Billion additional costs
Court: Bahn remains at additional costs of Stuttgart 21 seats
For years, the railway has been trying to force the project partners to participate in the multi -billion dollar additional costs of Stuttgart 21. Now it is clear: the train has to pay.
According to a court decision, Deutsche Bahn must bear the billion -dollar additional costs of the Stuttgart 21 rail project. The Baden-Württemberg (VGH) Administrative Court in Mannheim rejected the application for approval of the appeal of the railway against a corresponding judgment of the Stuttgart Administrative Court.
In May last year, the administrative court decided that the railway is not entitled to the part of the project to participate in the additional costs. The court had rejected corresponding complaints from the railway against the state of Baden-Württemberg, the city of Stuttgart, the Stuttgart region and Stuttgart Airport. In contrast, the railway had filed an appeal and made an application to admit the appeal at the Baden-Württemberg Administrative Court.
Court: No serious doubts about the correctness of the judgment
The VGH now rejected this application. The railway had not submitted any reasons that justified an approval of the appeal, the court said. There are no serious doubts about the correctness of the judgment, there were no procedural errors. The Stuttgart judgment is therefore final.
The decision of the highest administrative court in Baden -Württemberg can be found – according to a court spokeswoman, the administrative court for the train is exploited. In theory, it is still possible that the railway will move to the Federal Constitutional Court, said the court spokeswoman.
This is likely to come to the train billions. The group, which is officially the client of Stuttgart 21, currently estimates the total cost of the project at a good 11 billion euros and has also calculated a buffer of 500 million euros. In a financing contract from 2009, however, only the distribution of costs up to an altitude of a good 4.5 billion euros is regulated. The additional costs of at least 6.5 billion euros are likely to get stuck on the train after deciding.
Crux of the matter: How is the so -called speech clause to be understood?
At the center of the legal dispute between the railway and the project partners was the interpretation of a so -called speech clause in the financing contract concluded in 2009. This had been agreed to deal with possible cost increases. It says: “In the event of further cost increases, the egg (railway infrastructure company) and the country are discussing.”
What exactly is meant by the clause was highly controversial between the S21 partners. Deutsche Bahn repeatedly emphasized that it assumes “joint financing responsibility”. The rest of the partners saw it differently and insisted that fixed amounts had been agreed. In their view, the clause only obliges to talk.
The Stuttgart court was also of this view. In the event of additional costs, the project partners have expressly appointed the admission of discussions, says the presiding judge at the pronouncement of the judgment in May 2024. This could not be derived from this.
New underground station, numerous tunnels
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.
The project has been built since 2010. Commissioning had already been postponed several times. A few weeks ago, the railway announced that Stuttgart 21 only partially wanted to go into operation at the end of 2026. Long -distance transport and part of the regional traffic are scheduled to drive to the new underground station from December 2026, while part of the regional traffic will continue to end in the old head station until July 2027. As a reason for the gradual commissioning, the company cited the equalization of closures that were necessary for the connection of the new infrastructure to the existing routes.
dpa
Source: Stern
