Today I had to drive across southern Stuttgart to continue the long and laborious process of getting set up here. Thanks to the miracle of my new GPS-I was able to find a pretty decent route that took me away from the “STAU” (A German word every one learns here-it means traffic jam). Along the way I drove through several suburbs towards Mohring. Along the way I came across a lot of signs like this:
In other words-opposing Stuttgart 21. Stuttgart 21 is a massive — and massively controversial — railway and urban-development project for the city proposing to lower the tracks to below ground, renovate the historic train station and reclaim abotu 100 hectares of land in the city limits. It is expensive ( 4 billion Euros). The project has three main parts: creating a high-speed railway connection to the city’s airport; transforming its main railway station from a terminus station to a through station; and creating a 60-kilometer high-speed rail line between Stuttgart and Ulm, nearly halving travel times between the two cities to only 28 minutes.
The project has been heavily opposed by a disparate group of folks. Some just object to the cost and some are more focused on the historic nature of the Hauptbahnhof. These folks have even tried to get the train station designated as a world heritage site. (To no avail).
It is expected that there will be weekly demonstrations-and perhaps daily in the week leading up to the election on the 27th of this month. The Green party has benefited from all the opposition, picking up a lot of seats in the Landtag for Baden Wurttenburg.
You see mostly signs urging a No vote-but you do see a lot urging a Ja vote too.
It will be interesting to watch over the next few weeks.
Two notes:
1. Stuttgart 21 is not just about Stuttgart – Ulm. As wikipedia states, it forms part of a scheme instigated by politicians to modernise the link between Paris, Vienna and ultimately Budapest (by providing an uninterrupted high-speed rail track).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magistrale_for_Europe
2. 4 billion Euros is quite optimistic. I have seen already 8 and 18 billions as serious projections. Only for the railroad station Stuttgart 21, not including the rest of the track …
Next time you’re at the bahnhoff take the elevator up to the top of the tower where the mercedes logo is rotating.
It’s free and the views are great.
The germans should save their money since its possible they will have to ‘save” Italy too..
Italy. to big to fail, too big to bail…
Another country where paying taxes seems to be an option.
I blog often and I really thank you for your content.
This article has really peaked my interest. I’m going to take a note of your site and keep checking for new details about
once a week. I opted in for your RSS feed too.