The timetable for the commissioning of the major Stuttgart 21 project and the Stuttgart Digital Node (DKS) has been set. From the end of 2025, all systems will gradually go into test operation. The future main station will open in December 2026.
According to the current status, all essential elements of the project should then be available – with the exception of the Gäubahn connection via the airport.
Costly delays for Stuttgart 21
The Stuttgart 21 project involves building a main underground train station and an urban bypass. First presented in 1994, the project has been live since February 2010, and is now about seven years behind schedule.
The cost has risen from an initial estimate of EUR 2.6 billion to as much as EUR 12 billion, according to the german press.
“Stuttgart 21 is the most complex commissioning of a new railway hub in Europe in recent decades. With the modern, digitalised hub in the southwest of the country, we will be able to offer significantly more and many faster connections. Stuttgart 21 must work right from the start – with stable timetables that passengers can rely on. To achieve this, we will intensively test all new components of the rail infrastructure, the future station, the Stuttgart Digital Hub and also the vehicles and carefully prepare the operating staff for this. That is why we are refraining from the partial commissioning of the future main station, which was previously planned for the end of 2025”, said DB Infrastructure Board Member Berthold Huber.
DB had already informed the project partners in March 2024 that the existing terminal station would remain in operation in 2026 due to the major challenges of the nationwide Digital Node Stuttgart (DKS) pilot project.
The existing infrastructure will thus be the basis for the 2025/2026 network timetable for the last time.
What DB hopes will be operational by the end of 2026
- The future main station with a transport station in the Bonatz building will then replace the old terminal station. In addition to the test trains, trains with passengers will also be able to stop at the new platforms in the course of 2026.
- The new siding in Untertürkheim will open in mid-2026 .
- In September 2026, the S-Bahn main line will be equipped with digital technology . Before that, the Gäubahn embankment, which is necessary for the new S-Bahn connection, will be dismantled from spring 2026. Until then, the Gäubahn can continue to be led to the existing terminal station as before.
- The new long-distance train station at Stuttgart Airport will open in December 2026. Trains from and to Stuttgart as well as from and to Ulm or Tübingen will be able to stop there.
- Both tubes of the Cannstatt long-distance railway tunnel together with the precautionary measures already implemented at this time for the so-called P option. The P option will create an additional inflow from the north between Feuerbach and the Cannstatt tunnel.
- The Small and Large Wendlinger Curve , which allows more train traffic from and to Metzingen, Reutlingen and Tübingen.
- Modules 1 and 2 of the nationwide pilot project Digital Node Stuttgart (DKS), equipping the infrastructure of Stuttgart 21 plus the core area of the S-Bahn with digital control and safety technology.
Talks with the federal government on Pfaffensteig Tunnel and DKS 3 are ongoing
DB also informed the project partners in the S21 steering committee about the current status of the federally financed major projects DKS, Module 3, and Pfaffensteigtunnel (Gäubahn expansion, northern section): The Pfaffensteigtunnel not only connects the airport directly to the Gäubahn and thus fulfills the S21 financing agreement, but is also a prerequisite for the Germany-timetable on the Gäubahn decided by the federal government.
Thanks to the rail partnership model, in which for the first time the client and contractor are jointly implementing a major rail infrastructure project from the outset, DB was able to submit the planning approval documents this April.
The current schedule calls for construction to begin in 2026 and for the Pfaffensteigtunnel to be put into operation at the end of 2032.
A construction financing agreement is planned for the project. A final decision on the timing of the implementation of both projects can only be made when the federal budgets for 2025 and 2026 are drawn up.
Share on:
