Stuttgart 21, High Speed Rail Station and TOD

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/arts/design/03railway.html?_r=1

Stuttgart-21: the plan is about much more than train station architecture. It is about whether Stuttgart Center remains connected to the Euro high speed rail system or is being bypassed with a station only at the airport. The now proposed solution has been agonized over since 1994. It turns a dead end station (turn back and out) into a through station and envisions TOD over the entire surface track area. The main parts of the historic Bonatz station building remain, not just facades. All in all I think S-21 is what Stuttgart needs, although I am not well versed in the details of the proposed preservation or the new station design.

See these links for Stuttgart 21:
http://www.gmfus.org/doc/Praes_S21_Englisch.pdf
http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/stuttgart-21-clean-project-gets-a-green-signal/. There is lots more but it is in German. The Green Party, opposed to the project, won in June elections the most seats in the City Council. Strange world.

Demonstrations for (rarely) and against S-21 (weekly)

Protester's booth at the North Entrance in 2010



The large track area that can  be developed after the tracks will be
realigned and buried

Additional Entry:
After t woadditional years of turmoil, weekly demonstrations, water cannons, pepper spary and an arbitration session that turned into a TV hit the matter was finally brought to referendum in November of 2011. For the monent it appears as if this settled the matter. The majority of voters in the state of Baden Wuerrtemberg voted for continuation of the project. News. The irony is, that this topic helped this state to become the first and only state in Germany with a Green Party Governor. (The Green Party is opposed to Stuttgart 21). Now this Governor has to implement the people's will and build the project he opposes.