war damage was eliminated and electric operations resumed, but it had to be abandoned in March 1946. The infrastructure was abruptly dismantled and delivered together with the locomotives to the USSR as war reparations. After the return of the electrification equipment in 1952 the line was electrified for a third time. The contact wire between Bitterfeld and Meinsdorf (Roßlau freight yard) was completed on 15 March 1958 and between Leipzig and Bitterfeld on 9 July 1958. For the connection to Magdeburg, the route via Köthen to Halle was more important, so that the line northwest of Roßlau was not initially electrified. In 1962, the Bitterfeld–Delitzsch section was moved to allow the development of a new open pit mine at Holzweißig-West, extending its length by 1498 metres and Petersroda station was rebuilt. Federal highway 184 was rebuilt parallel to the line. From 1 January 1955 to 1 January 1977, the section north of Haideburg yard belonged to Reichsbahndirektion (railway division) Halle, subsequently the border with the area of Reichsbahndirektion Magdeburg corresponded again with the boundary of the district of Magdeburg at Neeken. The second track was restored in the 1970s to the northwest of Roßlau in the district of Magdeburg. For unknown reasons the track was not restored in the area of the district of Halle, so points had to be installed at Neeken. The line was then re-electrified. The overhead wire was completed on 4 October 1974 between Roßlau and Zerbst and the remaining section between Zerbst and Magdeburg Neustadt was completed on 15 April 1975. Preparations were made for the overhead wire for the missing second track between Neeken and Roßlau freight yard, but the section remained single track. Although the missing track was relaid in 1990, two-track operations were not introduced because the points at the junctions had not been modified for two-track operations. In long-distance traffic between Berlin and Leipzig, the section between Bitterfeld and Leipzig–together with the line from Bitterfeld to Halle–was the busiest in the GDR. They were served by express trains via Leipzig to Zwickau and Aue and to Gera and Saalfeld. Trains also ran over the network of Deutsche Reichsbahn from Berlin to Karlovy Vary and Rostock to Munich. In addition, one or two pairs of express ran daily from Leipzig to Magdeburg and continued towards Hanover. Trains ran towards the Berlin outer ring via Dessau, especially unscheduled services, seasonal trains and transit