Already in the middle of the 19th century, Walsrode sought a connection to a railway line in response to the growth of gunpowder factories in neighbouring Bomlitz.

The line was built using a mechanised method, with workers filling wagons hauled by narrow-gauge steam locomotives.

During the Second World War, the Heath Railway was an important transport route serving prison camps, the Bergen military training area and the local armament industry, such as the Eibia works.

Bennemühlen station was selected as a provisional end point, where passengers usually had to change trains to continue to Soltau until December 2012.

Since October 2011, Hodenhagen station has been extensively rebuilt and is now remotely controlled from Walsrode using a computer-based interlocking.

Under the winter timetable of 2011, the first regional trains ran on the first stage at 120 km/h, which reduces travel time by ten minutes.

This reduction was made possible by the station closures, the upgrade of level crossings and the installation of a digital train radio system.

In response to rising passenger numbers, the three halts were adapted to be barrier-free and extended in 2016, so now there can be served by sets of three LINT 41 railcars.

In addition, the travel time between Hanover and Buchholz was reduced while maintaining hourly intervals between services all day.

[11] Plans to upgrade the Heath Railway south of Walsrode as part of the Y-Trasse (Y-route) to the high-speed line have been abandoned.

The RB 38 service runs hourly each day over the entire line between Hanover and Buchholz (Nordheide).

By the time of the timetable change in 2016, however, only the line between Hanover and Soltau (Han) was served hourly on weekends.

On its southern section between Langenhagen and Bennemühlen the Heath Railway is electrified and forms line S 4 of the Hanover S-Bahn network.

The northern end between Buchholz in der Nordheide and Handeloh is part of the Hamburg Transport Association (HVV) network.

Because the Hamburg–Uelzen–Hanover and Hamburg–Rotenburg (Wümme)–Verden (Aller)–Hanover routes are much faster, the Heath Railway is of little importance for through services; the journey from Hamburg to Hanover via Soltau takes at least 2 hours, 32 minutes according to the winter 2016/2017 timetable.

Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG (OHE) won the tender for the Heath Railway and took over operations at the timetable change in December 2011 for eight years.