This recent Econlog podcast has a good discussion of megaprojects and why they fail:
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2015/05/bent_flyvbjerg.html
Is the Berlin Airport ready yet?
41–48 of 48 posts
Re: Is the Berlin Airport ready yet?
#42For those that are not aware, the delays regarding the Berlin Airport are a running joke by now. And to add insult to injury, there are estimations that the new airport may already be too small to handle the projected number of flights to and from Berlin. Just like the Therac-25[1] is used a a case study for proper software engineering, I'm positive the BER will be taught in engineering schools as a cautionary tale o…
Not one day, I've heard about courses that already look at it.
Re: Is the Berlin Airport ready yet?
#43The airport contributes to the overall image the rest of Germany has of Berlin: A subsidized place where politians hide and everybody else has an art (or nowadays startup) project going on and real work is only done when punks gather on May 1st to throw stones at the police.
Re: Is the Berlin Airport ready yet?
#44I quite like the site, having lived in Berlin for a little bit I am also aware of the fact the new airport is quite a discussion point... personally I will be sad to see Tegel go as it represents simple air travel which just worked (maybe just lucky for me)... Schonefeld was never that enjoyable in comparison, but meh, it's just a means to an end :-). Also, I think many people who have setup buildings/shops in Berlin…
Tegel is the only airport that I know that doesn't place barriers forcing me to walk through all the duty free to get from point A to B. You can land in Tegel and be in less than 10 minutes.
Re: Is the Berlin Airport ready yet?
#45I thought Berlin has many airports (I remember Tegel and the other one). So this is another new one ? If yes, why is there a need for a new one :) For example Frankfurt has only one and it's capable much more than Berlin, because it's also a Hub for Lufthansa.
The two operating airports are tiny, Cold-War-era relics that aren't sized appropriately for a large city. FRA is probably 20 times the size of TXL in terms of footprint. They also lack many modern conveniences that travelers expect. TXL has a Burger King, a convenience store, and maybe one working power outlet.
Traverls expect their airport to be like a kafkaesque mall that forces them to see all the possible wares they can purchases before getting out of it.
Re: Is the Berlin Airport ready yet?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
This actually happens a lot in high profile architectural projects. Probably more so than most people think: http://architizer.com/blog/architectures-over-budget-hall-of... You can also add the very high profile WTC Transportation Hub and the City of Arts and Sciences as well; both Calatrava projects that went way over budget.
I'd be interested to see the opposite of this... a list of high-profile projects that were under budget. Or at least minimally over budget.
It is not common but happens sometimes, even in big infra projects.
One example is Wilson Bridge. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/03/3...
Also, near where I live, the new highway between Helsinki and Lahti was built under budget and exceeding schedule. (No links in English unfortunately.)
So it does happen.
Re: Is the Berlin Airport ready yet?
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
This actually happens a lot in high profile architectural projects. Probably more so than most people think: http://architizer.com/blog/architectures-over-budget-hall-of... You can also add the very high profile WTC Transportation Hub and the City of Arts and Sciences as well; both Calatrava projects that went way over budget.
I'd be interested to see the opposite of this... a list of high-profile projects that were under budget. Or at least minimally over budget.
The one that always comes to mind is the Empire State Building. It was built in 410 days, 12 days ahead of schedule and right on budget. I guess the design drawings were produced in two weeks, which is staggering to think about.
I'm pretty sure the race for the tallest building at the time probably had something to do with the rate at which they it got it built. They were competing at the time with the Chrysler building for bragging rights as the tallest building and both wanted to get done first.
Re: Is the Berlin Airport ready yet?
#48As an explanation for non-germans: Berlin is supposed to get a new airport, the BER, but the project is massively mismanaged, and already way over schedule and budget. Recently, for the first time, a schedule for completion has been released. This site provides a way to track the progress made on this schedule.
They released many schedules over the years, the first announced opening date was 1997 [1]. They even postponed dates for the announcement of (new) dates. [1] http://www.bertrug.de/Geplante_Inbetriebnahmen_Flughafen_BER
Did they release schedules or just completion dates? I was just parroting what the Morgenpost wrote on the page, "Erstmals gibt es einen Terminplan, mit dem wir den Baufortschritt regelmäßig überprüfen können."