Germany: Deutsche Bahn Pushes Back Stuttgart 21 Opening to 2033, Adds €3 Billion in Costs

Deutsche Bahn has overhauled the commissioning plan for its Stuttgart 21 rail hub project, pushing the full completion date out to 2033 and adding roughly €3 billion to the project's cost, the company announced on 26 June.

An internal review found what Deutsche Bahn described as substantial project failures and grave deficits in planning, control and risk management, concluding that the project's original end-2026 completion target was, from today's perspective, unachievable. The new total project cost stands at €14.5 billion.

Under the revised staged plan, commissioning will occur in stages between 2027 and 2033, with the new main station opening as a through-station in December 2031 and full node completion scheduled for December 2033.

Deutsche Bahn said it has restructured the project's leadership and revamped its risk-management processes, naming DB Projekt Stuttgart-Ulm GmbH as the commissioning organisation with new escalation procedures for critical issues.

Stuttgart 21 is one of Germany's largest and most contested rail infrastructure projects, converting Stuttgart's terminus station into an underground through-station.