[citation needed] It was built between 1924 and 1929 by RWE AG, to transport electricity produced in the hydro-electric power plants in Vorarlberg, Austria and the southern Black Forest to the Ruhr district.
It continues to the transformer stations at Ludwigsburg-Hoheneck, Mannheim-Rheinau, Kelsterbach, Koblenz, and Bad Neuenahr to Brauweiler.
In 1964, an electric circuit of the section traveling through Ludwigsburg/Hoheneck, Herbertingen and Tiengen switched over to 380 kV.
In the section between the transformer stations Ludwigsburg–Hoheneck and Mannheim/Rheinau, an electric circuit was deemed to be dispensable in the year 2003.
To make space for the fourth runway of Frankfurt Airport, the section around Kelsterbach was removed in 2008.