The line begins in Ulm and runs via Biberach an der Riß, Aulendorf and Ravensburg to Friedrichshafen.

This had become popularly known as the Geißbockbahn (billy goat railway); this description comes from a folk song, Auf de Schwäb'sche Eisenbahne, first published in the late 19th century.

As early as 1994, high demand led BOB to procure additional vehicles, including wagons leased from Hohenzollerischen Landesbahn ("Hohenzollern State Railway", HzL).

Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 diesel railcars were operated on the line from autumn 1998 to cater for the increased traffic, but these were replaced by electric sets in December 2021.

In 2001, InterRegio services were abandoned except for a pair of trains cut back to operate between Karlsruhe and Ulm.

In addition, the construction of a new connection to the Ulm–Sigmaringen railway from Erbach to Ehingen was investigated in the course of planning for the Regio-S-Bahn Donau-Iller but was discarded.

[8] Due to the additional stop, the travel time for regional trains between Stuttgart, Ulm and Friedrichshafen would be extended by two minutes.

After some years of planning and negotiations between Deutsche Bahn and the state and federal governments, the ground-breaking ceremony for the electrification of the line was held in spring 2017 at the site of a new substation to be built in Niederbiegen.

[14][15] The regional services ran on the line on the basis of an underlying transport contract between the state and DB Regio, which ended in 2016.

Bids for a successor contract were called at the end December 2014[16] and it was awarded to DB Regio again in March 2016.

It is also served by the following regional services: From Ulm to Aulendorf the line is within the Donau–Iller Local Transport Network (Donau-Iller-Nahverkehrsverbund, DING ).

From Aulendorf to Friedrichshafen it is within the Lake Constance–Upper Swabia Transport Association (Bodensee-Oberschwaben Verkehrsverbund, BODO).