Even though the line ended up being built beginning from Kouvola instead, the idea of connecting Heinola to the fledgling railway network was brought up by the town's representatives in the Finnish Diet's sessions through the 1880s to the early 1900s, with little success.

[3] As the newly independent Finland stabilized and its economic conditions improved, lobbying in favor of the Heinola line was reinitiated; in 1924, representatives from the town and several nearby municipalities of Mikkeli, Juva, Savonlinna, Kerimäki and Sulkava founded a committee that raised the matter of constructing a west-to-east line from Lahti to Matkaselkä, some 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Sortavala, via Heinola, Mikkeli and Savonlinna.

The committee, backed by the services of engineer Artur Grönmark – responsible for a study regarding the route and economic impact of the prospective line – delivered an appeal to the government in the same year.

[1] A formal inauguration ceremony was held on 10 September 1932, which featured a jubilee train carrying president Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and his spouse Ellen from Helsinki to Heinola.

[4] The Lahti–Heinola railway stretches approximately 37.4 kilometres (23.2 mi) long, consists of one track for its entire length, has a top speed limit of 50–60 km/h (31–37 mph), and is unelectrified.