 Only the Berlin–Wiesenburg section is electrified.The Sandersleben–Blankenheim section has only a single track, while the remainder of the still-operating parts of the line is duplicated.The track was built at the instigation of the Prussian government between 1877 and 1882 as a direct militarily strategic railway, bypassing urban areas, connecting to Alsace-Lorraine, which had been acquired from France as a result of the War of 1870-71.