Frankfurt–Bebra railway

The Friedrich Wilhelm North Railway (Friedrich-Wilhelms-Nordbahn) already connected Bebra with Kassel. Initially the proposed railway was called the Bebra-Hanau railway (German: Bebra-Hanauer Eisenbahn). In order not to leave Kurhessen territory, the line followed the route of the Haune valley, not that of the Fulda, which was in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Therefore, a winding route was necessary.

After the annexation of the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel by Prussia as a result of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the project was taken over by Prussia. At the same time construction of the southern section commenced. Prussia was able to complete the line within two years, and trains began to run between Hanau and Frankfurt, initially via the Frankfurt-Hanau railway and the Frankfurt City Link Line (Verbindungsbahn) on the northern bank of the Main to Frankfurt's western stations. In 1873 the bridge over the Main at Hanau-Steinheim was completed, which enabled trains to run on the newly built track via Offenbach am Main, Frankfurt Bebra Station and the Main-Neckar Railway bridge (now the location of the "Freedom" road bridge—Friedensbrücke) into Frankfurt. This new route avoided the old Hanau station and this required a new, larger station to be built on the line in order to continue to serve Hanau at the point where the Frankfurt-Bebra line intersected with the Main–Spessart railway on its way to Aschaffenburg, initially called Hanau East, and later renamed Hanau central station.

The mountains between Flieden and Schlüchtern south of Fulda initially led to the decision to build a zig zag line in order to avoid building an almost 4 km long tunnel. This required all through trains to reverse at Elm, which led to increasing congestion as traffic increased with the connection of the Flieden–Gemünden railway to the line at Elm in 1873. Tunnel-building technology had improved significantly by the beginning of the 20th century, notably with the increased availability of dynamite. Thus in 1909 construction of the Schlüchtern tunnel began under Distelrasen; it was completed on 14 February 1914 and put into operation on 1 May. In 2009 a second tube was opened and the old tunnel is now being rebuilt as a single-track tunnel.

In 1914, a compound curve was opened to the south of Bebra allowing trains to run without reversal or stop at Bebra between the line from Frankfurt to the Thuringian Railway to Leipzig and Berlin; this line has become commonly known as the Berlin curve.

In 1963 electrification of the line was completed.