The line runs to Kiel through flat geest lands to the northeast and reaches the Mühlenbach stream in Ohrstedt.

The line runs through flat, mostly agricultural land to Schleswig station, continuing through hilly moraines to Rendsburg.

Train do not stop in Büdelsdorf, where there was a connection, until 1974, to the original line from Husum to Rendsburg via Erfde, which opened on 1 September 1910.

In Felde, the line crosses the Eider river, which flows into the Kiel Canal nearby.

In the late 1920s, there were continuous passenger services on the Husum–Erfde–Rendsburg–Kiel route, with a total running time of about three hours.

The continuous link was thus reduced to freight-only sections between Husum and Erfde and between Rendsburg and Hohn.

Since then, all trains from Husum to Kiel run via Jübek, Schleswig and Rendsburg, which means a detour of about 12 km.

About 2.5 km long of the line between Rendsburg station and a northern industrial area remains, but it is also now unused.

The FHTE also opened on 25 October 1854 a line from Ohrstedt to Rendsburg via Owschlag, running to the west of the city of Schleswig.

After the closure of the Niebüll-Flensburg line in 1980, a pair of trains run seasonally as the Sylter Welle from Kiel (sometimes also from Lübeck) to Westerland) via Jübek instead of Flensburg.

Felde station (formerly Brandsbek) was re-opened for the start of the Nord-Ostsee-Bahn (NOB) service (now operated by Veolia Verkehr) in 2000.

Passenger services over the whole Husum–Kiel route have been operated since December 2011 by Deutsche Bahn with Alstom Coradia LINT 41 railcars at hourly intervals.

The dismantled second track from Kronsburg was rebuilt at the new station to increase the line's capacity.