which all traffic ran until November 2012 and the Leipzig freight ring (Leipziger Güterring). Since the closure of the connecting line, the Leipzig–Hof line is no longer directly accessible from Leipzig Hbf. The line then runs through southern Leipzig, which is dominated by coal mining and mining landscapes composed of lakes in abandoned open cuts and slag heaps. There are four tracks as far as Gaschwitz and then three tracks to Böhlen. In Altenburg, the landscape becomes hilly and the line then follows the valley of the Pleiße. In Gößnitz the line intersects with the Mid-Germany connection and then passes through Crimmitschau and Werdau before reaching the Werdau wye, where it connects with the line from Dresden to Werdau. It then enters northern Vogtland. Two kilometres west of Neumark the line to Greiz branched off until it was closed in 1999. Electrification of the line currently ends at Reichenbach, where a section with interesting structures begins, including the Göltzsch Viaduct at Netzschkau and the Elster Viaduct at Jocketa. The route then reaches Plauen, which has seven stations, but trains on the Saxon-Bavarian Railway only stop at Plauen upper station and Jößnitz. After Plauen station, the line turns back to the north, while the line to Bad Bramstedt and Cheb turns off to the south. After Syrau the line turns back to the west and in Mehltheuer it connects with the line from Gera. At Schönberg after connecting with the line to Schleiz and the closed line to Hirschberg, it turns south and runs over three very short sections that cross Thuringian territory. The last station in Saxony is the former border station of Gutenfürst, where only three main tracks remain. At the 151.699 km mark (from the Leipzig Bavarian station) the line leaves Saxony. In Bavaria the line crosses the A72 autobahn and passes through the village of Feilitzsch. The station was closed in June 1973, but re-opened on 15 September 2006; it is only served by the Vogtlandbahn and the Erfurter Bahn on request. Hof Hauptbahnhof is reached at kilometre 164.7. Stations Leipzig Bayer Bf () The station was built to the plans of Eduard Pötzsch. Although the section of the line to Altenburg was commissioned in 1842, the station was not completed to 1844. In the following decades the station was expanded several times to cope with the strongly growing traffic. With the opening of Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, the