Initial plans called for an alignment from Kieritzsch (now Neukieritzsch) on the Saxon-Bavarian Railway (German: Sächsisch-Bayerischen Eisenbahn) to Mittweida on the Riesa–Chemnitz line.

As these plans were rejected by the Saxon government, the town of Borna proposed the construction of the Kieritzsch–Borna route at its own expense in 1864.

Ultimately, it was decided for reasons of cost to take the route from Borna via Geithain and Burgstädt to Chemnitz.

In 1945, the second track was completely dismantled for war reparations to the Soviet Union, but the sections between Neukieritzsch and Borna and between Wittgensdorf and Chemnitz-Küchwald were later rebuilt.

Since the completion of the work, RE 6 (Chemnitz-Leipzig-Express) services, connecting Chemnitz and Leipzig, have run on the line at hourly intervals.

[4] A replacement timetable was introduced with longer travel times between Chemnitz and Leipzig, which remained in force until the end of 2015.

The section from Borna to Geithain was electrified in the summer of 2010, so the former MRB 2/70 local service operating from Leipzig via Borna to Geithain could be replaced with the opening in December 2013 of the Leipzig City Tunnel, which can only be operated with electric trains, by S-Bahn-Linie S4 of the network of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland.

The Geithain–Chemnitz section has been operated by Transdev Regio Ost with locomotive-hauled carriages under the brand name of Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn since the timetable change in December 2015.

In 2008 and 2009, a study was established by the TU Dresden to investigate how the line could be upgraded to carry long-distance traffic in addition to the existing local passenger services.

At the beginning of 2009, the then Saxon transport minister Thomas Jurk, announced funding for the preliminary planning of the upgrade of the line.

[8] At the end of January 2012, representatives of the Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport proposed the closure of the gap in the electrification between Geithain and Chemnitz.

[9] At the beginning of January 2013, representatives of the state of Saxony and Deutsche Bahn AG signed a contract for the preliminary selection of options for the upgrade and electrification of the Chemnitz–Leipzig line.

[10] As a result of the preliminary investigation, the route via Bad Lausick (and thus including the Leipzig–Geithain railway) was selected as the preferred option.

The main advantages of this option were a travel time of 50 minutes and convenient connections for passengers to the other long-distance lines in Leipzig Hauptbahnhof.

In July 2013, the State of Saxony and Deutsche Bahn signed a planning agreement for the further upgrade and the electrification of the Leipzig–Chemnitz railway.

[12] On the Neukieritzsch–Chemnitz line there would be, in addition to the completion of electrification, adaptions to the track layouts in the stations of Geithain, Narsdorf, Burgstädt and Chemnitz-Küchwald.

[14] The State of Saxony intends to commission the other projects in a timely manner and to finance them on a pro rata basis.

After Geithain, the line reaches the central Saxon loess hill country (Mittelsächsisches Lösshügelland) and meets the closed Rochlitz–Penig railway in Narsdorf.

After a long right turn, the line converges with the tracks from Riesa and from Dresden on the approaches to Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof.

The station gained greater importance as a result of the brown coal mining, as there were several briquette factories in Lobstädt.

A rapid decline of traffic at Borna station started after 1989/90 and all the briquette factories in the surrounding area closed in the first half of the 1990s, so freight transport collapsed almost completely.

In addition, Frauendorf also served as a station where trains running between Frohburg and Geithain could cross, which was necessary after traffic increased.

Geithain became more important for freight transport, as large quantities of building material from the nearby brick works and quarries were loaded in the station from the end of the 19th century.

For a time the Bahnmeisterei (track maintenance supervisor's office) of Chemnitz had an outpost here, along with a small rail vehicle.

Nevertheless, the station has significant operational importance, since a section of the former line to a tank depot in Hartmannsdorf bei Chemnitz is regularly served.

The halt has had four different names during its operating period, as follows: Küchwald (50°51′20″N 12°54′45″E / 50.8555°N 12.9125°E / 50.8555; 12.9125) In the 1880s, the existing stations in Chemnitz could no longer cope with the rapidly growing freight traffic.

[33] The establishment of an external platform on the right-hand track for suburban rail services is planned with commissioning at the earliest at the 2017/2018 timetable change, according to information from the beginning of 2016.

The 68 metre-high structure, built as a cost of 1.2 million Thalers, bridges the Zwickauer Mulde, the Cossen–Wechselburg state road and the Glauchau–Wurzen railway.

Since the space between the bridge piers was not wide enough for the widening of the originally four-lane motorway, the viaduct was extensively rebuilt from 1999 to 2003.

Due to the noise of the steel section during train crossings, it was also popularly given the name of Klapperbrücke (rattling bridge).