In its early days the line was used mainly to transport manufactured goods from Zeitz to Halle and Erfurt.

During the existence of East Germany (1949–1990), the line was used to transport sugar beet from the Thuringian Basin, cement from Karsdorf and coal from the region around Profen.

So in the 1980s numerous international freight and express passenger trains ran between Weißenfels and Teuchern while the Thuringian Railway was being upgraded between Naumburg and Weissenfels.

The line runs west to the Weißenfels district of Beuditz and then makes a full arc (with a diameter of about 1,000 metres) to the south and east.

The nearby level crossing of state road 191 often produced traffic jams in the 1990s.