Hello Leipzig: This is how Monday, 2 November 2026 begins

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Leipzig is bracing itself for a court case that is entirely overshadowed by the traumatic events of the reckless driving spree on 4 May. It begins today. There is news regarding rail and bus services; two bridges are in the spotlight this week – one of them protects the city from flooding, whilst the other may have a structurally unsound foundation. And the Youth Welfare Office is moving premises and is currently only available to a very limited extent.

Trial begins over reckless driving spree

This incident shook the entire city and will remain etched in its memory forever as a terrible event: on 4 May 2026, Jeffrey K. is alleged to have driven a car along Grimmaische Straße, killing two people and injuring eight others (as reported by the LZ
). The trial of the 34-year-old began today at 8 am at the Leipzig Regional Court.

According to the indictment, the vehicle reached speeds of up to 90 kilometres per hour in the pedestrian zone. The prosecution accuses the defendant, amongst other things, of two counts of murder, 85 counts of attempted murder and eight counts of causing grievous bodily harm. Jeffrey K. has been in pre-trial detention since 9 September.

The Regional Court
has scheduled 29 days of hearings for the trial, running until 7 July 2027. Nine joint plaintiffs and two civil claimants are involved. Plaintiffs with a claim for damages assert civil claims against the defendant in criminal proceedings, in particular claims for damages or compensation for pain and suffering (Sections 403 et seq. of the Code of Criminal Procedure). This may, under certain circumstances, render separate civil proceedings unnecessary. A date for the judgement has not yet been set.

Security checks were carried out before visitors were admitted to the courtroom. Mobile phones, cameras, tablets, laptops and other recording devices had to be handed in, unless they were work equipment belonging to accredited journalists. Our reporter Lucas Böhme
reports on the start of the trial.

Buses running again, but trains are not

Passengers, particularly commuters on regional services, must prepare for night-time train cancellations in the west of Leipzig from this evening, whilst bus route 84 is once again serving its regular departure platform at the main station. Due to maintenance work, the railway line between Leipzig Central Station and Leipzig-Plagwitz will be closed today from 10 pm to 5 am.

Trains on the Erfurt railway lines RE 12 and RB 22 will be cancelled during this period between Leipzig Central Station and Leipzig-Knauthain and will be replaced by buses. Passengers travelling towards Zeitz and Saalfeld should take note of the changed departure and journey times.

Trains on the S6 S-Bahn line between Leipzig Central Station and Markranstädt will also be cancelled during the night leading into Tuesday. The Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund (MDV) has announced a rail replacement service and refers passengers to current connections and replacement timetables at www.mdv.de.

There is, however, some good news for users of bus route 84: from today, it will once again run as normal from Platform O at Leipzig Central Station. This has been made possible by the near-completion of the drinking water pipeline works at Willy-Brandt-Platz, where the majority of the road closures were already removed on 19 October. Only in the eastern section will barriers remain in place until 15 November due to remaining works, which is why cycle traffic will also continue to be diverted for the time being.

Restrictions at the Youth and Family Services Office

Today, further sections of the Leipzig Office for Youth and Family are moving into the former Exhibition Hall 12 (‘Soviet Pavilion’). Initially, this affects the offices at Naumburger Straße 26, with the exception of the General Social Services, Team South-West, and the teams from Wahren Town Hall. On 20 November, the Integration Support Department, including the ‘School’ section, will follow from Schönefeld Town Hall.

During each move, in-person visits to the departments concerned will be completely suspended. They will remain contactable by telephone, email and post; however, there may be delays in processing and responding to enquiries. From 7 December, the teams that have relocated will then be able to receive visitors at their new premises.

The Youth Welfare Office is expected to introduce a new appointment booking system from 9 November. In-person appointments can then only be booked via terminvereinbarung.leipzig.de or by telephone on the authority’s number 0341-115. Exceptions apply to nursery place advice and certification services: walk-in appointments will still be possible at the new location for these services. The General Social Services, the Family Counselling Centre and the Youth Court Assistance Service will remain at their decentralised locations.

The Alte Messe, where the new office is located, can be reached by public transport via the stops ‘Altes Messegelände’, ‘An den Tierkliniken’ and ‘Deutsche Nationalbibliothek’.

As early as the start of 2022, around 100 employees of the Youth Welfare Office had already moved there following the completion of the first phase of construction. Around 230 further staff members will join them in December. The City Archives have been using the Porticus area of the former exhibition hall since 2019. With this latest move, the administrative centre will be fully occupied.

The former Exhibition Hall 12 was built in 1923–24 to designs by the architects Oskar Pusch and Carl Krämer as an exhibition hall for machine tools and was also used at times for major sporting events under the name ‘Achilleion’. From 1950 to 1952, the building was redesigned as the Soviet Pavilion, modelled on monumental Soviet representative architecture; the gilded spire with a red star still serves as a reminder of this period today. After standing empty for decades, the listed building underwent renovation from 2016 onwards.

Bridge construction on the Elster floodplain

Work on the footpaths on the Klinger Bridge is set to begin this week. From today, the southern footpath towards the city centre is scheduled to be temporarily closed. Next week, the footpath on the opposite side is due to be closed.

According to the City of Leipzig, damaged sections of the footpaths are being repaired to restore safety on the route between Zentrum-West, Schleußig and Lindenau. The bridge will remain partially accessible to pedestrians throughout the works. Pedestrians can use the opposite pavement and cross the road at the pedestrian traffic lights.

In parallel with the repairs, the structural condition of the bridge piers is to be inspected. To this end, the city is making use of the functional test of the Palmengarten weir, during which the water level is lowered. The relevant sections of the piers are only accessible when the water level is low. The inspections stem from requirements set by the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, which must be met in connection with a possible replacement structure.

The Klinger Bridge is a listed building. It was designed by the architect Georg Wünschmann (1868–1937). The three-span reinforced concrete bridge features curved longitudinal and transverse girders. Its distinctive architectural features include the granite-clad abutments and piers, a solid parapet, and tower-like structures topped with latticed gas lanterns. This distinctive design underpins the structure’s heritage value, which must also be taken into account when considering a possible replacement.

The Palmengarten weir is situated 500 metres north of the Klinger Bridge at the southern end of the Elster basin. It regulates the water level and the inflow from the Weiße Elster as well as the Elster and Pleiße floodplains. The structure was built between 1913 and 1917 on behalf of the City of Leipzig under the supervision of the architect Georg Wünschmann (1868–1937), to control the water flow as part of the expansion of the Elster basin and to better protect the city from flooding.