Another few billion: Stuttgart 21 becomes more expensive again

Traffic - Another few billion: Stuttgart 21 becomes more expensive again

Less than two weeks ago, Deutsche Bahn announced another "milestone" in the construction of Stuttgart 21. The last piece of the roof was concreted on the large construction site in Stuttgart's city center and the new station concourse was completely closed for the first time. The responsible project manager spoke of "great pride". On Thursday came the next negative news about the controversial rail project, which had been foreshadowed for weeks: Stuttgart 21 is becoming more expensive again.

As the Deutsche Presse-Agentur learned from Supervisory Board circles on Thursday, the costs will rise by 1.7 billion euros to around 11 billion euros. The main reason for the cost increase is higher construction costs, they said. Several media outlets had previously reported this. A spokesperson for the railroad did not want to comment on the figures and referred to a meeting of the supervisory board. It is due to discuss Stuttgart 21 on December 18.

Recently, there had been increasing indications that the railroad would not be able to cope with the previously estimated costs of 9.15 billion euros, plus a buffer of 640 million euros. At a recent meeting of the steering committee in Stuttgart, the project partners emphasized that further cost increases were to be expected. "The indications that we will not be able to keep to the budget have become so strong that we now urgently need to discuss this internally," said Berthold Huber, Chief Infrastructure Officer at Deutsche Bahn, last Friday. There have been considerable cost increases in all trades.

Baden-Württemberg's Transport Minister Winfried Hermann said that there had been cost increases of 100 to 200 percent in individual tenders. "We are definitely tearing up the previous plans," said the Green politician.

There had been repeated cost increases in the past. A financing agreement from 2009 regulates how the costs of a good 4.5 billion euros assumed at the time are to be distributed among the project partners, i.e. Deutsche Bahn, the state, the city of Stuttgart, the Stuttgart region and Stuttgart Airport. Since then, the costs have increased bit by bit and have now more than doubled. The project partners are currently arguing in court about who has to pay these billions. An end to the process is still a long way off.

The Stuttgart 21 project stands for the complete reorganization of the Stuttgart rail hub, not just the conversion of the state capital's main station. New stations, dozens of kilometers of railroad tracks and tunnels, culverts and bridges are being built. Stuttgart 21 should help to significantly reduce travel times on long-distance and regional services. In addition to Stuttgart 21, the Stuttgart-Ulm rail project also includes the construction of the new Wendlingen-Ulm line, which has already been opened.

Not only are the final costs of the project unclear - the opening of the new station is also subject to increasing uncertainty. The Südwestrundfunk radio station recently reported that insiders no longer believe that it will start on time. Deutsche Bahn emphasizes at every opportunity that it will stick to the December 2025 start date, but admits that this will not be easy.

There are "a few challenges", admitted Infrastructure Director Huber just last week. The digitalization of the rail hub is the biggest concern. "This is the point that should concern us the most," said Huber. The supplier of the technology, which is currently being taken over by another company, is causing problems. Certain milestones have not been reached, said Huber. Deutsche Bahn has therefore integrated an additional 60 of its own employees into the project in order to make up for lost time.

The problems with digitalization are so critical because not a single train can enter the new underground station without the digital train control system ETCS. Long-distance and regional trains as well as suburban trains can only run there with ETCS. Traditional signals are no longer provided in the station or the tunnels. Deutsche Bahn hopes that the digital system will improve safety and also increase capacity.

From Hermann's point of view, commissioning will be tight. It will be "a challenge to keep to the schedule by December 2025", said Hermann. "As things stand today, it looks like it will be tight, but still possible." In the minister's view, a sufficiently long period of time is needed for trial operation. The infrastructure is new, the digitalization is new, some of the trains are new and the timetables are also new, said Hermann. "We cannot and will not afford a bumpy start." However, it is not just the station that is causing problems; the state also recently announced that new regional trains that had been ordered would not be delivered in time for commissioning.

It should be clear by next year at the latest when the station will go into operation. The decision on whether the station will be put into operation as planned must be made by June next year at the latest. The timetable will then be determined.