Leipzig tram line 14 diverted today, four stops not served

Leipzig’s tram line 14 is diverted today, Wednesday, between 8am and 8pm because of construction work in Wittenberger Straße, and four stops will not be served in one direction. According to the Leipziger Internet Zeitung, this comes on top of longer-running diversions on the same line in the city centre and in the west.

What happened

The Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (LVB), the city’s public transport operator, is rerouting line 14 trams heading towards Klinikum St. Georg, the hospital in the north of the city. The diversion runs from 8am to 8pm today. From Hauptbahnhof (the main railway station), platform E, trams leave their usual route. They run via Wilhelm-Liebknecht-Platz, Chausseehaus and Delitzscher Straße to the Eutritzsch Zentrum stop. At Wilhelm-Liebknecht-Platz and in Eutritzsch they use the line 16 stops.

The stops Wittenberger Straße, Apelstraße, Dessauer Straße and Theresienstraße will not be served in that direction. The LVB says the change applies only to today and should end at 8pm.

The Leipziger Internet Zeitung reports that line 14 is already running on a changed route because of track work at Georgiring, Augustusplatz and Hauptbahnhof, which began on Monday. Between Westplatz and Hauptbahnhof, Westseite, the line runs via Gottschedstraße and Goerdelerring. The city-centre work is expected to last into November. Separately, utility work in Karl-Heine-Straße means trams on the western section terminate early at Angerbrücke. A Schienenersatzverkehr (replacement bus service) covers the Plagwitz area.

The disruption affects a fairly new connection. A little under eleven months ago, the LVB extended line 14 back to Eutritzsch after a 17-year break. Since then it has supplemented line 16 between the city centre and Klinikum St. Georg. The aim was to give passengers from the west of Leipzig and the city centre more direct journeys to the north without changing trams.

What it means for you

If you normally board line 14 at Wittenberger Straße, Apelstraße, Dessauer Straße or Theresienstraße towards Klinikum St. Georg, you will need another stop between 8am and 8pm today. The nearest options on the diversion are the line 16 stops at Wilhelm-Liebknecht-Platz and in Eutritzsch, or the stops along Delitzscher Straße.

Commuters from the west should remember the longer-running changes. Line 14 does not run its normal route through the city centre, and it ends at Angerbrücke, with replacement buses serving Plagwitz.

On school days, lines 14 and 16 together usually run every five minutes on parts of the route. During the current Herbstferien (autumn school holidays), the LVB is running a special timetable without the extra school services, so expect trams less often than in term time.

The LVB publishes current disruptions at him.l.de/disruptions.html and in its journey planner. Check before you travel.

The Leipziger Internet Zeitung also lists several other events for today:

• City finances for schools: the Verwaltungsausschuss (the city council’s administrative committee) meets at 5pm in the Ratsplenarsaal (council chamber) of the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall). It will discuss unplanned extra spending on IT equipment and data processing at municipal schools under § 79 (1) of the Sächsische Gemeindeordnung, the Saxon law on local government. This part of the meeting is open to the public. Some agenda items will be discussed in a closed session.
• Punk in East and West: at 7pm the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig, a museum of contemporary history in Grimmaische Straße, hosts “Verwende deine Jugend! 50 Jahre Punk BRDDR”. Musician and author Henryk Gericke and Tocotronic bassist Jan Müller will talk about punk in the GDR and West Germany, with Ulrich Gutmair of the taz moderating. The event is part of the Leipziger Literarischer Herbst literary festival. Entry is free.
• Heirloom valuations: from 4pm to 7pm, the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst (museum of applied arts) at Johannisplatz 5-11 holds “Trödel oder Kostbarkeit?” (“Junk or treasure?”) in its Pfeilerhalle. Museum experts and outside dealers will assess objects you bring. It costs 3 euros, you do not need to register, and each person can bring up to three items. For large furniture, bring clear photographs. Coins, musical instruments, weapons and ethnological objects are excluded. The verbal assessment is not a written, legally binding valuation.

What to watch next

The extra diversion in Wittenberger Straße is due to end at 8pm today. The track work in the city centre is expected to continue into November, and the LVB says the longer-term restrictions elsewhere on line 14 are not affected by today’s change. The GRASSI museum says its valuation day takes place twice a year, in spring and autumn.

Source: Leipziger Internet Zeitung