In order to improve the distribution of their products, farmers and merchants in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais launched an initiative to build a railroad in the area.

The line should connect Leopoldina to Porto Novo do Cunha (currently Além Paraíba), on the border between Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, where the tracks of the Dom Pedro II Railway ended.

The studies for a 38-kilometer stretch began with engineer João Gomes do Val on October 10 and were approved in February of the following year; in March the railroad started to be built.

It featured five locomotives (two Rogers, two Baldwin and one Belgian, named Visconde de Abaeté, Conselheiro Theodoro, Godoy, Cataguazes and Pomba, respectively), eight passenger cars and 48 freight wagons.

[4][11][12] Due to technical issues, the railroad suffered a detour in 1876, reaching Santa Rita do Meia Pataca (now Cataguases) on July 2, 1877, instead of passing through Leopoldina.

Over the years, the railroad expanded and acquired smaller companies (the Sumidouro and Pirapetinga branches and the Cantagalo Railway) in order to eliminate competition and establish its hegemony.

[10][11] Despite its growth, the Companhia Estrada de Ferro Leopoldina began to face large deficits as the company's managers kept creating new projects without any financial backing to support them.

After these incidents, the Companhia Estrada de Ferro Leopoldina became unable to maintain its regular activities, suffering pressure from British creditors who threatened to hijack sections of the railway network as a means of payment.

On June 8, 1896, a meeting was held to sign a commitment to conduct studies for the implementation of the new policy, as well as to determine the responsibilities of the federal and state governments in case of intervention in the transaction.

The new administration restructured and modernized the system by building new lines and acquiring 38 small railroads in the center and north of the state of Rio de Janeiro, the southeast of Minas Gerais and the south of Espírito Santo.

[9][1][13] One of the new firm's main plans was to extend the line from São Francisco Xavier to the port and the center of Rio de Janeiro, which required the construction of a station to meet the new demand.

On November 15, 1924, construction began, and on December 6, 1926, the Barão de Mauá Station was inaugurated in the presence of Artur Bernardes and the Minister of Transport and Public Works Francisco Sá.

The Leopoldina Railway faced difficulties with the decline of coffee plantations in the area covered by its lines, which was aggravated by the restrictions imposed during World War II.