the Hermundurische Scholle plateau and comes to the surface again east of the Dissa valley. Northwest of Wetzendorf, the line crosses the valley of the Unstrut on the -long Unstrut Viaduct. It then passes through the Osterberg Tunnel (), which ends at Kalzendorf, and the Jüdendorf overtaking loop. It now runs across the plateau of the Querfurt Plate (Querfurter Platte) and no further major engineering structures are required on the line apart from the Stöbnitz Viaduct (). In Bad Lauchstädt, it passes under autobahn 38 and reaches the Dörstewitz overtaking loop. The Saale-Elster Viaduct crosses the floodplains of the Saale and White Elster over a length of 6465 m, starting in Schkopau. The building of the longest bridge in Germany through several protected areas was particularly complex due to the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC), a bird sanctuary and a drinking water protection zone grade III, which together required numerous applications of administrative law. Another special feature of the infrastructure is the grade-separated junction with the link to Halle (Saale) via a 2112 m long viaduct, with a viaduct for the track towards Halle passing under the main viaduct. The branch connects with the existing Halle–Bebra railway at Ammendorf/Beesen. Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof is connected to the new line over a link with a total length of . The line towards Leipzig adopts a course without major engineering structures. In Gröbers, it has a grade-separated crossing over the tracks of the Mitteldeutschland S-Bahn and the Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway and there are connections between these lines at Gröbers junction. Before reaching Leipzig/Halle Airport, which has two outside platforms, it passes over Autobahn 9 on a bridge near the Schkeuditz Cross interchange (Schkeuditzer Kreuz). The line runs next to Autobahn 14 for nearly (kilometres 290–303) before turning off the A14 to approach Leipzig Messe station. After another six kilometres of upgraded line (Ausbaustrecke), the line ends in Leipzig Hauptbahnhof. Design parameters The design speed is between Erfurt and Gröbers near Halle. Between Gröbers and Leipzig Messe, the line speed is and, between Leipzig Messe and Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, the line speed is . To allow this, the course of the line was planned with a reduced minimum curve radius of and a normal minimum curve radius of . The gradient of the new line is up to 1.25%. As of 1995, the width of the track formation for planning purposes, depending on track curvature, was