RP Eisenbahn GmbH was founded in April 1998 by two private shareholders. The company's activities began in 1999 with the reopening of decommissioned railway lines in the Hunsrück and Palatinate regions.
In 2000, the approximately 31 km long Freiberg-Holzhau railway in Saxony was leased from Deutsche Bahn AG and was completely renovated during a 6-month line closure. While the Deutsche Bahn previously only used one train per direction every two hours and required a travel time of over 60 minutes, the modernization made it possible to reduce the travel time to 40 minutes, so that rail transport is now offered at hourly intervals with the same number of vehicles and without the need for additional personnel. Instead of 54 million Deutsche Mark, as assumed by the DB, the modernisation was achieved with 15 million Deutsche Mark.