The Bebra–Fulda railway is a continuously double track and electrified main line. Its construction commenced as part of the Bebra–Hanau Railway or Kurhessen State Railway (German: Kurhessischen Staatsbahn). After the Prussian annexation of the Electorate of Hesse (Kurhessen) as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, it was completed to Frankfurt as the Frankfurt-Bebra Railway. During the division of Germany, it was part of the North–South railway, the busiest and most important connection of the former Deutsche Bundesbahn between north and south Germany.