Stuttgart 21 will not open at the end of 2026

The next opening date has been cancelled: Stuttgart's new main station will not be put into operation at the end of next year as planned. According to a media report, Evelyn Palla, the new head of Deutsche Bahn, informed the supervisory board of this.

Palla has informed the Bahn supervisory board and project partners that work on the major project is continuing to be delayed, in our report on the conversion error reports the news magazine Der Spiegel (paywall), citing sources at Deutsche Bahn. According to the report, there is no new date yet. Deutsche Bahn reportedly will not announce a new date until there is a concept for the completion of the project. This is expected to be ready by mid-next year.

According to the report, the reason for the new delay is problems with the Digital Node Stuttgart. Stuttgart is the first railway node in Germany where the control and signaling technology is to be completely digitized. Trains will then be able to run automatically, for example: The railway line will tell the train when and where it should be, and the train's electronics will control it accordingly to its destination.

According to the Spiegel report, there are difficulties with the approval of the software. This is supplied by the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi. The project has not been running smoothly for some time.

Travel times are to be shortened

The new Stuttgart main station, relocated underground, is part of the Stuttgart–Ulm railway project, which includes the redesign of the Stuttgart railway node as well as the high-speed line from Stuttgart via Wendlingen to Ulm. This, in turn, is part of the high-speed line from Mannheim to Munich or from Paris to Bratislava. It is intended to shorten travel times: The journey from Stuttgart to Ulm is expected to take about half an hour. Currently, it takes almost an hour. The completion would also be an important component of the Deutschlandtakt (Germany-wide timetable integration).

Deutsche Bahn first presented the project, which has been highly controversial from the outset and accompanied by many protests, in 1994. The terminus station in the middle of the city was to become an underground through station. Work began in early 2010. Stuttgart 21 was supposed to be completed by the end of 2019. Since then, the opening has been postponed several times.

During the construction work, ground subsidence caused damage to many buildings and roads. The costs have increased manifold over time: in the mid-1990s, during the planning phase, approximately 2.5 billion euros were estimated. When the financing for the construction was presented in 2009, Deutsche Bahn stated 4.526 billion euros, to be borne by Deutsche Bahn, the federal government, the state, the region, the city of Stuttgart, and the airport there. Current estimates assume costs of over 11 billion euros.

Deutsche Bahn bears the additional costs

Deutsche Bahn has attempted to involve the partners in the additional costs. However, the Stuttgart Administrative Court ruled in 2024 that Deutsche Bahn must bear the additional costs alone.

Palla, who only took over the position as head of Deutsche Bahn on October 1st, wants to get Deutsche Bahn back on track. For now, however, she has to temper expectations: "It's not going to get better right away, we have to be honest about that," she said recently in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung. In 2026, the focus will be on "stabilizing punctuality and stopping the downward trend."

Currently, just over half of long-distance trains (just under 52 percent) are on time. This will not improve significantly in the short term: "This year, we will likely have a five in front of our punctuality figures for long-distance traffic."

(wpl)