It is named after the Jülich-Zülpich Börde (a plain with fertile loess soil), which it runs through.

This route was required by the iron industry in the Eifel to transport ore and coal from the Inderevier and Wurm districts.

The level of traffic in 1905 is reflected in the number of tickets sold: The line was duplicated in the 1920s, during the French occupation.

In 1964, it was proposed to electrify the Düren–Euskirchen–Bonn route to create a bypass of the major node of Cologne that could be operated electrically, but this was not realised.

On 19 December 2002 Dürener Kreisbahn (the transport operator owned by the city of Düren) acquired about 310,000 square metres of land, which comprises the railway track from Düren to Zülpich, from Deutsche Bahn, at a price of around € 860,000.