Subsequently, the MZA company —which already owned a line linking Seville and Huelva— showed interest in this possibility, carrying out studies with a view to undertaking construction work.

[5] In August 1913 the Ministry of Development carried out an auction to put out to tender the works of the future line, being the winning bidder the Sociedad Española de Ferrocarriles Secundarios (SEFS).

This company, in turn, would create the "Compañía del Ferrocarril de Huelva a Ayamonte" so that it would assume the construction and operation of the line.

The line entered service in August 1936,[8] shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, being put into operation by the military of the rebel side.

After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the original plans for this railway line changed, and Franco's troops decided to use it to transport armaments from the Portuguese border to the interior of the peninsula.

[12] This branch line started at the La Mezquita halt and reached the Corrales station, where the sorting of the mining trains was carried out.

Although in the 1980s the population served between Gibraleón and Ayamonte reached 60,000 inhabitants, the line became loss-making, and the Junta de Andalucía had to cover the operating costs to keep it in service.

In general, the low frequency, the slowness, the distance of some of its stops to the town it serves, among other factors, would trigger the decision to close the line to traffic.

It is known as the Vía Verde Litoral, with a bicycle lane on one side of the old route, although its state of conservation does not allow stable circulation.

It has been suggested the possibility of establishing it in El Empalme, between the cities of Ayamonte, Isla Cristina and Lepe, as it is almost equidistant between the three, and thus even be able to provide passenger service (with a combined winter population of just over 70,000 inhabitants).