It connects the capital of Lower Saxony, Hanover via Wunstorf, Stadthagen and Bückeburg with Minden, Osnabrück, Amsterdam and the Ruhr.

It opened up the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, including its capital city, Bückeburg and provided a continuous link between Hanover and the Rhineland.

The first Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (1973) identified the Dortmund–Hannover–Brunswick line as one of eight railway development projects.

Between Minden and Hanover hourly RE trains run (Braunschweig to Bielefeld or Rheine) as doubledeck sets and S-Bahn line S1 (Haste–Hannover–Minden).

The provision of four-tracks as already exists on the adjacent Hamm-Minden railway line to the west is planned.