Stuttgart 21 confirms yet another setback
- Pinnacle Team
- Sep 4
- 3 min read
Stuttgart's Long-Awaited Promise: When Will the S21 Project End?
29 years ago, the German city of Stuttgart announced it would be renovating its old train station. However, instead of a shiny new terminal, the S21 project is once again facing delays. Proposed and agreed upon in 1995, the idea was to give the southwestern city and capital of Baden-Württemberg a fresh start in the early 21st century. Construction, however, didn't begin until 2010.
Deutsche Bahn (DB) has stated that the new main station will not open until at least December 2026, and even then, it will not be fully completed. DB and the S21 steering committee have agreed on a new timetable, which they hope will be the final chapter of a story that has become quite an embarrassment.
"Starting at the end of 2025, all systems will be gradually put into trial operation. The future main station is scheduled to open in December 2026. As things stand, all essential elements of the project will then be available, with the exception of the Gäubahn connection via the airport," the plan states.
A new "long-distance" station at Stuttgart Airport is also scheduled to open in 2026, but another link via the airport to the southern Gäubahn line won't even start construction before 2026. However, even the completion date of 2032 is not guaranteed. DB explained that it will depend on the federal budget for 2025/26.
"Stuttgart 21 is the commissioning of the most complex rail hub in Europe in recent decades," said Berthold Huber, DB's Infrastructure Board Member.
The initial budget for the new hub, which will directly connect Stuttgart's airport to the city center and Ulm, another major city in the region, was €4.1 billion ($4.8 billion). In 2016, this increased to €6.3 billion ($6.8 billion), and it's now estimated to cost at least €11.45 billion ($12.36 billion). In addition to construction costs that a court recently ruled must be paid by DB and not its project partners (who had argued the contract was for a fixed amount), DB is also responsible for the partners' legal fees.
The project's delays are reminiscent of the UK's HS2 drama or the protracted development of Berlin's new airport. Along with cost overruns and construction delays, the S21 site has also faced planning difficulties and local protests. Environmental concerns are at the heart of most modern megaprojects, and protestors have raised the potential impact on the groundwater table in the Stuttgart valley. This has led to the installation of a new groundwater management system beneath the extended station. However, because of these serious issues and the expensive solutions, DB has expressed regret about the project's progress. A leaked document from 2017 explains, "If we had the knowledge we have today, we would not have started the project, but we would have continued with it nonetheless."
"A modern, digitalized hub in southwestern Germany will allow us to offer many more connections faster. Stuttgart 21 must work properly from the start with a stable timetable that passengers can rely on," Huber added. He explained that new delays have been implemented to ensure a (ultimately) smooth transition. "To this end, we will intensively test all new components of the rail infrastructure, the future station, the Stuttgart Digital Hub, and the vehicles and carefully prepare our operating staff for this."
The S21 project is like a long journey. While its end remains uncertain, Stuttgart holds on to the dream of a new transportation hub, waiting for the day it will finally be completed.
June 13, 2024
