Deutsche Bahn (DB), the German state railway operator, has lost a court case that will see it having to pay around €6.5 billion (£5.6 billion) to cover overruns on its Stuttgart 21 project.
Stuttgart 21, the complete reorganisation of the Stuttgart rail node, is one of two parts of the Stuttgart-Ulm project, the other being the Wendlingen-Ulm new-build line (60km of new railway including 12 new tunnels, 37 bridges and Merklingen station).
The decision to conduct the joint project was made in 2009 in a financing agreement between the German federal government, the state of Baden-Württemberg, the state capital of Stuttgart, Verband Region Stuttgart (the political entity of the Stuttgart region), Stuttgart Airport and Deutsche Bahn. The project includes construction of four new stations, 11 tunnels, 42 bridges and around 100 kilometres of new railway tracks, which will accommodate speeds of up to 250 km/h (155mph).
Stuttgart station itself will be completely remodelled. The through station will have eight tracks, allowing it to accommodate significantly more traffic than the current terminal station, which has only five tracks with many crossing conflicts in the station throat.
The station’s roof, designed by Ingenhoven Architects, consists of 28 chalice-shaped supports, each with a diameter of 32 metres – a concrete shell design that has never been built before. On 27 of the chalice supports, glass skylights with an area of up to 350 square metres will illuminate the platform hall with daylight. The concrete work for all 28 chalice supports is done, the platform hall roof is finished and the interior work is in progress.
The 56 kilometres of tunnel bores for Stuttgart 21 have been completed. Tunnelling continues on the southbound Pfaffensteig tunnel and the northbound Wartberg tunnel as part of the wider project.
The project was originally planned to cost €4.5 billion, with the cost divided amongst the partners. Since then, cost estimates have risen to over €11 billion, and DB has been seeking to get that cost also divided amongst the partners, who have been resisting the idea.
In May 2024, the Stuttgart Administrative Court ruled that DB could not require the project partners to contribute to the additional costs. DB appealed to the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg, but that court has now rejected that request to appeal, stating that DB had not presented any new justification for such an appeal and that the judgment of the first court showed no procedural errors or doubts about the correctness of the judgement. The ruling of the Stuttgart court is therefore final.
The other partners are understandably pleased with this decision, but DB now needs to find €6.5 billion of extra funding to complete the project, and it seems uncertain where that money will come from.
Images courtesy Werner Sobek, which is undertaking the structural engineering of the station, facade engineering and BIM discipline coordination.
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