[3] The construction of the Nacala Railway started in 1915, as a project to link the port of Lumbo with the Mozambican hinterland and Protectorate of Nyasaland.

[6] On May 17, 1968, the government of Malawi signed an agreement with Portugal to open an extension starting in the city of Nkaya, to connect with Cuamba.

The Nkaya-Cuamba extension was inaugurated by Malawian President Hastings Kamuzu Banda on July 4, 1970, in a joint ceremony with Portuguese authorities in Cuamba, and its operations started on August 3, 1970.

[7][8] The Mozambican government started the recovery of the line in November 2005,[9] within the mega-enterprise "Nacala Logistics Corridor", which guarantees a hyperconnectivity of highways, railways, ports and airports.

[3] In 2010, a multinational mining company Vale managed to sew the formation of the joint venture "Integrated Northern Logistical Corridor Society", for the administration of the railway, having the freedom to build the extension of the Nacala Railway to the coal belt of Benga-Moatize, where the mining company has mineral exploration concessions.