New train station: Stuttgart-21 start is to be moved to 2027

The Stuttgart 21 rail project should only go into operation in 2027 and thus later than planned. Long -distance transport and part of regional traffic will be going to the new underground station as announced from December 2026, while part of the regional traffic will continue to end until July 2027 in the old above -ground headway station, as the Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Stuttgart announced.

As a reason for gradual commissioning, the company mentions the equalization of closures that are necessary for the connection of the new infrastructure to the existing routes. This could keep the impairments for passengers as low as possible, said DB infrastructure board Berthold Huber. So far, it was planned to fully put the underground station into operation in December 2026 and to stop operating in the old head station.

Several closures required for commissioning

“The fact is: The new underground station will start with all eight tracks in 2026 as planned,” said a spokesman for the railway. Only part of the regional traffic will still use the existing head station until mid -2027.

In May, the railways informed Stuttgart 21’s project partners that in the course of work for commissioning, numerous closures are necessary that would have led to massive restrictions for passengers. Thereupon a task force was used to advise how the start can be designed as possible as a passenger.

Equipment is said to bring fewer restrictions on passengers

On Friday, the train informed its project partners about the results of this working group in a meeting of the steering group. In addition to the railway, the state of Baden-Württemberg, the state capital Stuttgart, the Stuttgart region and Stuttgart Airport are involved in the project.

Accordingly, the work in the Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt area is to be equalized. For the last year of construction, a standstill in the Stuttgart node threatened, said Baden-Württemberg’s transport minister Winfried Hermann (Greens). With the staggered S21 start, the difficulties for rail operations in and around Stuttgart can be transferred to predictable restrictions. “The suffering of passengers takes longer, but it becomes more bearable – and above all: more predictable,” said Hermann.

As a side effect of the longer operation in the old head station, passengers of the Gäubahn can drive directly to Stuttgart Central Station for a year. The route connects Stuttgart with the south of Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland. According to previous plans, it should end in the Stuttgart suburb of Vaihingen due to construction work from spring 2026. This does not happen until March 2027.

Travelers with the Downtown aim then have to switch to regional trains or S-Bahn in Vaihingen. There is sharp criticism of this. According to current plans, the connection of the route to the new underground station should go into operation at the end of 2032.

Start moved several times

The project has been built since 2010. Commissioning had already been postponed several times, most recently to December 2026. When the financing agreement was concluded in 2009, an opening in 2019 was assumed. According to the railways, the reasons for the repeated shifts are different: complaints against the project and changed requirements, for example in fire protection. Other factors for the delays are the “geologically demanding subsoil in the Stuttgart city area” or elaborate approval procedures by changing laws in species protection.

The Stuttgart 21 project stands not only for the construction of the new main station in the state capital, but for the complete reorganization of the Stuttgart railway node. New train stations are being built – such as a new long -distance station at the airport – dozens of kilometers of railways and tunnel tubes, through gaps and bridges. In addition to Stuttgart 21, the Stuttgart-Ulm railway project also includes the new construction of Wendlingen-Ulm, which was already opened in 2022 in 2022. The heart of Stuttgart 21 is the new underground main station, which, in contrast to the previous head station, will be a through station.

Not only a new train station, but also unique new digital technology

As part of Stuttgart 21, the railway node in Stuttgart is also the first to be completely digitized nationwide. Trains of long-distance and regional transport as well as S-Bahnen should then drive with the digital train protection system ETCs- and only with it. Classic light signals are no longer installed in the Stuttgart railway node. The railway led the extensive work for digitization as the reason for the last shift in commissioning to December 2026.

The costs for the project have also developed steeply over the years. In a financing contract from 2009, only the distribution of costs up to an altitude of a good 4.5 billion euros is regulated. Until recently, the railway estimated the current costs at around 11 billion euros, and a buffer of 500 million euros is also planned. This has almost been used up in the meantime: in the last meeting of the steering group, the train informed the project partners that the costs now added up to around 11.3 billion euros. Anyone who has to cover the additional costs is controversial.