The railway was formed in 1979 to transport phosphate[1] to the port in Aqaba.

[2] It was closed in 2018[2] In 1908 the Ottoman Empire built the Hejaz Railway, that ran from Damascus to Medina.

After World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the railway never operated south of Ma'an.

The purpose of the ARC was to transport phosphates from mines near Abiad and Ma'an to the port in Aqaba.

The ARC operated only freight trains powered by GE U17C diesel locomotives.