DB plans to start operations in 2025
Stuttgart 21 costs a billion euros more
03/18/2022, 10:24 p.m
The first plans for the Stuttgart 21 through station are 25 years old. A generation later, the railway is considering starting operations in 2025. However, the costs have now risen to 9.15 billion euros – almost a billion more than last accounted for. And that’s probably not the last word.
The costs for the controversial Stuttgart 21 train station project continue to rise. As announced by Deutsche Bahn, after reviewing the total costs, it is now assuming 9.15 billion euros. This is 950 million euros more than before. The reason is “on the one hand, significant price increases for construction companies, suppliers and raw materials,” it said. On the other hand, “the geologically demanding subsoil in the city area has a negative impact”. The date for the completion of the project was also checked, as Deutsche Bahn announced after a supervisory board meeting. Accordingly, the commissioning of Stuttgart 21 was confirmed “as part of the 2025 timetable change”.
The plans for the underground station are now more than 25 years old – and the costs have increased massively since then. In 1995, the railways, the federal government, the city and the state concluded a framework agreement that provided for costs of 2.6 billion euros. At the official start of construction, Deutsche Bahn assumed construction costs of 4.5 billion. Since 2018 it has been 8.2 billion euros. Deutsche Bahn cannot rule out that costs will continue to rise. The supervisory board therefore decided “to form an additional provision of 640 million euros”. You can “cover further risks and forecast uncertainties,” the company said. However, the use of the funds would have to be decided again by the Supervisory Board.
The railway referred again to the advantages of the project. With it, the capacities in the Stuttgart node would “significantly increase and the travel time from Stuttgart to Ulm would be halved compared to today,” it said. As early as December 2022, with the commissioning of the Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed route, long-distance travel times would be reduced by up to 15 minutes in a first step. The project envisages an underground through station in Stuttgart instead of the previous terminal station and a connection to high-speed lines through tunnels. Stuttgart Airport will also have a rail connection. Areas that become free in the Stuttgart basin are to be used for apartments, among other things.
Federal Audit Office: Controls too lax
The project was already highly controversial in the planning phase. Critics objected that the costs would be disproportionate to the benefits for traffic. After construction began, demonstrators and police repeatedly clashed. Protests, some with well over 50,000 people, ultimately led to a referendum in 2011 throughout Baden-Württemberg. At the time, around 60 percent were in favor of continuing construction.
The Federal Court of Auditors repeatedly criticized the cost estimates and control of the project. The Ministry of Transport controls too laxly, the financial risks are underestimated. The federal government must be liable in case of doubt. Originally, the railways, the federal government, the state of Baden-Württemberg with partners and Stuttgart Airport wanted to share the costs – based on an agreement and calculations before construction began. The Deutsche Bahn partners refused to share in the additional costs, which were steadily increasing. The state-owned company, which is now over 30 billion euros in debt, must first raise the additional billions itself.