The section between Glauchau and Großbothen has been leased by Deutsche Regionaleisenbahn since 2005 and has been protected as a cultural monument since 2016,[2] the remainder has been decommissioned.

Since no private entrepreneur could be found for this project, permission was granted instead in 1868 for a railway from Glauchau via Wurzen to the border with Prussia.

While the right of way was intended for double-track operation which was taken into account in the construction of the Rochsburg tunnel and several bridges, due to the lack of a northern continuation the traffic never reached the levels that would have justified doubling of the line.

On 15 April 1945 the Rabenstein bridge across the Mulde river was destroyed, and the line remained interrupted between Großbothen and Grimma unterer Bahnhof.

The Wurzen-Golzern section remained in operation for freight traffic as an extended siding of Wurzen station, and tracks were renewed between Nerchau and Golzern in the 1970s.

Preparations had been made for deploying a temporary bridge across the River Mulde between Neichen and Trebsen, the terminus of the line from Beucha.

Operations on the last section between Glauchau and Wechselburg ceased on 13 August 2002 in the course of the 2002 European floods which caused widespread damage in the area, and because of the poor state of the line and several engineering works along it.

Deutsche Regionaleisenbahn (DRE) leased the Glauchau-Großbothen line and the Rochlitz–Narsdorf section of the Rochlitz–Penig railway in 2005[3] with the intention of preserving the infrastructure and resuming the traffic in stages.

North of Großbothen the line passed Kloster Nimbschen halt and crossed on Rabenstein bridge on the right bank of the Mulde.

It followed the bends of the river, passing under motorway A 14 north of Golzern station, until Neichen which was the junction of the narrow gauge line from Mügeln.