Pfaffensteig Tunnel: Pilot Project for Rail Partnership Model
In April 2024, DB Projekt Stuttgart-Ulm GmbH submitted the planning approval documents for the construction of the Pfaffensteig Tunnel to the Federal Railway Authority. The groundwork has thus been laid to run the Gäubahn railway line to Stuttgart Airport via an approximately 11-km tunnel and thereby connect it to the new Stuttgart rail hub.
The Pfaffensteig Tunnel is the first major railway infrastructure project to be realised in all relevant service phases as a rail partnership model. DB Projekt Stuttgart–Ulm GmbH signed the corresponding multi-party contract in November 2023; the alliance partners are Geoconsult, FCP, IC-Consulenten, Züblin, Wayss & Freytag, Strabag, Rhomberg, Swietelsky, Spitzke and Hörmann.
The aim of the rail partnership model is to save time and therefore costs by speeding up processes. All partners in the alliance are already involved in the design and approval planning of the various trades and are not – as is common practice – only involved from the implementation planning stage onwards. Instead of concluding a bilateral contract with one contractor, a multi-party contract with all partners is concluded.
Commissioning Planned for 2032
The Pfaffensteig Tunnel is part of the Gäubahn extension project (upgraded/new railway line Stuttgart–
Singen–Germany/Switzerland border), northern section. The approximately 11 km long tunnel will connect the eastern end of the Stuttgart Airport mainline station (planning approval section 1.3a of the Stuttgart 21 project) with the existing section of the Gäubahn at the Sindelfingen-East motorway junction. It is planned as a twin-tube, single-track railway tunnel.
It is planned to begin construction work in 2026, and the Pfaffensteig Tunnel is expected to go into operation at the end of 2032. To allow construction of the tunnel to begin more quickly, planning has been divided into two sections. The planning approval section (PFA) 1, which has now been submitted, comprises the part of the Pfaffensteig Tunnel to be constructed by means of mining with a length of around 10.8 km. Planning approval section 2 comprises the part to be built by cut-and-cover with a length of around 300 m.
