The line is served every hour by Regional-Express service RE 11, which connects Cottbus, Guben and continues towards Eisenhüttenstadt and Frankfurt (Oder).

With the railway between Guben and Bentschen (now Zbąszynek), which had been completed one year earlier, it was part of a direct connection between Poznań and Cottbus.

With the expansion of the HSGE network to the west, a direct rail line was also completed to Halle (Saale) and Leipzig.

Later pair long-distance express services operated between Leipzig and Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia) and between Halle and Allenstein (now Olsztyn).

On 18 September 2002, the section between Cottbus and Peitz Ost was closed because the track had to be moved to allow the expansion of the Cottbus-Nord lignite mine.