On 7 July 1864 the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company (German: Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie submitted an application to build a second rail link between Leipzig and Dresden.

It provided for a route along the Freiberger Mulde from Döbeln to Meißen to connect with the existing branch line from Coswig.

Duplication was also later started between Großbothen and Döbeln, but only the Großbothen–Tanndorf section was completed because of the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

After the Second World War one track of the line was dismantled to provide reparations to the Soviet Union.

In addition to several smaller damaged areas, a total of 500 metres of track including the railway embankment were completely destroyed at Tanndorf.

Siemens Desiro Classic diesel multiple units are used; at peak times running in double sets.

Other trains run on weekdays in the morning and late afternoon in an alternating cycle between Leipzig and Grimma.

At the end of July 2012 the connection of the Großsteinberg and Grimma ob Bf stations to the ESTW Muldental was completed.

Naunhof station was integrated into the ESTW Muldental at the end of November 2013 after the construction of a second outside platform in the autumn of 2013.

[3] The Upper Elbe Transport Association (Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe, VVO) has been considering the permanent closure of local rail services between Nossen and Meißen Triebischtal since autumn 2010.

[6] From November 2013 to mid-2014, the line between Großbothen and Leisnig was interrupted for the reconstruction of the viaduct across a gully near Kössern.

[7] On 28 November 2013, the board of the VVO decided to discontinue the RB 110 passenger service between Meißen and Nossen for economic reasons from December 2015[8] and replace it with buses.

With the replacement of the trains by an "optimised bus network", the VVO hoped for a significant reduction in the subsidy requirement.

An investigation of the expansion of the railway services showed that it would have doubled passenger numbers and tripled the subsidies required.

[10] On 7 March 2014, the Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen (Mid-Saxon transport association) decided not to run services between Döbeln and Nossen from December 2015 onwards.

[12] Politicians and citizens advertise in a position paper that the passenger services should be extended to Roßwein instead of Döbeln-Zentrum, as this was possible in the planned working timetable.

[13] In the 1980s the integration of Grimma into the then Leipzig S-Bahn network was planned, but this failed because of the low clearance of the A 14 overbridge.

[15] The line branches off at Borsdorf towards the southeast from the Leipzig–Dresden Railway and runs without sharp curves through agricultural areas.

The line crossed the newly built bypass road B 107n before Grimma, where it reaches the course of the Mulde for the first time.

At the exit from Leisnig station, the line returns to the northern bank and then runs through the landscape protection area of Freiberger Mulde-Zschopau.

The line crosses the narrowing valley of the Freiberger Mulde several times after Döbeln Zentrum station.

After crossing and recrossing the Freiberger Mulde, the connecting line from the Rhäsa tank farm approaches from the north and the two lines runs parallel past the Altzella Abbey (Kloster Altzella) and meet the Zellwald railway, which comes from the south, pass under the B 175 and enter Nossen station.

After crossing the Elbe together with federal highway 6 and passing through Meißen station, the now two-track line turns south-east, rules through a sparsely-built flatland and rejoins the Leipzig–Dresden railway between Weinböhla and Coswig.

Between 1892 and 1926 the Döbelner Straßenbahn, a horse tramway, ran for two kilometres (1.2 mi) from the station to central Döbeln.

Since the (now unused) station building remained at street level, the platform is only accessible by stairs from the Roßweiner Straße bridge.

The abandoned pedestrian bridge from the entrance building to the southern platform was removed as part of the rebuilding of the station superstructure in the 1970s.

With the construction of lines to Freiberg (1873) and Riesa (1877/1880) it became an important regional junction with a large railway operation, which existed until the 1990s.

Since the discontinuation of regular rail passenger transport between Döbeln and Meißen in December 2015, it has only been used for goods traffic.