In 1976, rolling stock manufacturers Waggonfabriken Linke-Hofmann-Busch – today Alstom Transport Germany – and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm built eleven prototypes of a new low-floor local traffic carriage developed by the Bundesbahn-Zentralamt in Minden.

In a time where passenger rail transport was scrutinized for cost efficiency, the LHB prototypes were relatively expensive vehicles, not least because of their more intricate interior and their lower capacity of 88 seats compared to the n carriages, which provided eight more.

They were built to a light-weight construction with a lower floor height and electropneumatically operated double sliding doors with folding steps, new bogies of the LD 76 type with a pneumatic shock absorber system.

All carriages had an identical layout with a consistent location of the entrance doors, only the driving trailers lacked one virtual compartment at one end to make room for the rather spacious driver's cab.

The LHB prototypes share a close relationship with the x-carriages designed for the S-Bahn networks Rhein-Ruhr and Nuremberg that were built from 1978 onwards.

Apart from the optical and constructional similarity, the low floor height, some elements of the interior, the ventilation and heating system and, with small adjustments, the bogie design were carried over to the x carriages.

Da die umgebauten Wagen erst verspätet fertiggestellt wurden, kamen anfangs Ersatzgarnituren aus normalen Intercity-Wagen mit je einer Lok an beiden Zugenden zum Einsatz.

In the latter part of the decade, only the nightly InterCity service Frankfurt (Main) Hbf <-> Düsseldorf Flughafen was operated with the carriages, and they were finally decommissioned by late May 1998.