Stuttgart 21

Stuttgart 21 is a German rail project to build a new underground through station for Stuttgart, crossing the southern end of the current Stuttgart central station at right-angles to existing platforms. The terminating platforms of today's station would be demolished and redeveloped; the main station building would be retained.

Construction concept

The plans include surface and underground lines connecting the station in Stuttgart’s enclosed central valley with existing railway and underground lines. This make it possible for regional trains to travel through Stuttgart without ending their journey. The proposed Filder tunnel would connect to Stuttgart Airport, where a new "Filderbahnhof" (Filder station), serving the airport, the new "Stuttgart Messe" (trade exhibition ground) and the Filderstadt area would be built. The line would then connect with the planned Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed line. The train storage sidings would be moved to Stuttgart-Untertürkheim to clear land for redevelopment. For planning purposes, Stuttgart 21 is part of the Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded line project. It consists of a railway project for Deutsche Bahn (DB) and an urban redevelopment project for Stuttgart. DB’s subsidiary DB ProjektBau is planning the project on behalf of DB Netz and DB Station & Service and is its project proponent for the development approval process.

Building work is expected to start in 2010 and be completed in 2020.

Debate and opposition to Stuttgart 21

The Stuttgart 21 project has been a hotly debated issue among politicians and locals since the idea of a through station for long distance trains – running under the existing main station – was first mooted in the mid 1980s.

Since late 2006, there have been negotiations between DB, the Federal Government, the Baden-Württemberg Government and the City of Stuttgart over the sharing of the costs of the project. On 28 June 2007 a high-level conference was held and adjourned between DB chairman Hartmut Mehdorn, Baden-Württemberg Minister of Finance Gerhard Stratthaus and Stuttgart mayor Wolfgang Schuster. At the meeting, agreement could not be reached over the allocation of construction costs risks.cite news
title =Entscheidung über Baukostenrisiken vertagt
language =German
publisher =Stuttgart Nachrichten
date =29 June 2007
url =http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/stn/page/detail.php/1457698?_suchtag=2007-06-29
accessdate = 2007-07-20]

On July 19, 2007 it was announced by the Federal Government, the State of Baden-Württemberg and DB that the project had been officially approved. Identified funding sources for the project are: DB (€ 1,115 million), Baden-Württemberg (€ 685 million) and the Federal Government (€ 500 million). The agreement also made provision for possible cost increases over the € 2.8 billion estimate of up to € 1 billion, with Baden-Württemberg agreeing to fund up to € 780 million and DB agreeing to fund up to € 220 million. According to the statement, € 2 billion would also be invested in the railway to Ulm, with the total approved budget amounting to € 4.8 billion. cite news
title =Einigung auf Finanzierung von Stuttgart 21
language =German
publisher =SWR3 Radio news
date =19 July 2007
url =http://www.swr.de/nachrichten/bw/-/id=1622/nid=1622/did=2387316/pyrcro/index.html
accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] cite news
title =Finanzierung für Stuttgart 21 steht
work =
pages =
language =German
publisher =Spiegel online
date =19 July 2007
url =http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,495398,00.html
accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] cite press release
title =Tiefensee: Durchbruch für die Neubaustrecke Stuttgart - Ulm - Augsburg und "Stuttgart 21"
publisher =Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs
date =19 July 2007
url =http://www.bmvbs.de/-,302.1003300/Tiefensee-Durchbruch-fuer-die-.htm
language =German
accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] [cite web
title = Memorandum of Understanding
work =
publisher =Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs
date =19 July 2007
url =http://www.bmvbs.de/Anlage/original_1003311/Memorandum-of-Understanding.pdf
format =pdf
doi =
language =German
accessdate = 2007-07-20 ]

Shortly after the funding agreement was announced the political opponents of Wolfgang Schuster were quick to condemn the Stuttgart mayor for backtracking on a promise made during the mayor elections of 2004 - namely that he would allow the population of Stuttgart to decide the fate of Stuttgart 21 if the additional costs of the project amounted to more than € 200 million. On hearing the promise at the time, Alliance '90/The Greens candidate Boris Palmer withdrew his candidacy for the second round vote, recommending that his supporters should back Schuster instead. cite news
title =Stuttgart 21 - Gegner erinnern an Wahlzusage
language =German
publisher =SWR Radio news
date =21 July 2007
url =http://www.swr.de/nachrichten/bw/-/id=1622/nid=1622/did=2387316/pyrcro/index.html
accessdate = 2007-07-21]

In October 2007 a petition and public demonstrations were started, sponsored by private individuals with the backing of Alliance '90/The Greens and a variety of citizens' and environmental organisations. Its aim was to collect 20,000 signatures and thus force politicians to take the issue to a local referendum. The petition gained 67,000 signatures but soon afterwards political wrangling started over whether the issue could be decided by a local referendum in the first place. Legal experts claimed that, as the project was not being financed solely from Stuttgart coffers, it was not for the city of Stuttgart to take the final decision. cite news
title =Stuttgart 21 - Juristischer Streit gewinnt an Schärfe
language =German
publisher =Stuttgarter Zeitung
date =17 November 2007
url =http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/stz/page/detail.php/1568790
accessdate = 2007-11-19]

Notes

References

*de|Stuttgart 21

External links

* [http://www.stuttgart21.de/ Stuttgart 21 on Deutsche Bahn website] de icon
* Opposition to the Stuttgart 21 project [http://stuttgart21-nein-danke.de/ Stuttgart "No thanks" initiative] and [http://www.leben-in-stuttgart.de/ "Living in Stuttgart" initiative]
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