The Hōshū Railway opened the Tagawa-Ita - Buzen Kawasaki section as part of the Tagawa Line in 1899.

On 5 July 2017, torrential rainfall resulted in the closure of the section of the line between Soeda and Yoake.

On 12 February 2020, it was proposed by JR Kyushu to not restore the rail service, due to low passenger use and high maintenance costs, and permanently replace it with bus rapid transit (BRT).

[2] On 16 July, JR Kyushu formally announced plans to convert this section of the line to a BRT service.

With the opening of the line, the number of stations along the route increased from 12 to 36, although travel times roughly doubled.