[2] Deutsche Reichsbahn opened a freight rail line through Witten-Höhe to Wengern Ost connecting with the Ruhr Valley Railway on 4 October 1926.

In Witten-Höhe, the Witten–Wengern Ost/Schwelm railway branched off from 15 May 1934 to 30 November 1979, carrying passenger trains to Gevelsberg West and Schwelm.

Passenger services continued through Wengern Ost to Hagen-Vorhalle for three years, but were also closed on 1 June 1986.

Since 1988, long-distance services have run without stopping in Witten on the same route as well as on the faster line built via the Oberstraße Tunnel to Dortmund Hauptbahnhof.

The only lines still in operation on the south bank of the Ruhr (Witten Hbf to Witten-Höhe, Witten-Höhe to Wengern Ost, Wengern Ost to Hagen-Vorhalle) are now connected together as a through freight route.