Hello Leipzig: This is how Tuesday 13 October 2026 begins

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A colossal coal-hauling locomotive made of thousands of tonnes of steel is being moved to a new site in the lignite mining area. The transport authorities are organising special services to help prevent traffic chaos around today’s Champions League match, whilst the University of Music and Theatre is hosting a concert dedicated to the composer Béla Bartók, incorporating elements of jazz – and a discussion evening will explore the question of how worthy our democratic constitutional order is of protection.

Special services for the Champions League

Time and again, the huge influx of visitors to matches at the Red Bull Arena
leads to traffic jams and congestion around the stadium. To avoid this chaos, travelling by public transport is recommended. For tonight’s Champions League match between RB Leipzig and PSV Eindhoven, which is due to kick off at 9 pm, Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (LVB)
is organising a special service from 6 pm until 11.59 pm.

On route 51, trams will run between Paunsdorf Nord and Wahren via Torgauer Platz, the main station and Waldplatz. Special route 54 connects the main station with the Sportforum Ost stop. Route 56 runs from the
exhibition centre
via Chausseehaus and the west side of the main station to Sportforum Süd. Whilst Line 51 is in operation, Line 38 will be suspended. This is intended, in particular, to facilitate travel to and from the stadium and to supplement the regular services in the vicinity of the Sportforum.

If the LVB and Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund (MDV)
logos are printed on tickets already purchased for the match, these are known as ‘combined tickets’. This means the admission ticket also serves as a travel ticket, valid for five hours before and after the match throughout the entire Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund (MDV) network, including the Northern service area.

Leipzig jazz musicians perform Bartók

The “LeipJAZZig-Orkester” can be seen today in an extraordinary concert in the Great Hall of the “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” University of Music and Theatre (HMT, Grassistraße 8) in Leipzig. Under the title ‘LeipJAZZig-Orkester plays Béla Bartók’, the ensemble will present a specially curated programme from 7.30 pm, placing compositions by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók in a new musical context alongside jazz.

Announced under the motto ‘Balkan music in jazz style’, this collaborative concert combines classical compositional techniques with improvisational elements and is listed as a special event in the LeipJAZZig e. V. calendar. Stephan König is responsible for the musical concept, having reworked selected themes from Bartók’s works for the orchestra’s unique instrumentation. König also takes on the role of musical director and is responsible for the arrangements.

The concert is divided into two parts, each exploring different dimensions of Béla Bartók’s oeuvre. The programme opens with ‘Mikrokosmos’, featuring jazz-oriented arrangements of compositions originally written for solo and duo ensembles. The programme then turns its attention to the ‘Macrocosmos’, focusing on the composer’s large-scale orchestral works. These include, amongst others, ‘The Wooden Prince’ and ‘The Miraculous Mandarin’, whose musical motifs are revisited in new arrangements.

The 14-piece ensemble, including Stephan König, brings together string instruments, woodwinds and brass, as well as guitar, bass, drums and percussion. This combination of instruments opens up a wide range of possibilities for blending Bartók’s rhythmic and harmonic ideas with the expressive forms of jazz. Tickets are available ONLINE HERE and at the box office.

Coal monster crosses the road

Due to the transport of large-scale open-cast mining equipment, the B176 in the Leipzig district will be completely closed from 6 am this morning. The section affected is between the Pödelwitz junction and the small roundabout near Neukieritzsch. According to the district administration office, the closure is set to last until 6 am on Thursday, 15 October; diversions are signposted. The traffic restriction will therefore also affect the morning rush hour.

A similar operation in July 2025 gives an idea of the scale involved in such transports. On that occasion, the mining company MIBRAG moved, amongst other things, the 1554 bucket-wheel excavator across the B 176. The machine, weighing 940 tonnes, was 60 metres long, 19 metres wide and 18 metres high. It crossed the road at a speed of just 6 metres per minute. To protect the tarmac, a layer of gravel was laid beforehand and subsequently removed.

According to the Leipziger Volkszeitung, a bucket-chain excavator weighing 1,030 tonnes is now to be transported towards the Peres mining field. The newspaper reports that the enormous vehicle is 83 metres long, 19 metres wide and 21 metres high. The colossus is to be accompanied by four traction units and a belt conveyor.

The newspaper cites a company spokesperson and recommends that onlookers watch the event live on 14 October from around 7 am. By then, the heavy machinery will have reached the B 176 and will cross the main road at a maximum speed of six metres per minute. The spectacle can be viewed by approaching the road closure on the B 176 from either Groitzsch or Neukieritzsch. However, no official spectator areas or visitor car parks have been announced.

Important: Barriers and safety regulations must be strictly observed! The opencast mine site must not be entered.

The Peres opencast mine, situated between Groitzsch and Böhlen to the south of Leipzig, represents more than six decades of lignite mining: development began in 1963, and from 1966 onwards, conveyor belt systems were introduced, making the operation a technical pioneer in the GDR. Following its premature closure in 1991, the remaining coal reserves were re-developed from 2014 as part of the ‘Vereinigtes Schleenhain’ large-scale opencast mine.

By 1991, around 140 million tonnes of lignite had already been extracted in Peres; a further 120 million tonnes were estimated for the mining field that was later reopened – totalling, therefore, approximately 260 million tonnes, provided the planned production volume is fully utilised. Once coal extraction has ceased, there are long-term plans to create another lake in the southern area on the stripped-out land, which raises concerns about the impact this may have on the condition of the Leipzig floodplain forest (as reported by the LZ).

Expert discussion on the protection of democracy

A public discussion event entitled “Why protect democracy?” will take place this evening from 6 pm to 8 pm in Leipzig, featuring Stephan J. Kramer, President of the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The venue is the auditorium of the Schulcampus Stadtteilhaus at Wurzner Straße 70, 04315 Leipzig. Admission is free. According to the Saxon State Centre for Political Education (SLpB), places are still available. Those interested can register via the SLpB website.

Kramer, who has headed the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2015, was previously Secretary-General of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. The event is part of the ‘Kontrovers vor Ort’ series, organised by the Saxon State Agency for Political Education in collaboration with the Saxon Adult Education Association and the Leipzig Adult Education Centre. The focus is on the resilience of democratic societies in the face of growing political divisions, targeted disinformation and dwindling trust in social and political institutions.

Among other things, the discussion will explore what conditions are necessary for peaceful coexistence despite differing political convictions, and what contribution each individual can make to democratic culture. Dealing with social conflicts and the importance of mutual respect will also be central themes.

Mr Kramer, the current head of a state office for the protection of the constitution, will be taking part in the event, bringing his experience in the field of state-level democracy protection to the discussion. The evening is billed as a lecture followed by, or accompanied by, a discussion, and is aimed at the interested public. Registration is available ONLINE HERE via the Saxon State Centre for Political Education.