 The section east of Ottbergen remained a secondary line because after Prussia’s annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1866 a bypass of Hanover was no longer necessary.The section from Altenbeken to Ottbergen connected with the Solling Railway ("Sollingbahn"), opened in 1873, and the South Harz Railway ("Südharzstrecke"), opened 1868–69, creating an important west-east connection to Göttingen, Halle and Leipzig.The line lost importance because more traffic shifted to the north-south direction over the decades after 1945 as a result of the division of Germany.