Stuttgart 21 is a project to reconstruct Stuttgart central station, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, converting it from a terminus into a through station mainly located underground. The new tracks are planned to cross at right angles to the northern end of the existing building. Terminating platforms are intended to be reconstructed while the building of the main station is meant to be mainly retained.
The project forms part of a scheme instigated by politicians to modernise the link between Paris, Vienna and ultimately Budapest— aiming to introduce Stuttgart as “The new heart of Europe”.
– source: wikipedia
For more information please read here.
Recently there are a lot protests against this project happening in Stuttgart. The main reasons are:
* Too expensive, a waste of money.
* Logistically not really necessary.
* Some big, beautiful gardens in the city would be blocked during the building time, for about 8 years.
So here are my thoughts. For the first objection: No big project is inexpensive. This project is offering a lot of jobs and will offer a lot jobs in the future. It will make Stuttgart more attractive. It is employing a lot of state of art construction technologies. I highly admire the people who designed it, decided to construct it and those who are constructing it. This project will definitely add to Germany’s national pride. It’s okay to think it as a waste of money. If tax payer’s money is not wasted on this project, it will be wasted on something else that is much less spectacular or much less visible to all. Knowing my tax money is going to be wasted some way anyhow, I’d rather finance this project. National pride is priceless. Those who are protesting today will know what I am talking about when the new railway station is successfully built.
For the second objection: What is really necessary for a living human being? Eating and sleeping. All creative and/or intelligent activities or projects are not really necessary. But beside eating and sleeping, people are also creative, people also pursuit greatness. This project shows the creativity and capabilities of German architects and engineers. This alone makes it a worthwhile effort. Don’t be a wimp.
For the third objection: So after 8 years there is even more green ground available in Stuttgart than today. No pain no gain.
I have a feeling that many gathered there just to have fun by collectively shouting out loud in the protest. Many of the protesters are very young people, some have not even finished their high school education. I guess, if they could invest the time and energy into their own education / business, they could benefit a lot more from the project. While they say this project is a waste of money, I say the protest is a waste of time.
