Stuttgart 21 — A make or break for railway investment
Although we kicked off our 3-week trip with a packed schedule including seeing city sites, meeting with city planners and exploring the automotive giants, for this reflection, I’m going to write about the city’s largest urban development project, Stuttgart 21.
Stuttgart 21 is a large-scale urban development and railway infrastructure project set to replace the current Hauptbanhof in Stuttgart. The project includes the total reconfiguration and replacement of the existing rail network, the implementation of a vast underground station, and a redesign of the land above the land above the underground station to include greater pedestrian access, public parks, commercial areas and additional residential buildings.
What I find extremely interesting about Stuttgart 21 is that it was proposed as a forward-thinking investment, rather than a necessity of today. When I think about big urban infrastructure projects in the US such as train stations or airport terminals, they often come because of the crumbling existing infrastructure or inability to accommodate current passenger capacity.
This is not the case for Stuttgart. Stuttgart 21 was proposed to incentivize travel through the station. It is a way of using public infrastructure to further establish itself as a transportation hub among the highly efficient and widely used European high-speed rail network.
As an extraordinarily expensive project with a budget ballooning far beyond initial projections and a timeline that seems to be continually extended, it is no wonder that critics have long doubted its ability to provide a return on the investment. On this is certain — the outcome of this big bet will have far-reaching implications for other cities across Europe.
