The Matadi–Kinshasa Railway was built between 1890 and 1898 in order to bypass the series of rapids and falls which hindered access from the South Atlantic Ocean to the Congo Basin.

But between Matadi and Kinshasa (formerly known as Léopoldville), the river was not navigable, being barred by the Livingstone Falls, which follow one another for 300 km (190 mi).

The Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (CCCI) was incorporated on 31 July 1887.

The completion of the railway officially cost the lives of 1,932 people (1,800 Africans and 132 Europeans), although the real numbers were likely higher.

In 1892, about two thousand people worked on the railroad, of which an average of one hundred and fifty workers per month lost their lives due to smallpox, dysentery, beriberi and exhaustion.

[4] The hard labour on the railway line is mentioned by Joseph Conrad in his novel Heart of Darkness, which he witnessed when he worked in the Congo Free State.

In 1928, Congo (Belgium) and Angola (Portugal) did a land exchange to facilitate the new route of the railway to Congo-Kinshasa.

[7] The railway line and the port of Matadi are the main connection for Kinshasa to the external world.

In 2003, a train derailment resulted in 11 deaths, and the line immediately fell into disuse, which endured for over a decade.