The line follows the former part of the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line that connected Yatsushiro and Sendai in Kumamoto and Kagoshima Prefectures, known historically as Higo and Satsuma Provinces.

The Hisatsu Orange Railway runs close to the Yatsushiro Sea and East China Sea and connects to the Kagoshima Main Line on both ends.

Although the line is electrified and used by electric freight trains, due to budgetary limitations passenger service is provided by diesel railcars.

Shareholders in the railway include prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima, cities of Yatsushiro, Minamata, Izumi, Akune and Satsumasendai, towns of Tsunagi and Ashikita, and the Japan Freight Railway Company.

The Sendai–Yatsushiro section was built by the (then) Japanese Imperial Railway and opened between 1922 and 1927, at which time this route replaced the Hisatsu Line to become the southern part of the Kagoshima Main Line.