The German Railway, Deutsche Bahn AG, has announced the award of tunnel construction contracts for the Stuttgart 21 project worth US$1bn to a consortium led by Austrian contractor PORR. The tender packages are for the 9.5km long Filderstadt Tunnel, and the 6km long Ober-/Untertürkheim tunnel. The work will account for roughly a quarter of the entire project’s costs.
The controversial Stuttgard 21 project entails replacing the existing tracks and platforms of the city’s main railway station, Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, with a completely new, mainly underground transport hub. The project has been the focus of local protest, with many detractors believing the re-positioning of the underground station an approaches too expensive at over US$4bn. DB Infrastructure Officer Dr. Volker Kefer said, “The awarding of the tunnels is another important milestone in the progress of the project. It is now clear that the cost of speculation in recent weeks have been unfounded.”
The consortium will now begin preparation work for tunnel construction, says Deutsche Bahn.
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