Strong rail is coming to Stuttgart Airport! Deutsche Bahn today celebrated the topping-out ceremony for the shell of the new long-distance and regional train station at Stuttgart Airport and Landesmesse. The shell of the new station's central access building has been completed.

The topping-out ceremony was celebrated today with high-ranking representatives of Deutsche Bahn, federal, state and local politicians, the European Commission, Stuttgart Airport and the construction industry, as well as other guests of honor.

Olaf Drescher, Chairman of the Management Board of DB Projekt Stuttgart-Ulm GmbH, representing Berthold Huber, Member of the Management Board for Infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn AG, who fell ill at short notice: "Stuttgart 21 is much more than the future main station. Because as a key element of S21, a new mobility hub with two platforms around 440 meters long is being built at the state capital's airport; for the first time, the trade fair grounds and airport as well as the Filder plain with around 250,000 inhabitants will be connected to long-distance and regional rail services. Stuttgart 21 is also a strong symbol for strong rail at the airport."

Dr. Gero Hocker, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital and Transport Affairs: "The topping-out ceremony for the Stuttgart Airport long-distance train station marks an important milestone in the reorganization of Stuttgart's rail hub. A unique link between the various modes of transport - long-distance and regional trains, air traffic, long-distance buses and cars - is being realized here. It is a major step towards managing the growing traffic flows as efficiently, customer-friendly and sustainably as possible and achieving punctual, clean and reliable connections for travelers. Faster connections to the airport and the exhibition center will make the entire metropolitan region more attractive. Many thanks to everyone involved for their excellent work."

Winfried Hermann, Minister for Transport of the State of Baden-Württemberg: "The new airport railway station will enable significantly more attractive travel times from almost all directions in the region and beyond to Stuttgart Airport and the Landesemesse trade fair center; in some cases, travel times will be more than halved. The state will connect the new station directly to many regional lines, thus ensuring fast and transfer-free connections. Of course, we also expect the same from DB in terms of long-distance connections, so that the airport is also directly linked to other regions. The state and the airport expect DB to run trains to the airport more frequently than every two hours in future, and not only with IC trains but also with ICEs. As annoying as the delays in the commissioning of Stuttgart 21 are, it must now be ensured that the airport station goes into operation at the same time as S21 and the new through station. We must now continue to work at full speed on connecting the Gäubahn to the main station via the airport. We appeal to the federal government to keep its word and secure funding for the Pfaffensteig Tunnel. In order to make the Stuttgart hub fit for the demands of the future with significantly more passengers, we also need the complete expansion of the Stuttgart digital hub. To this end, we are calling on Deutsche Bahn and the federal government to clear the way for component 3 and thus for the expansion to the line end points of the S-Bahn."

Silke Brocks, Deputy Head of Unit B1 (Transport Networks) at the European Commission: "In the trans-European transport network, the new Stuttgart-Ulm high-speed line and with it the new long-distance train station at Stuttgart Airport is a core element for an improved connection between Western and Eastern Europe. Thanks to the perfectly integrated airport in the region, this new transport axis will strengthen the entire Rhine-Danube transport corridor. It is a perfect example of how an attractive rail link can efficiently shift traffic from road to rail. This is crucial for the climate targets set out in the European Green Deal and for strengthening the European internal market. The European Commission is supporting the global Stuttgart-Ulm project with over one billion euros."

Dr. Frank Nopper, Lord Mayor of the state capital Stuttgart: "The long-distance airport train station will make three major goals a reality: Stuttgart Airport will be accessible by long-distance and regional trains in six to eight minutes from Stuttgart Central Station. In future, Stuttgart will also be one of the few cities with a long-distance airport railway station, and the people living on the Filder plain - in Stuttgart's Filder suburbs and in the other Filder municipalities - will be connected to regional and national long-distance rail services, just like the airport and the trade fair center. And Stuttgart Airport is also becoming a mobility hub of national and even European importance for air, rail, bus and automobile traffic. This should make Stuttgart Airport the best-connected commercial airport in the whole of Germany."

Carsten Poralla, Managing Director Non-Aviation at Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH: "We are in a time of transformation, we all know that. We are making great strides in shaping the future of mobility - you could say "we are now setting the right course". 250,000 people who live in the Filder region and beyond will be connected to long-distance and regional rail services. And we are seeing this live here today. We are not only making the airport fit for the next 100 years. We are ensuring that the region, the entire state of Baden-Württemberg, gets the connection it needs."

Klemens Haselsteiner, Chairman of the Management Board of STRABAG SE: "With today's topping-out ceremony for the long-distance train station at Stuttgart Airport, we have reached another important milestone and are delighted with the visible progress in this important infrastructure construction project. We are proud to be able to realize this important new connection between the airport and the new Stuttgart-Ulm line together with the project participants and would like to thank them for their excellent cooperation."

New mobility hub at the airport

Thanks to the future mobility hub, travelers will benefit from significantly reduced travel times and shorter distances. The new travel time from Stuttgart Central Station to the state airport will be just six minutes instead of the current 27 minutes. From Ulm, the journey time to the airport station will only be around 30 minutes - instead of more than 1 hour 30 minutes today; from Heidelberg, for example, travelers will only need 44 minutes to reach the airport instead of 1 hour 24 minutes today.

Stuttgart 21

Stuttgart 21 enables far-reaching improvements to the rail network in the southwest. The project will create the capacity for more trains and shorter travel times on long-distance and local services throughout Germany. Regional traffic will also benefit from many new connections without transfers and improved connections to long-distance traffic. In addition, Stuttgart 21 is the prerequisite for the Deutschlandtakt in the southwest.