The first section of the line opened on 15 February 1844, by the
Bonn–Cologne Railway Company (
Bonn-Cölner Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) between the former station of Cologne St. Pantaleon Cologne and Bonn. It was extended on 21 January 1856, south to
Rolandseck station and in 1859 north to the
Cologne central station. After the takeover by the
Rhenish Railway Company (
Rheinische Eisenbahn Gesellschaft, RhE) on 1 January 1857 the line was extended in 1858 through
Remagen and Andernach and crossed the
Moselle to Koblenz via the Moselle railway bridge, opened on 11 November 1858. The particularly beautiful section of the line between Koblenz and Bingerbrück (now called
Bingen Hbf), which runs close to the river through this winding section of the Rhine Valley was opened on 15 December 1859. Bingerbrück station was at the time on the border of the Kingdom of
Prussia and the
Grand Duchy of Hesse. Here it connected with the
Rhine-Main line of the
Hessian Ludwig Railway (
Hessische Ludwigsbahn), opened on 17 October 1859, from
Mainz and the
Nahe Valley Railway to
Saarbrücken. In Koblenz, the
Pfaffendorf Bridge over the Rhine was completed in 1864 to connect to the Right Rhine line to
Niederlahnstein and
Wiesbaden. With the construction of the
Horchheim Bridge south of Koblenz, opened in 1879, and the
Urmitz Bridge north of Koblenz, opened in 1918, this bridge was progressively given over to pedestrian, vehicular and, eventually, tram traffic and the last train used it at the outbreak of
World War I in August 1914. From 1861 the
Nassau State Railways established a
train ferry between Bingen and
Rüdesheim am Rhein; this was converted to a passenger ferry in 1900. From 1870 to 1914 another
train ferry operated between Bonn and Oberkassel to transfer trains between the West Rhine line and the
East Rhine railway. During the
First World War three strategic Rhine crossings were built at the request of the German generals in order to bring troops and war materials to the
Western Front. The Bingen–Rüdesheim ferry was replaced by the
Hindenburg Bridge, built between 1913 and 1915 and connecting the East Rhine line with the West Rhine railway and the Nahe Valley Railway. From 1916 to 1918, the
Neuwied–Koblenz line, including the Crown Prince Wilhelm Bridge, was built between
Urmitz and
Neuwied-
Engers. The
Ludendorff Bridge between
Erpel and
Remagen was built from 1916 to 1919. It connected the East and West Rhine railway lines and the strategically important
Ahr Valley Railway. The Hindenburg, Ludendorff and Kronprinz-Wilhelm Bridges were destroyed in
World War II. Only the Crown Prince Wilhelm Bridge was rebuilt, as the Urmitz bridge, in 1954. The line was electrified in 1959. ==Current operations==