A link curve to the south enables trains to run straight into Stralsund from the island of Rügen without having to change direction.

From Bergen it continues in a northeasterly direction along the north coast of the lagoon known as the Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden.

In Lietzow the train crosses the causeway, built in 1869, that separates the Kleiner from the Großer Jasmunder Bodden.

Sassnitz station (called Saßnitz until 1993) is located north of the town centre and is designed as a railway terminus.

The line is electrified over its total length using catenary carrying 15 kV, 16.7 Hz AC and, with the exception of the sections from Stralsund Rügendamm to Altefähr and Lietzow to Sassnitz Hafen/Sassnitz Fährhafen Rügen, also double-tracked.

Even at the time of the opening of the Angermünde-Stralsund Railway in 1863, efforts were being made to extend services through Rügen towards Sweden.

It took another 20 years, however, until 1 July 1883, before the first short section was opened between the towns of Altefähr and Bergen auf Rügen.

[2] Twelve years later, the Kingdom of Sweden and the German Empire agreed to open a railway ferry between Sassnitz and Trelleborg.

A pair of night trains was established running between Berlin and Stockholm and covering the distance in about 22 hours.

As a result of the ferry services to Sweden, traffic on the railway increased steadily so that the question of a fixed crossing of the Strelasund came up again.

In 1927, the first concrete proposals were submitted, the options of a bridge and a tunnel being eliminated because of the higher costs for the ramps.

With the opening of the Rügen Causeway (Rügendamm) to railway traffic on 5 October 1936, ferry services between the port of Stralsund and Altefähr were discontinued.

[1] As a result, the Rügendamm was closed for the next two years and did not re-open until 15 October 1947 after the erection of temporary bridges, whereupon international traffic to Sweden could be resumed.

At the same time the Deutsche Reichsbahn erected a power line over the Strela Sound to supply the island network whenever the Ziegelgraben Bridge was opened.

Ferry service to Sweden ended temporarily on 13 March 2020, a decision made permanent the following month [3]