The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German: Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME) built its trunk line directly across Westphalia, bypassing the region around the town of Münster.

The Munster Hamm Railway Company (Münster-Hammer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, MHE) was established to build a branch line to connect with the CME line.

This line was opened on 26 May 1848 for passengers and on 8 July 1848 for freight traffic.

Although, formerly individual[4] InterCity services ran on the line, it is now mainly used by regional (Regional-Express and regionalbahn) services running through western Westphalia and southern Münsterland.

It is served by: NRW rail archive of André Joost: