The Olive Mount Chord was built as part of the L&NWR's Canada Dock Branch railway, which opened in 1866.

It was designed to ease transition between the branch and the main L&NWR line into and out of the Liverpool area.

The chord was taken out of use following a fire in the signal box at Edge Lane Junction on 21 January 1987 and subsequently lifted, because the declining amount of dock traffic meant the cost of repairing the box, or altering the signalling to allow remote operation from Edge Hill PSB, was not seen to be justified.

The works removed the need for reversing at Edge Hill and for crossing the lines in and out of Lime Street.

A further step change took place on Sunday 13 July 2008 when the Balfour Beatty New Track Construction machine was in use on the chord.