It runs daily every hour from 5 am to 9 pm from Wesel via Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, Remagen and Andernach to Koblenz, in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Rhein-Express was established in 1998 with the introduction of the integrated regular interval timetable in North Rhine-Westphalia (called NRW-Takt) by combining two services that previously started or finished in Cologne.

In December 2002, several intermediate stops and all overtaking by long-distance trains were eliminated, and the scheduled top speed was increased to 160 km/h (100 mph), shortening the journey time by over 30 minutes between Cologne and Koblenz.

The acceleration and the simultaneous thinning of services between Emmerich and Wesel reduced the number of sets of vehicles that was required for the circulation from nine to seven.

In order to reach Emmerich in time for the return journey, it was necessary to reduce stops at some minor stations to two-hour intervals in the direction of least loading.

It was extended from April 2017 across the Dutch border to Arnhem and was renamed, in accordance with its international importance, the Rhine-IJssel Express (RE 19).