It was originally created as a freight line, but it is now used primarily used for the transfer of empty passenger trains that are maintained at the Rummelsburg depot.

From there to Rummelsburg, it runs exclusively on embankments, with a total of nine overpasses over roads, paths and two other railway lines.

After about 600 metres, the line, which is elevated on a bridge over the Pfarrstraße, reaches the B1 signalbox at the west end of Berlin-Lichtenberg station.

At the same time further important freight customers were established in the area of the Ringbahn, such as the Zentralvieh- und Schlachthof (“central cattle and slaughterhouse”) north of Frankfurter Allee.

In 1879, the two links from Friedrichsberg (now Frankfurter Allee) and Stralau (now Ostkreuz) were completed to Lichtenberg-Friedrichsfelde and Rummelsburg and double-tracked in 1880.

In the late 1950s, the Berlin outer ring emerged and the main responsibility for passenger service was transferred to Lichtenberg.

[3] In December 1984, electrification was completed on the Ringbahn from the south to Frankfurter Allee and on the two link railways.

Since the completion of the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof and the north–south mainline, several long-distance trains heading south begin and end in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen station.

The viaduct over the line to Frankfurt in Rummelsburg was replaced by a single-track structure, which was completed in late 2005.

This included both trains heading north (especially to Schwerin), which used the Ringbahn to Schönhauser Allee and ran via Pankow to Karow Cross and trains heading south via Berlin-Schöneweide station to Grünau Cross.

In 1985, some passenger trains from locations on the northern Berlin outer ring to Lichtenberg station were extended in the peak hour over the link towards Ostkreuz and Schöneweide.

Although this connection was abandoned in 1990 soon after Die Wende, Regionalbahn services repeatedly ran on this section in the years up to 2003.