Late Trains, Old Bridges, No Signal: Germany's Infrastructure Woes

Workers at the new underground main station in the Stuttgart 21 project (Credit: AFP)

Running late and vastly over budget, a mammoth rail project stands as a monument to what critics say is Germany's glaring failure to tackle long-standing infrastructure woes.

"Stuttgart 21" is envisaged as a major, futuristic rail hub in the southwestern city, a fitting gateway to a region home to the headquarters of corporate heavyweights such as Bosch and Mercedes-Benz.