Traffic volume
The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway, which operated the line in Baden from 1840 to 1920, when it was absorbed by Deutsche Reichsbahn, opened the Odenwald Railway between Heidelberg and Mosbach on 23 October 1862. Traffic volume remained lower than expected, especially after 24 May 1879, when the Neckar Valley Railway opened on the Neckargemünd–Neckarsteinach–Eberbach–Neckarelz–Mosbach route, converting the Meckenheim–Neckarelz section into a de facto branch line in the following years, as trains on the Heidelberg–Würzburg route preferred to use the gentler Neckar Valley Railway. The section had the lowest traffic levels of any sections of the Baden Odenwald Railway. Despite its alignment making provision for double track, the line remained single-track.