ; Report on fehmarn24.de
  37. ↑ Matthias Wyssuwa: Farewell to the Vogelfluglinie. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 15, 2019, accessed on December 15, 2019 . ; Garrelt Riepelmeier: That's it! That's it? . In: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte (ed.): Eisenbahngeschichte 98 (February / March 2020), pp. 77–81.
  38. ↑ Dän. History Fugleflugtslinjen ( Memento of 24 March 2011 at the Internet Archive )
  39. ↑ Dr. Fritz Todt - Reichsautobahn construction from 1933
  40. ^ Danish Ordinance of April 17, 1941
  41. ↑ InterCityNightLine 2010 ( Memento from September 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 230 kB)
  42. ↑ Moltzau Line
  43. ↑ The contract to build the Fehmarnbelt link was signed . In: Die Welt , September 4, 2008.
  44. ^ Danish tunnel operator Femern A / S
  45. ↑ https://archive.today/20130211010000/http://www.femern.de/servicemenu/presse/nachrichten/stellungnahme-von-femern-as-zum-chinesischen-interesse
  46. ↑ Expansion of the Fehmarn Sound Bridge necessary . Kieler Nachrichten - DPA January 18, 2013.
  47. ↑ DB report ( memento from April 8, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  48. ↑ Meyer: "Do not rush to discard alternative routes on Fehmarnsund" . In: Ministry of Economy, Labor, Transport and Technology (Ed.): Press release . Kiel September 15, 2014 ( schleswig-holstein.de [accessed October 27, 2014]). schleswig-holstein.de ( Memento from October 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  49. ↑ Fehmarn Sound Crossing: Dobrindt and Meyer want to examine all variants . In: Ministry of Economy, Labor, Transport and Technology (Ed.): Press release . Kiel October 2, 2014 ( schleswig-holstein.de [accessed October 27, 2014]). schleswig-holstein.de ( Memento from October 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  50. ↑ jst: Expert opinion calls into question the profitability of the Fehmarnbelt link . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 10/2019, p. 535.
  51. ↑ No more train ferries to Denmark , in: Today's Railway Europe 282/2019 p. 12.
  52. ↑ Eurocity runs through Schleswig-Holstein without stopping. ndr.de, December 14, 2016, accessed on December 16, 2019.
  53. ^ Rainer Kolbe: Nordexpress stopped . In: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte (ed.): Eisenbahngeschichte 98 (February / March 2020), pp. 82–84.
  54. ↑ Danish-language original edition: Copenhagen 2005, ISBN 87-638-0145-0 ; German: Rødby-Puttgarden , translated by Flora Fink, Dörlemann, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-908777-59-5
  55. ^ Publisher: Leda. Leer 2014. ISBN 978-3-86412-069-5
  56. ^ Publisher: tredition. Hamburg 2016. ISBN 978-3-7345-1880-5
  57. ^ Publisher: epubli. Berlin 2017. ISBN 978-3-7450-0942-2

Coordinates: 54 ° 34 '  N , 11 ° 17'  E