Long, longer, ultra-long – when length does matter and requires the best in engineering

The construction of an underground structure – whether tunnel, cavern or infrastructure service tunnel – is always a challenge.

Pushing the limits – need for longer and deeper tunnels

Amberg specializes in innovative solutions for underground and geotechnical engineering and is amongst the leading global engineering companies for the utilization of subterranean space. In more than 50 years, Amberg has realized over 800 projects in more than 25 countries of the world on five continents – including some of the longest tunnels in the world!

We know that today’s technological innovations push the limits of what is possible. In underground engineering, it can also be reflected in the possibility of building longer and deeper tunnels. The Amberg Group is proud to be involved in numerous projects in this area with outstanding achievements, such as the Gotthard base tunnel, Brenner base tunnel or Lyon-Turin base tunnel.

Another ultra-long tunnel project where Amberg is involved in is the FinEst Link; a more than 100 km long subsea railway tunnel to connect Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia.

FinEst Link

The twin cities of Helsinki and Tallinn form a unique cross-border case in the EU. Despite the fact that the two capitals are 85 km away from each other and separated by sea, the cities have shared strong growth together. However, the Gulf of Finland creates a bottle neck. Even with fast ferries, it takes two hours to cross to the opposite side. This drastically limits the possibilities for daily working commutes and day tourism.

In the FinEst Link feasibility study, the vision of the Helsinki-Tallinn fixed link has developed into a technically and economically feasible concept of an undersea railway tunnel. The tunnel as studied in the project connects Helsinki-Vantaa airport and Ülemiste in Tallinn where it is linked to Rail Baltica and onwards to the Central and Eastern European railway network. One of the planning objectives is to decrease the travel time of passengers and freight to about 30 minutes.

Our Services

TheLINK consortium consisting of Amberg Engineering Ltd., Sweco Environmental Oy and WSP Finland Oy was commissioned by Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council as Lead Partner, the Finnish Transport Agency and other project partners to develop a technical concept and economic assessment at feasibility study level for a Helsinki-Tallinn fixed link (the FinEst Link project).

Amberg Engineering is responsible for the overall project management with Mr. Felix Amberg acting as Project manager and work package leader. Furthermore, Amberg covers topics such as the tunnel design,material logistics as well as the safety concept of the over 100 km long railway tunnel underneath the Gulf of Finland.

Final conference

On February 7, 2018, the results of the FinEst Link project were published in the final conference in Tallinn and broadcasted live receiving major public attention. It was concluded that a fast tunnel connection between Helsinki and Tallinn could bring major regional, national benefits and growth potential for Europe.

As part of the final conference, Mr. Felix Amberg participated in a panel discussion with other tunnel experts focusing on impacts and technical aspects of FinEst link. As a key message, it was concluded that based on the results of this feasibility study the construction of the tunnel is technically feasible.

Ultra-long tunnels – a major engineering challenge

The construction of such a long tunnel like the FinEst link – with a length of more than 100 km and aggravated by the fact that it has to be built below sea level – requires all the expertise of our engineers and asks for innovative concepts and solutions. Amberg has accepted this challenge on the occasion of the feasibility study and will report in more detail in the coming weeks on the technical feasibility and solution approaches of the FinEst Link.

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