A project in Germany makes the Euston chaos look tidy

Don’t think that we are the only country where mega-projects go wrong.

Recently, I was in Stuttgart, where the mess around the station makes the chaos at Euston look like the epitome of tidiness.

To get to the trains, people have to trudge some 400 metres along a long, wide walkway that is covered in building dust, and which provides occasional views of a massive building site that shows no sign of being anywhere near completion.

There are lots of familiar aspects. The scheme stretches back even further than HS2, having been first announced in 1994, with work starting in 2010.

By then, the original estimate of €4 billion (£3.47bn) had already risen to €6bn. It now stands at more than €9bn (£7.8bn), although that is accepted as an underestimate. Indeed, opponents now suggest it will be in excess of €18bn (£15.6bn).

The scheme has been beset by opposition, including at one stage a huge riot which resulted in dozens of arrests, and by scope changes as a result of political intervention.

On the face of it, the plan is a sensible one - to replace a 16-platform terminus station with eight underground through lines, obviating the need for trains to have to reverse out of a very busy station on numerous major routes.

There are hopes that it will be completed by the end of next year, but none of the local people I spoke to believed that. Indeed, just walking through the station suggested there were huge amounts of work required to complete the plan.

I mentioned the story on my podcast, and a listener commented that at least once completed, the whole area will have huge amounts of new housing and commercial development which will contribute towards the enormous cost.

As he put it: “Not many main line city centre stations can boast of vineyards looking down from a nearby hill, but Stuttgart can.”

Indeed, I did find it a lovely city. But amid the mess and chaos, it was quite hard to visualise that at the moment.

But he is right - the journey to the airport on the U-bahn is up a remarkably steep hill and through lovely countryside. It’s definitely worth a visit - but perhaps wait a few years….