the first plans to build a direct rail link between hamburg and lübeck were put forward in 1831. because of the refusal of the danish authorities to allow a direct line to be built through holstein-glückstadt, which was ruled by the king of denmark, the lübeck–büchen line was built by the lübeck-büchen railway company ("lübeck-büchener eisenbahn", lbe). this provided a connection between lübeck and the berlin-hamburg railway, but meant that trains to hamburg had to take the route via büchen. this was approximately 32 km longer that the direct line, which was only opened by the lbe on 1 august 1865. in 1875/76 the track was duplicated.