Even during the period of East Germany, the company remained independent, because it was organised as a municipal institution (Städtischer Eigenbetrieb).

On 20 September 1995 the company became the first municipal enterprise in East Germany to be recognized as a "öffentliche nichtbundeseigene Eisenbahn" (public non-federal railway).

[4] In 1999 the EIB founded, together with the Hessische Landesbahn, the subsidiary Süd-Thüringen-Bahn (STB) directed from Meiningen, which carries regional traffic in southern Thuringia,[4] while only the connections Erfurt–Würzburg and Erfurt–Meiningen are operated by the federal Deutsche Bahn.

After years of developing new rules and guidelines, the Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt) granted on 24 January 2014 a permission to the Regio-Shuttle-Triebwagen (Regional Shuttle Railcar) of the Erfurter Bahn to run on steep tracks, without remodeling.

[8] Neudietendorf–Arnstadt Arnstadt–Saalfeld During peak hour and weekend night traffic, some trains run between Erfurt, Weimar and Apolda.

A pair of trains that initially ran to Göttingen in the morning and also on their own account have also reversed in Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe since the timetable change in 2007.