The line was built as part of the Hanoverian Western Railway, which was built by the Royal Hanoverian State Railways in the 1850s to develop the western parts of the former Kingdom of Hanover.
In 1868 the line from Rheine to Emden was acquired by the Royal Westphalian Railway Company, which operated it until its nationalisation in 1880, when it became part of the Prussian State Railway.