A more southern route than the present one was intended for the latter in order to connect the municipalities in the Ore Mountains to the emerging railway network.

The Saxon government approved of the concession with the condition that the line was to be built from private, i.e. non-government funds.

All bridges and viaducts were prepared for a double-tracked line, while cuttings were only blasted wide enough for a single track, which can still be seen today.

After the railway from Krima-Neudorf to Reitzenhain was opened by Buschtěhrader Eisenbahn on 23 August 1875, the connection to Komotau was completed.

Because of financial losses after one year of operation, Chemnitz-Komotauer Eisenbahngesellschaft had to sell the line to the Saxon state, in whose property it was transferred on 4 December 1876.

Traffic across the border to Komotau was stopped with the end of World War II, so that Reitzenhain station lost much of its importance.

A safety stop in Gelobtland was intended, but proved impossible due to insufficient braking power.

One tank wedged in a cutting in Hüttengrund, after centrifugal forces had made its turret turn, and its gun had touched the rocky wall.

[3] The train crew, the Reitzenhain station master and another Reichsbahn official were made responsible for the accident[4] and were detained.

Passenger traffic on this section was maintained until 9 June 2001, then it was closed due to the poor state of the tracks.

Work on this section had nearly finished at an expense of nearly 24 million Euro, when flooding in July 1999 destroyed much of the line.

In September 2007, basic maintenance was performed the section between Olbernhau-Grünthal and Neuhausen which was threatened by closure, and in 2010 it was rehabilitated for traffic.

Regular traffic has not been resumed on this part of the line, since no passenger train runs have been ordered by the regional authorities.

DB RegioNetz Infrastruktur GmbH announced in early 2014 that they would consider offers of third parties to take over the branch Marienberg – Pockau-Lengefeld and its operation.