Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof

Updated: August 2026 – There is no other major German station that so much has been written about, and about which so little reliable can be said, as Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof. The terminus has been under rebuild for years, tracks disappear in stages, access points get relocated, and the listed Bonatzbau stands in the middle of a huge building site.

That’s why this page is set up differently from those for other stations: less fixed description of viewpoints, more guidance on finding your own bearings.

What the rebuild actually means for you

A station mid-rebuild runs by different rules. Traffic keeps running, but over fewer tracks, on temporary routes, and with more frequent changes. For spotters that means three things.

First: the choice is smaller. Fewer usable platform tracks mean fewer viewpoints and fewer parallel subjects. Second: route descriptions don’t hold up. What was a good spot last year may sit behind a construction fence today. Third: works trains are everyday here. Engineering vehicles, road-rail excavators and materials trains are the exception at other stations – here they belong to the scene.

The scheduled traffic itself changes little because of this: long-distance trains, loco-hauled double-deck sets and the multiple-unit fleets of regional operators such as DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee keep running. Anyone wanting to tell the regional operators apart should watch the liveries – alongside DB Regio Stuttgart, Arverio Baden-Württemberg runs here too, among others. Until recently this company operated under the name of the group Abellio.

The four realistic viewpoints

Viewpoint	Access	What you see	Main limitation
Platform ends towards the throat	ticket / platform ticket	approaches, full train lengths, works trains	wind, construction noise, changing closures
Concourse at the Bonatzbau	ticket / platform ticket	buffer stops, architecture, track occupation	little light, lots of people
Public paths at the track field	open to all	overview of the throat area	closures change, fences in shot
S-Bahn trunk line	ticket / platform ticket	dense S-Bahn frequency	tunnel, artificial light, no photos
Stations on the approach	ticket / platform ticket	the same traffic, more stable situation	requires travelling there

The last row is meant seriously. Anyone with a whole day gets more out of it by taking in the main station in the morning and then shifting to the approach lines – for instance towards the Fils valley, or the lines described in the guide to the Murrbahn.

Light, subjects and the limits of the hall

Photographically, Stuttgart is the weakest major station in southern Germany. The platforms are roofed and dark, the throat area is dominated by construction-site installations, and barriers show up in almost every shot.

What’s left are two groups of subjects. First, the architecture: the Bonatzbau with its clean stone façade is a rewarding subject even without a train. Second, the rebuild itself. Anyone photographing the same perspectives regularly will, in a few years, have a series that hardly exists anywhere else. That’s a good reason to visit the station more often, each time for less time.

Getting there, tickets and house rules

The main station is centrally located and directly reachable from all over Germany; S-Bahn and light-rail lines stop beneath the station. But that’s exactly where the trap lies: because of the construction work, routes between the levels are partly relocated, and the walk from the exit to the platform regularly takes longer than the app suggests. Allow an extra ten minutes, especially when switching between the long-distance and S-Bahn levels.

For time on the platforms you need a valid ticket or a platform ticket; in addition, the operator’s house rules apply, enforced more strictly in construction-site areas than elsewhere. Anyone continuing to the Gäubahn lines afterwards finds the current situation in the Gäubahn guide with diversions and photo spots. An overview of further locations in the city is given by the Stuttgart photo-spot guide.

When Stuttgart is the right choice

Safety at a station building site

A station mid-rebuild is more dangerous than a normal station – not because of the trains, but because of everything else.

Verdict

In its current state, Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof isn’t a spot you visit for the haul. Train density is decent, variety middling, light poor and predictability low. Anyone wanting a full sightings list should go to Munich or Nuremberg.

Anyone wanting to document a station in transition, on the other hand, has an opportunity here that won’t exist in this form a second time. The trick is to stay briefly, come back often, and spend the afternoon somewhere else.