The Hersbruck–Pommelsbrunn link was built by the Bavarian State Railways for the carriage of this ore to the former Maxhütte steelworks in Sulzbach-Rosenberg and it was opened on 15 October 1877.

The line begins at Hersbruck (rechts Pegnitz) station and runs in an easterly direction parallel with the two-track Nuremberg–Cheb line to a level crossing with the road connecting Hersbruck and Hohenstadt.

It then climbs a ramp onto an embankment and turn at the beginning of the village of Hohenstadt to the southeast, first crossing the Pegnitz and then federal highway B14 and meets the Nuremberg–Schwandorf line at Pommelsbrunn depot, a former station, now without passenger facilities.

The connecting line is now used by Regional-Express services on the Nuremberg–Hersbruck (rechts Pegnitz)–Neukirchen (b. Sulzbach-Rosenberg)–Neustadt an der Waldnaab / Schwandorf routes.

Diesel multiple units of class 610 (Pendolino) and 612 (RegioSwinger tilting trains) are used on the line.