The Bavarian Forest Railway (Bayerische Waldbahn often just called the Waldbahn) (KBS 905) links the heart of the Bavarian Forest around Regen and Zwiesel to Plattling and the Danube valley on one side, and the Czech Republic through Bayerisch Eisenstein on the other.

In 1867 the Bavarian state began first investigating the possibility of a railway link from Plattling via Deggendorf, Regen und Zwiesel to the Bohemian border to provide transportation for the industries there.

The Bavarian-Austrian state treaty of 21 June 1851 envisaged a junction with the Bohemian railway network at Eisenstein in addition to the existing connections to Bohemia at Furth im Wald and Passau.

As a result, the Ostbahn dropped plans under a previously granted concession of 3 August 1869 for the construction of a route from Straubing to Cham.

The search for a suitable route was extraordinarily difficult due to the steep climb from the Danube into the Bavarian Forest and the numerous valleys that had to be crossed.

On the other hand, with a better link from the new line from Plattling through the Isar valley to Munich there was the attraction of a lucrative connexion with Bohemia.

In spite of its higher construction costs, the latter was chosen because, long term, it would offer more economical and faster operation utilising a double loop line between Oberkandelbach and Grafling and the tunnel at Ulrichsberg.

After the completion of the Deffernik bridge the entire 74.7 km long route to Eisenstein was opened on 15 November 1877.

A month after opening the Forest railway it ordered 4 more engines which were delivered in February and March 1878.

Passenger services were initially hauled by the two Ostbahn engines, E 1 and E 2, tender locomotives with a 0-4-0 wheel arrangement.

In 1936 the Deutsche Reichsbahn recorded in its timetable, route number 426 Landshut–Plattling–Eisenstein, 7 train pairs daily, of which 6 ran to and from Landshut.

When the Iron Curtain fell, the ČSSR erected a barbed wire fence across the station yard and cut the tracks.

Since then, after a short wait, one can change into České drahy (ČD) trains to Klatovy (Klattau) and Plzeň (Pilsen).

In addition, mainly in the summer months, the tourist trains of the Wanderbahn (KBS 12905) work the line with a renovated Esslingen railbus in historic livery belonging to the Regentalbahn.

Zwiesel is today the timetable hub with short waiting times just before the hour for those changing trains in any direction.

In the course of modernisation of the rail traffic on this route and in order to make public transit more attractive for tourists and locals, in 1999 a special fare, the Bayerwald-Ticket (Bavarian Forest Ticket) was offered.

This is a day ticket that is valid on the Waldbahn lines as well as many bus routes in the counties of Regen, Freyung-Grafenau and Cham.

(Platform 5 European Handbook No.2B German Railways Private Operators, Museums and Museum Lines) As the summer timetable came into force on 28 May 2006 scheduled services ran for the first time on the Waldbahn every two hours directly from Plattling via Bayerisch Eisenstein as far as the Czech station of Špičák (Spitzberg) and back.

In addition, in the winter season there are three extra pairs of trains run on weekdays and five at weekends.

In addition to small line improvements, a major change will be the construction of a new bridge over the Danube at Deggendorf.

In order to replace this, by March 2008 a new double-tracked bridge based on the foundations of the old one will be erected and the whole railway line relaid for a distance of about 2 km.