In February and March 1857, the towns of Crailsheim, Heilbronn, Künzelsau and Weinsberg petitioned the King and the Estates of Württemberg to be linked by a railway.

In April, the Wurttemberg Chamber of Deputies recommended the construction of a railway line on the Heilbronn–Crailsheim–Nuremberg route.

To carry out this work at a lower cost the whole line between Öhringen and Heilbronn was closed between June 2003 and December 2005 and replaced by a bus service, avoiding the expenditure of €4 million, according to the DB.

[3] Between Heilbronn and Öhringen there is and additional pair of locomotive-hauled trains in the morning rush hour.

[4] In addition, freight trains run between Crailsheim and Hessental on the Nuremberg–Kornwestheim marshalling yard (Stuttgart) route.