950 million euros more: new price tag for Stuttgart 21

With the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the capital's airport BER, two scandalous and never-ending large-scale construction projects have been completed in recent years.

For Stuttgart 21, on the other hand, there is still digging and digging going on.

The construction of the underground through station and the connection to Ulm should be completed by the end of 2025.

This project has also become increasingly expensive over the years.

This Friday, Deutsche Bahn informed its supervisory board about further cost increases.

On the basis of a test report by the consulting company PWC, the group announced in the evening that the construction costs would increase again by 950 million euros to a total of 9.15 billion euros.

There is also an additional buffer of 640 million euros, which can also be used if necessary.

A doubling of the cost compared to 2009

This means that the originally estimated costs have more than doubled: EUR 4.5 billion had been stipulated in the financing agreement in 2009.

"The reasons for the current development are, on the one hand, significant price increases for construction companies, suppliers and raw materials," said Deutsche Bahn.

"On the other hand, the geologically demanding subsoil in the city area has a negative impact."

In view of the war in Ukraine and the rising prices for energy and building materials, there are already fears in industry circles that the bill presented on Friday could not be kept either.

"I don't think it's out of the question that we'll break the ten billion euro mark in terms of costs," said Klaus-Dieter Hommel, chairman of the railway and transport union (EVG), after the meeting of the supervisory board.

It is now important that the railways, the federal government and the state of Baden-Württemberg agree on how the additional costs can best be distributed.

The state government, in turn, emphasized in the evening that the additional costs are a matter for the railways and the federal government.

The state government is sticking to the cost cap

"The state, the city of Stuttgart, the region and the airport have stated many times that no further grants will be made," said Baden-Württemberg's Transport Minister Winfried Hermann (Greens).

“The cost cap applies.

The railways and the federal government would have to clarify who is bearing the deficit.” The debate that has been raging for years about who is ultimately responsible for the costs had flared up again in the past few weeks.

The Federal Government's new rail commissioner, Michael Theurer (FDP), emphasized in mid-February that the Federal Ministry of Transport believes that responsibility for this lies with Deutsche Bahn.

"Stuttgart 21 is a self-financing project of DB AG and not part of the requirements plan for the federal railways," Theurer told the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" at the time.

EVG boss Hommel, on the other hand, warned that the railways could be left with the costs alone.

"We cannot accept that because it would be an additional burden for the employees," he told the German Press Agency.

“The railway cannot carry this alone.

The extent to which the federal and state governments will also contribute to the additional costs must be negotiated.”

The project has many determined opponents

The numerous opponents of the large-scale construction project saw their rejection confirmed by the rising costs.

"The additional costs in the billions that Stuttgart 21 is devouring are hindering the urgently needed modernization of Deutsche Bahn and thus endangering a traffic turnaround that deserves the name," said the Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) on Thursday.

"Instead of providing relief and the urgently needed additional capacities on the rails, Stuttgart 21 is a new bottleneck in the southern German railway network."

The action alliance Stuttgart 21 asked the supervisory board on Friday to turn away from the project.

Meanwhile, work on the construction sites continues.

The railway recently announced the completion of the 20th of a total of 28 girder cups that are to hold the roof structure above at the new main station.

Deutsche Bahn invites those who would like to find out more about the progress of construction to two "Open Construction Site Days" on April 16 and 18.