Germany's multi-billion rail masterplan is divisive

The clocktower and the main hall will remain, but robbed of is original use since the new platforms will all be underground, buried under a plaza punctuated by futuristic, eye-shaped skylights.

One of Germany's leading newspapers, the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, likened it to destroying St. Peters in the Vatican City but leaving the dome intact.

Opponents also say that doing so much underground construction is potentially dangerous, and that the current station need only be modernized. Others say that many of the new lines will be unsuitable for cargo trains.

“It's been neglected a bit, but it's still the second most punctual terminus station in Germany,” says Axel Wieland from the BUND green pressure group, one of the many organizations against the project.

But supporters say that when the decision to go ahead was taken in 1995, a majority supported it. And a whole new district will be created where the rail lines now stand, freeing up land for parks and valuable real estate.

“People are being told a pack of lies,” Drexler insists.

Stuttgart might well come back to hurt Chancellor Angela Merkel. Baden-Wuerttemberg has elections in March, and Stuttgart 21 could well be a decisive factor if her conservatives lose power in the state.

Whatever the arguments — and both sides have put forth convincing-sounding “experts” to back their stand — it is clear that for all its claims to be modern and green, Germany has a rail network in a dire state.

In France, a train ride from Paris to Lyon takes slightly less than two hours, while going from Hamburg to Cologne, a similar distance, takes twice as long — and around the same time as by car. So Germans tend to drive or fly.

ICE intercity trains in “polycentric” Germany make many more stops than French high-speed “Trains a Grande Vitesse” (TGV), Christian Boettger, transport expert at Berlin's University of Applied Sciences (HTW), told AFP.

Planning procedures are also slower and cities and states use their clout not to lose an ICE service. They also refuse to have their main train stations anywhere other than in the centre, experts say.

Another factor is the lobbying power of Germany's key auto industry, says Boettger. Environmentalists say this makes a mockery of Merkel's attempts to make Germany greener.

“Sixty percent of Germans never use public transport, and you can't win an election if you turn against them,” Boettger said. “The government talks a lot about the environment but it does very little.”

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