To avoid repeated crossing of the Wiehen Hills, rather than build its own line from the Hanover–Minden line in Minden, the southern section of the Western Railway branched off from the Hamm–Minden line of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) in Löhne.
On 21 November 1855 passenger operations started on the section between Löhne and Osnabrück. The former Hannöversche Bahnhof ("Hanoverian station") is now the lower part of the Osnabrück Hauptbahnhof, the upper part of which was built only fifteen years later during the construction of the Cologne-Minden Railway's Hamburg-Venlo railway (Hamburg-Venloer Bahn), which is now mostly incorporated in the Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg railway.
Just six months later the next section was put into operation, closing the gap from Osnabrück to Papenburg via Rheine and Salzbergen. On 23 June 1856 passenger trains ran for the first time between Minden and Emden.
The line was gradually duplicated between 1902 and 1916. On 29 September 1974, the first section of overhead wiring was erected between Osnabrück and Rheine and on 30 May 1976 this was followed by the electrification of the section between Osnabrück and Löhne.
on almost the whole line, Regionalbahn services are operated hourly by Westfalenbahn from Rheine to Kirchlengern on route RB 61 (Wiehengebirgs-Bahn), continuing to Bielefeld
on the section of Bünde–Kirchlengern, the hourly Ravensberger Bahn service is operated by EuroBahn (Keolis) on the Ravensberg Railway from Bielefeld Hbf via Bünde to Rahden,
and on the short stretch between the Bünde and Löhne, a generally hourly Regionalbahn service is operated from Monday to Friday by EuroBahn on route RB 77 (Weser-Bahn), continuing to Hildesheim.
References
^Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2017. pp. 39–41. ISBN978-3-89494-146-8.
