Stuttgart 21
Encyclopedia
Stuttgart 21 is an urban development and under construction transport project in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 as part of the Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded railway project in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It consists of the replacement of the tracks and platforms of Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof
Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof of the city of Stuttgart, the capital of the Land of Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany. It is the largest regional and long-distance railway station in Stuttgart, the main node of the Stuttgart S-Bahn network, and, together with the halt at Charlottenplatz, the main...

, the city's main railway station, with new infrastructure mainly located underground. The project has been under development for more than a decade and construction work began in February 2010. Since the summer of 2010, its development has been highly controversial with some politicians and the public.

The new tracks are planned to cross below ground at right angles to the northern end of the existing building. The project forms part of a scheme instigated by politicians to modernise the link between Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 and ultimately Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

 — aiming to introduce Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 as "The new heart of Europe". Parts of the historic Paul Bonatz
Paul Bonatz
Paul Bonatz was a German architect, member of the Stuttgart School and professor at the technical university in that city during part of World War II and from 1954 until his death....

 Hauptbahnhof building, the platforms, and approach tracks would be demolished, and the land sold for development.

Construction works began on 2 February 2010.

Concept

The concept attempts to combine plans for high speed links from Stuttgart to other cities with the improvement of local infrastructure and a replacement for the current terminal station. The current 17 track station shall be replaced by an underground 8 track through station.

The plans include new surface and underground lines connecting the station in Stuttgart’s enclosed central valley with existing lines. The Stuttgart–Wendlingen high-speed line running through a new tunnel, the Filder Tunnel, would connect the replacement Hauptbahnhof with a new Filder station (Filderbahnhof), serving the Airport
Stuttgart Airport
Stuttgart Airport is an international airport located approximately south of Stuttgart, Germany....

, the Messe (trade fair)
Stuttgart Trade Fair
Messe Stuttgart is an exhibition centre and trade fair next to Stuttgart Airport, 7 miles south of Stuttgart, Germany. It is the ninth biggest trade fair in Germany....

, and the Filderstadt
Filderstadt
Filderstadt is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located approximately 13 km south of Stuttgart.Filderstadt is located next to the Stuttgart Airport and the new Trade Fair...

 district. The line would then connect to the planned Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed line. The carriage sidings would be moved to the area of Untertürkheim station
Stuttgart-Untertürkheim station
Untertürkheim station is a railway station in the German city of Stuttgart on the city's S-Bahn, or S-line. The station formerly included a freight yard.The abbreviation of the station precinct, including the yards, is TSU.-History :...

 to clear land for redevelopment.

For planning purposes, Stuttgart 21 is part of the Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded line
Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded line
Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded line is a proposed German railway project.The 2003 federal transport plan included it as an urgent project. It includes a new high-speed line between Stuttgart and Ulm with a maximum speed of 250 km/h, parallel to the existing Stuttgart–Ulm line and an upgraded...

 project. It consists of a railway project for Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

 (DB) and an urban redevelopment
Urban design
Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has...

 project for Stuttgart. DB subsidiary DB ProjektBau
DB ProjektBau
DB ProjektBau GmbH is a German company that carries out and supports large-scale railway projects for Germany's national rail carrier, Deutsche Bahn . It was created on 1 January 2003 as a subsidiary of the DB.- External links :**...

 is planning the project on behalf of DB Netze
DB Netze
DB Netze is an arm of the German national rail company Deutsche Bahn responsible for the railway infrastructure and operations...

 and DB Station & Service and is its promoter for the development approval process.

On 2 April 2009 the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

, Günther Oettinger
Günther Oettinger
Günther Hermann Oettinger is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union . He became European Commissioner for Energy in the European Commission on 10 February 2010 and is affiliated with the European People's Party...

, signed the finance agreement with the German Minister of Transport
Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development is a Ministry of Germany.It was created in 1998 by merger of the former Federal Ministry of Transport and the Federal Ministry of Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development, both established in 1949...

, Wolfgang Tiefensee
Wolfgang Tiefensee
Wolfgang Tiefensee is a German SPD politician. He was the Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Development in the grand coalition cabinet led by Angela Merkel since November 22, 2005....

 and Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

 board member Stefan Garber.

On 23 November 2009, it was announced that construction would commence in February 2010, on the condition that the overall costs do not exceed €4.5
billion.

Debate and opposition

The Stuttgart 21 project has been a controversial issue among politicians and locals since the idea of a through station for long distance trains - running under the existing station - was first noted in the mid 1980s.
Since 2009 numerous protests against the disputed project have taken place. On September 30, 2010, hundreds of demonstrators were injured when the police used water cannons, pepper spray
Pepper spray
Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...

 and batons against protestors. The following day, more than 50,000 people took part in the largest demonstration against the project so far.
Since late 2006, there have been negotiations between DB
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

, 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
Hartmut Mehdorn
Hartmut Mehdorn is a German manager and current in the supervisory board of Air Berlin, until May 2009: CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG.-Biography:...

, Baden-Württemberg Minister of Finance Gerhard Stratthaus and Stuttgart mayor Wolfgang Schuster
Wolfgang Schuster
Wolfgang Schuster has been the Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, Germany, since January 1997. He is the successor to Manfred Rommel and a member of the CDU.-Studies and early positions:...

. At the meeting, agreement could not be reached over the allocation of construction costs risks.

On July 19, 2007, it was announced by the Federal Government, the State of Baden-Württemberg and DB that the project had been approved. Identified funding sources are: DB (€ 1,115 million), the State of Baden-Württemberg (€ 685 million), and the Federal Government (€ 500 million). The agreement also made provision for possible 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
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...

, with the total budget amounting to € 4.8 billion.

Shortly after the funding agreement was announced the political opponents of Wolfgang Schuster
Wolfgang Schuster
Wolfgang Schuster has been the Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, Germany, since January 1997. He is the successor to Manfred Rommel and a member of the CDU.-Studies and early positions:...

 were quick to condemn the Stuttgart mayor for backtracking on a promise made during the 2004 mayoral elections - 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
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...

 candidate Boris Palmer
Boris Palmer
Boris Palmer is a German politician and member of the Green Party. He has been mayor of Tübingen since January 2007...

 had withdrawn his candidacy for the second round vote, recommending that his supporters should back Schuster instead.

In October 2007, a petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....

 and public demonstrations were started, sponsored by private individuals with the backing of Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...

 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 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.

Not only since this 2007 decision to go ahead with the project, when the plan to commence with the demolition of the current train station in early 2010 and to finish by 2020 was announced, has the project been controversial among the city's population. A poll by local newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten in April, 2008, showed a fifty-fifty split. Since November 2008, with increasing costs being constantly revealed, the pendulum has clearly swung in favour of the opponents (64% against). On October 11, 2008, about 4,000 citizens of Stuttgart demonstrated against the destruction
of the Hauptbahnhof building. Since the fall of 2009, there have been weekly demonstrations on Monday evenings. On October 1, 2010, the biggest protest so far took place with an estimated 100,000 people taking part in the demonstration against the project.
The protests are organized among others by a grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...

 initiative, Leben in Stuttgart (Life in Stuttgart), the local branch of the German Green Party, and the environmental organisation Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland
Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland
Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland is a German non-governmental organisation dedicated to preserving nature and protecting the environment. The german title would be translated to something like Union for the environment and nature conservation Germany...

. They are suggesting a renovation of the current train station, including creation of some new railways, but respecting the cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

 of the Hauptbahnhof terminus and the natural heritage
Natural heritage
Natural heritage is the legacy of natural objects and intangible attributes encompassing the countryside and natural environment, including flora and fauna, scientifically known as biodiversity, and geology and landforms ....

 of the adjacent Schlossgarten (Palace Park). The park (see Old Castle (Stuttgart)
Old Castle (Stuttgart)
The Old Castle is located in the centre of Stuttgart, the capital of the German State of Baden-Württemberg. It dates back to the 10th century....

 and New Castle (Stuttgart)
New Castle (Stuttgart)
The New Palace is a building which stands on the south edge of Schlossplatz, the central square in Stuttgart, Germany. The castle is built in late Baroque style....

) by Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret
Thouret
Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret . German architect and designer.-Life and work:...

, is part of a cherished green space that connects the inner city with the banks of the Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...

 river. During the estimated construction time of at least 10 years, the project would cut off connections to other park areas of the city, known collectively as the Green U due to their U-shaped form.

On September 30, 2010, police action against peaceful protesters blocking the Schlossgarten site resulted in more than 100 injured, school children amongst them.

Prior to the recent escalation, Frei Otto
Frei Otto
Frei Paul Otto is a German architect and structural engineer.- Life :Otto was born in Siegmar . He studied architecture in Berlin before being drafted into the Luftwaffe as a fighter pilot in the last years of World War II...

, one of the architects responsible for the project, cited a 2003 report for calling for a stop to the project. He alleges the ground in the area is allegedly too unstable for large scale underground works. Some critics suggest the cost of the project might rise to € 18.7 billion.

In November 2009, members of the International Council on Monuments and Sites
International Council on Monuments and Sites
The International Council on Monuments and Sites is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world...

 stated that the Hauptbahnhof was a building of exceptional quality, whose integrity should be maintained.

On November 27th 2011, a referendum was held to decide whether the "Land" should withdraw funding of the project. 58.8 percent voted against such a withdrawal (and were thus in favor of the project).

Effects on politics

According to the German newspaper Die Welt
Die Welt
Die Welt is a German national daily newspaper published by the Axel Springer AG company.It was founded in Hamburg in 1946 by the British occupying forces, aiming to provide a "quality newspaper" modelled on The Times...

, in June 2009 the Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...

 changed the balance of power in the city council as a direct result of disgruntlement with the controversial Stuttgart 21 rail project. The victory marked the Greens' first majority in a German city with more than 500,000 inhabitants. This meant an enormous loss for the CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

 who had held a majority of seats in Stuttgart continuously since 1972.

The Stuttgart 21 project was a major issue in the state elections held in March 2011
Baden-Württemberg state election, 2011
The Baden-Württemberg state election 2011, was held on March 27, 2011, to elect members to Baden-Württemberg's State diet, the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. It was the 14th state election since the foundation of Baden-Württemberg in 1952...

. While the CDU again won the largest number of seats in the Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...

of Baden-Württemberg, they and their FDP allies lost too many to maintain control. Instead, the Green party will lead a coalition government with the SPD for the first time in any German state.

External links

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