The construction of the Erfurt-Nordhausen railway was constructed in accordance with a treaty between
Prussia and the Principality of
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen signed on 21 December 1866. Agreements were reached for the provision of government investment and guarantees from Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and the adjacent districts and cities of Prussia so that the
Nordhausen-Erfurter Eisenbahn (Nordhausen-Erfurt Railway, NEE) company could be founded on 24 April 1867 and it received a licence for the project from Schwarzburg-Sondershausen on 17 June 1867. The aim of the railway construction was to connect the cities of
Nordhausen and
Erfurt (both in the Prussian
Province of Saxony at that time), and at the same time establish the first rail connection to part of the
Schwarzburg-Sondershäuser Unterherrschaft (under dominion), which was the northern part of the principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The line was built by a consortium of the companies of Plessner, Schultze and Steinfeld of Berlin and was opened on 17 August 1869. It ran for its first eight kilometres from Nordhausen to
Wolkramshausen along the
Halle–Kassel railway towards
Eichenberg and
Kassel, though on a second track built for the line, reached the
Residenzstadt (royal capital) of Sondershausen and further south crossed the
Hainleite ridge and ran by
Greußen and
Straußfurt to the state capital of Erfurt, where it ended at
the station of the
Thuringian Railway. Later several branches and connecting lines branched off the line. The
Kyffhäuser Railway branched off from Sondershausen to Bad Frankenhausen from 1898. The
Hohenebra-Ebeleben railway was opened from Hohenebra in 1883 and the
Greußen-Ebeleben-Keula railway was opened from Greußen in 1901, connecting to
Ebeleben and
Keula. The
Ballstädt–Straußfurt railway (opened from 1889 to 1906) and the
Straußfurt–Großheringen railway (opened in 1874) branched off from Straußfurt and the
Erfurt–Bad Langensalza railway (opened in 1897) branched off from Kühnhausen. Following the nationalisation of private railways in Prussia and because the line's profits were below expectations as a result of growing competition from other railways, the company agreed to be bought by the Prussian State, which took control on 1 January 1887. The company was dissolved and its assets were placed under the
railway division (
Eisenbahndirektion) of
Frankfurt, but was soon transferred to the railway division of Erfurt. ==Planning ==