On 28 August 1896, the Royal Württemberg State Railways opened a narrow-gauge line (width 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in)) from Lauffen am Neckar to Güglingen.

The five villages of Sternenfels, Kürnbach, Oberderdingen, Großvillars and Knittlingen, which lie further to the west, also wanted a rail link which would have joined the Zabergäu to the town of Bretten.

Instead, even before the outbreak of World War I, the Baden State Railways had started work on a standard-gauge branch line from Bretten to Kürnbach.

In the wake of the Lauffen bus crash, the villages and local businesses along the route set up the 'Zabergäu Action Group'.

The passenger service was discontinued on 25 July 1986 but goods trains, which carried mainly agricultural freight, continued to run until 25 September 1994.

According to plans drawn up in 2005, a service between Lauffen am Neckar and Zaberfeld along the old Zabergäu route was to be re-established by 2011 as part of the Heilbronn Stadtbahn network.