The line was opened only to serve the Fort de Vincennes; it was extended to La Varenne and later to Brie-Comte-Robert.

Designed by François-Alexis Cendrier [fr],[1] the Gare de la Bastille was one of Paris's earliest railway termini.

Although the Gare de la Bastille was only a local terminus, by 1889 it was the second busiest in Paris, handling 12,000,000 passengers per annum.

Passenger numbers decreased by half, and the CF de l'Est attempted to close the line.

Permission for this was refused but the 19-kilometre (12 mi) section between Brie-Comte-Robert and Verneuil-l'Etang was closed to passengers in 1939, though it was temporarily revived during and for a while after the Second World War.

This followed the wartime destruction of a viaduct at Nogent-sur-Marne that had cut the main line from the Gare de l'Est to Mulhouse so long-distance trains were diverted to Bastille.

The Ligne de Vincennes as far as Boissy-Saint-Léger was to become part of a high-speed métro and its first 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) would be replaced with a new underground line.

The former rail lines are now the Promenade plantée, whilst the arches now form the Viaduc des Arts, located alongside the Avenue de Daumesnil.

An "Imperial" and a "Bidel" are preserved at the Musée Français du Chemin de Fer in Mulhouse.

Following the electrification of the line serving the Gare de l'Est in the early 1960s, push–pull stock replaced the "Bastilles".

Following devastation by phylloxera and increased competition from wine shipped in by rail, vineyards that had traditionally supplied Paris in the area served by the outer rural section of the Ligne de Vincennes switched to growing roses.

Eight trains a day ran the full length of the line to Verneuil-l'Etang, with stations closer to Paris receiving a more frequent service than those further away.