The priority was to create a direct link to the west Bohemian coal mines so that the local industry could be better supported and supplied.

The city of Hof took out a loan from the Royal Bank in Nuremberg of more than 10 million German gold marks and was granted the concession; it handed over the construction of the line to the factory owner Theodor von Cramer-Klett.

Because more than half the railway ran through Bohemian territory, the agreement between Bavaria and Austria was concluded on 17 June 1863.

In 1877 when the Bavarian State Railway opened a direct line from Hof via Marktredwitz to Regensburg, the level of traffic fell.

The whole line remained open for goods traffic, because the porcelain industry in Bavaria was dependent on supplies of raw materials from Bohemia.

The section of line in Germany is part of the Upper Franconian Diesel Network (Dieselnetz Oberfranken) tendered by the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft on 8 February 2008 and which should offer improved services from 12 June 2011 with new vehicles.