An early plan to extend the line as far as Freyung and the Ilztalbahn with its connexion to Passau was stopped by opposition by the town of Grafenau for a railway route via Riedlhütte and St. Oswald with a station on the Schwaimberg.

Around 1990 the successors to the railbuses, the DB Class V 100s pushed or pulled one or two branch line coaches with driving cars.

After the line had been thoroughly refurbished in 2002 at a cost of 9.6 million euros, a two-hourly timetable was introduced in 2003 with a journey time of 50 minutes.

In summer 2007 the 4.7 km long section of the route between Zwiesel and Zwieselau was completely replaced for 2.3 million euros.

The town of Grafenau and the rural county of Freyung-Grafenau have invested a total of 1.3 million euros in this conversion, which also includes re-routing the roads.

In summer 2008 the construction of a new platform was begun, which is east of the present one at the end of the line opposite the bus stop.

The owner of the line, DB Netz AG, has said it is only prepared to do this if the route has permanent safety measures and an order has been secured through the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft.