It is located in Ostwestfalen-Lippe in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and is part of Deutsche Bahn’s Münster-Ostwestfalen regional network (MOW), which has its headquarters in Münster.

The line was served by a pair of semi-fast trains between Enschede and Bad Pyrmont with reversal in Himmighausen.

Although long-distance trains have been diverted over the line because of reconstruction projects, this has become rarer as a result of the rationalisation of infrastructure.

In local transport, for a long time there were also services over regional routes, for instance to Rahden, Bremen, Bad Bentheim, Löhne and Bielefeld.

After the gradually introduction a regular-interval service, which culminated in NRW-Takt (North Rhine-Westphalia's current co-ordinated regular-interval service), the trains ran every hour on the Paderborn–Detmold–Herford route and continued alternately to/from Bielefeld (RB 72, Ostwestfalen-Bahn, "East Westphalian railway") or Bad Bentheim (RB 62, Der Cherusker, "The Cherusci").

Since 9 December 2007, these two lines are operated by WestfalenBahn as a result of being put to tender by the ZVM, VVOWL, NPH and Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG) transport associations.

[11][12] After another call for tenders by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Eurobahn took over the operation of the Teutoburger-Wald-Netz (network) from December 2017 and with it the RB 72 service.

From its formation, sugar beet was transported in the autumn, which led to the construction of the road bridge over the northern end of Lage station.

They serve local customers in Sandebeck (Kronospan), Horn-Bad Meinberg (Glunz, formerly Hornitex) and Detmold.

Currently, the RB 72 is operated by WestfalenBahn with three-part Stadler FLIRT electric multiple units at speeds of up to 160 km/h.

The management was undertaken by the 153 Railway Operating Coy, which was specifically stationed in Detmold for this purpose.