The Bavarian Eastern Railway Company (German: Königlich privilegirte Actiengesellschaft der bayerischen Ostbahnen) received a license from King Maximilian II to build the line on 12 April 1856.

A month later, on 15 October 1861, the Plzeň–Furth im Wald line reached Furth station, completing a continuous link between Nuremberg and Prague.

After winning the tender let by the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft in 2011, Regentalbahn has been operating this line directly on behalf of the contracting authority since December 2014.

In addition to the Regio-Shuttles sets previously operated, Pesa LINK II two-car diesel multiple units would have been used.

[4] From July to December 2014, the platform of Roding station was moved to the west and a bus stop was built for transfers between buses and trains at the new location.

In the Wackersdorf area, the Upper Palatinate lakeland lies to the right of the line; these lakes have been developed since 1982 from the excavations created by the mining of brown coal.

Regional-Express services consist of two DB Regio Bayern train pairs between Nuremberg and Furth im Wald, which are operated with tilting class 612 diesel multiple units.