station On 9 August 1928, the first test run on the line took place. At the official opening on 3 September 1928, people massed at the stations and halts and the newly opened railway carried about 2,500 passengers to Bodenmais that day. All the reports expressed hopes that the line would soon be extended through the
Zeller Valley (
Zellertal). The planned extension from
Bodenmais through the Zeller Valley to
Kötzting did not come to fruition however, because in 1927 the privately run
Regentalbahn had opened a railway from
Gotteszell to
Blaibach just a few kilometres away and, as a result, a connexion between the Forest Railway and the railway network via
Cham already existed. There were also important opponents of the extension, und so the construction of the line from Bodenmais to Kötzting was cancelled in the early 1930s on the grounds that the local communities were unable to agree on it. Soon after the opening of the route, its low profitability became clear. As early as the 1960s, there were rumours of its approaching closure. In the 1970s and 80s, this topic was repeatedly taken up in the media. In January 1984, there was a major television debate over the continued existence of the line. On 27 September 1984, the
Nuremberg railway division admitted that it had been trying for 15 years to reach a decision over the future over the very poorly utilised Zwiesel–Bodenmais route. Despite all fears, the line remained open. == Present-day ==