Deutsche Bundesbahn made a step in this direction in 1969 with the increase in services on the main lines during peak hour.

In 1971, the then Bundesbahndirektion (railway division, BD) of Nuremberg was granted permission to develop solutions to improve services.

This was included as part of the "first stage” of construction of the Nuremberg S-Bahn adopted on 29 June 1979, as well as in the financial agreement closed on 2 November 1981, which allowed detailed planning to begin.

After the adjacent municipalities and citizens groups expressed opposition to the Reichswald route, the Nuremberg BD examined the plans between 1980 and 1985 on behalf of Deutsche Bundesbahn.

At the same time, the BD proposed the construction of a new line from Nuremberg to Ingolstadt as an alternative option, which was politically popular, except in Augsburg and the adjacent municipalities of Swabia.

After a delay of three years, Nürnberg-Steinbühl station, located between Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof and Nürnberg-Sandreuth at the eastern end of the flying junction, opened to traffic on 5 September 2004.

The single-track train route leaves Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof to the west, running first past the outer grounds of the Nuremberg Transport Museum.

The line then runs with the districts of Schweinau to the west and Sandreuth to the east and crosses the south ring (federal highway B 4 R) over a bridge, on which Nürnberg-Sandreuth station is located.

Then, the line meets the Frankenschnellweg, now running parallel, and crosses the Nuremberg-Augsburg railway on a flyover near Königshofer Weg to continue on its eastern side.

The line now runs parallel with the Rednitz valley, which it crosses shortly afterwards on a 170-metre-long (190 yd) bridge in the Schwabach suburb of Wolkersdorf and re-enters the Nuremberg city area again briefly at Katzwang station.