The first plans for a Hasselt - Maastricht - Aachen rail connection date back to 1849.

At the beginning of 1853, an approval by royal order was given for a construction of the Belgian part of the connection.

During the construction of the Albert Canal in 1930–1939, the originally straight line between Eigenbilzen (village in the municipality of Bilzen) and Lanaken was changed.

The railway line between Maastricht and Lanaken has been refurbished with a subsidy from the European Union and has been reused for freight transport.

On Wednesday, 8 June 2011, for the first time in years, a train ran over the railway line between Maastricht and Lanaken.

[3] According to the Infrabel's "Technical Network Card" edition from 1 January 2019, the section Lanaken – border is "temporarily out of order"; the section border – Maastricht "exists", everything else (west of Lanaken) doesn't exist anymore.

The main costs of the project were connected to the clean-up and redevelopment of the remaining 10 kilometres of track between Lanaken and Beverst and the construction of the new tram line between Diepenbeek and Hasselt.