When the Kunming–Hai Phong railway (opened 1910) was constructed, it did not directly serve the valley where the city of Mengzi is located.
A 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) line, it connected with the Kunming–Hai Phong mainline at Bisezhai railway station, east of Mengzi.
The Caoba–Guanjiashan branch was constructed by the PRC Ministry of Metallurgy to server Yunnan Tin's Datun mining area (大屯矿区).
Yuguopu station became the new transhipment point between the 600 mm Gebishi railway and the metre-gauge network.
In 1965, in connection with the expansion of the Yuguopu station and the construction of the Datun Phosphate Fertilizer Plant (大屯磷肥厂), the line was extended by 1.86 km to Guanshengzhuang (关圣庄).