Thuringian Railway
The line was opened on 22 March 1856 by the Thuringian Railway Company () and is one of the oldest railways in Germany. At that time it started in the Thüringer Bahnhof (Thuringian station) in Leipzig, which was on the eastern edge of the site of the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (central station), which opened in 1913. The line quickly developed into one of the busiest lines in central Germany.