German court Rejects Deutsche Bahn’s Appeal To Share Stuttgart 21 Cost Overruns With Partners
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
These three paragraphs add more details.
A court has rejected Deutsche Bahn’s argument that the financial responsibility for cost overruns on the Stuttgart 21 project should be shared with its partners, which include the Land of Baden-Württemberg, the Stuttgart regional authority, Stuttgart city council and Stuttgart airport.
When launched in 2010, the project to remodel the local rail network, which includes 57 km of new line and a rebuilt Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof with underground platforms, was expected to cost €4·1bn.
It has since undergone steady cost increases, and is now projected to cost more than €11bn. It was originally expected to be completed in 2019, but has been continually delayed and partial opening is now to take place in December 2026 with full completion in 2027.
With a prospective increase in costs of nearly three times and being eight years late, it does seem that we’re not alone in getting large projects spectacularly wrong.
The Anonymous Widower 
Another German example is the new Berlin airport which opened in 2020 after a delay of 9 years and billions of euros over budget.
Comment by JohnC | August 14, 2025 |