On 9 February 1855, The imperial government of Brazil signed a contract with Edward Price for the construction of the first section of a railway which had the aim of linking the court (then in the city of Rio de Janeiro) with the provinces of São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

At this time there were 5 stations: Campo, Engenho Novo, Cascadura (all in the city of Rio), Maxambomba (now Nova Iguaçu) and Queimados.

In 1895 the Minas Gerais tracks arrived at General Carneiro and split in the directions of Belo Horizonte and Sete Lagoas.

One of the main consequences was the dividing up of various suburban systems which had been part of the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil, the closure of unprofitable lines and the absorption of some sections into other railways.

With the construction and later doubling of the Presidente Dutra motorway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in 1967 (competing with its most lucrative line), the railway ceased to be a major player, a process aggravated by inefficient administration in the RFFSA and the fact that railway transport had ceased to be a priority of the federal government.

There was an attempt to reinstate the Trem de Prata (silver train), a luxury service between the Rio and São Paulo run by a private company which ran for a short while but could not compete with the air and road connections between these two cities.