Stuttgart 21 sends its harbingers: the new Wendlingen-Ulm line is ready for operation
Created: 09/12/2022 17:52
By: Nadja Pohr
35 years after the start of planning, the time has come: the first part of the Stuttgart-Ulm railway project, which also includes Stuttgart 21, has been completed.
The new line between Wendlingen and Ulm was officially opened on Friday.
Stuttgart - The large-scale construction project Stuttgart 21 is causing a stir in the state capital of Baden-Württemberg and is also causing annoyance among the citizens.
Many Stuttgart residents have been protesting against the railway project for years.
Not only because they see Stuttgart 21 as a threat to the environment, but also because of the costs, which have risen again and again in the past.
The project now costs twice as much as originally planned.
The Stuttgart 21 railway project includes not only the conversion of the Stuttgart main station into an underground through station but also the connection to the new Wendlingen-Ulm line.
On Friday (December 9th) the railway celebrated a first milestone, because the railway connection between Stuttgart and Ulm is finally completed and operational after many years, reports
BW24
.
After 35 years: the new line between Wendlingen and Ulm is complete
It has been a good 35 years since the first plans for the new line took place and ten years ago the groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which cost almost four billion euros.
Now the rail connection between Wendlingen and Ulm is complete and from Sunday (December 11) the trains will officially run on the new route.
Michael Theurer, the federal government's railway commissioner, speaks of a "revolution in travel time" and an engineering masterpiece.
For Ulm's Lord Mayor Gunter Czisch, the new line has "a similar importance to the construction of the railway in general," as he told the
Südwest Presse
.
The Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed line will go into operation on December 11th.
© Christoph Schmidt/dpa
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In the future, travelers between Stuttgart and Munich will save a quarter of an hour, and the new stop on the Swabian Alb has given many people direct access to the rail network in the first place.
But: The full extent of the advantages that the route brings with it can only be fully exploited once the new underground station in the Swabian metropolis has been completed - according to the latest planning, this should not be the case until 2025.
American tourists involuntarily tested the new line to Ulm
Test drives were carried out in advance to ensure that everything worked out for the celebratory start on Friday, which was also attended by Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Green Party).
But Kretschmann was not the first to test the track.
Three American tourists involuntarily took part in one of the test drives.
On Tuesday morning they accidentally got on one of the test trains in Plochingen (Esslingen district) and actually wanted to go to Metzingen - in the end they ended up in Ulm.
The three tourists immediately drove back, as
picture
reports.
Among other things, train passengers between Tübingen, Reutlingen and Ulm will benefit from the new rail, writes the
German Press Agency (dpa)
.
The journey time will be reduced by up to 40 minutes.
Regional trains with a speed of 200 km/h and an ICE train once an hour will also be on the route.
When the construction work on the new underground station is also completed, the travel time between Stuttgart and Ulm should even be reduced by a total of around half an hour.