Stuttgart is proudly premiering videos and VR elements to show off its new main rail station—but unfortunately, there is not yet a main rail station to go with it. That’s under construction, behind schedule and over budget.
Like the Berlin airport, the Hamburg concert hall and a number of other projects, this one is adding another nail in the coffin of Germany’s reputation for efficiency and engineering. It was supposed to finish by 2019; the current official date is 2021, and the consultant’s estimate is 2023 at the earliest.
When it’s finished it will be the sparkling underground station (with illustrated roof) seen in the picture above. Instead of being a terminal with trains having to back out of the station to rejoin the main line, it will be a through station, and part of the consolidation of the longest high-speed line in Europe, linking Paris, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest by 2020.
Aside from the delays, there is also controversy over partial demolition of the existing station, below, one of Germany’s first and largest modernist stations, and a nominee for UNESCO status. It will, under the plan, lose two side wings.
