Among the area's current majority Croats and Slovenes, the railway is also known as the Istranka or Istrijanka, both meaning 'Istrian'.

Then it started climbing again via Motovun and Vižinada to Baldaši where it reached another local extreme at 273 meters above sea level.

Although initially planned and much effort made by local authorities, the fork from Valica to Umag was never built.

On the other hand, since 1909 Piran was connected with the station in Portorož (at that time Portorož was a spa and a stop for guests was arranged in a private villa two years after the rail line was completed), first with a trolleybus, in 1912 replaced by an electrical tramway which was operating till 1953.

In 1888 a Berlin based company Sanderop & comp, led by Peter Walderstein started to prepare project plan of the route.

In 1898 a construction permit was obtained and in 1900 the TPC company was founded in Vienna, its chief was Ludovico Rizzi, then a governor of Austrian Littoral.

Initial plans included an extension to Kanfanar, then a rail junction of standard gauge rail lines from Divača, Pula and Rovinj (the section between Kanfanar and Rovinj is now defunct) but it was never built due to lack of funds and later due to upcoming World War I.

Products of Piran's chemical industry and dimension stones from quarries in Grožnjan, Momjan, Kanegra, etc.

The railway was taken over by Italians, its headquarters were moved from Vienna to Pula, locomotives and personnel were brought from other parts of Italy.

Some were a consequence of human factor while others resulted from a fact that planners from interior of the Austria-Hungary did not know the local microclimate well.

In memory of this event Božidar Tvrdy later composed a poem Za Šentjanom je utonilo sonce (the Sun drowned at Šentjan, full text in Slovenian).

After the World War II several ideas arose to reconstruct the railway at least partially for the purpose of tourism, however this never happened.

During preparation of railway's centennial celebration, the Italian and most of Slovenian sections were, with the financial help of the European Union, converted into a recreation Trail of Health and Friendship (Pot zdravja in prijateljstva in Slovenian, Percorso della salute e dell'amicizia in Italian) for pedestrians and cyclists and similar works started at the Croatian side as well.

The section from Vizinada to the Ypsilon (the fast road from Pula to the Slovenian border) was cleared in January 2011.

When the Ypsilon was constructed, it caused the only major cut in the trackbed and it is unfortunate that an accommodation arch was not incorporated when it was planned.

Due to frequent bends, curves and ascents the train's average speed was a mere 25 km/h; together with all stops, the whole journey between Trieste and Poreč took approximately 7 hours.

At the steepest grades the steam locomotives often had trouble ascending the slope, prompting passengers alight the train and help push it.

Trains occasionally had to stop after children would grease the rails with figs, and the journey could only continue once the tracks were cleaned.

In 1903 a small single car train with a steam engine at one end, a BCM/s51, produced by Komarek factory in Vienna, was introduced.

Although all tracks were removed, a large part of other railway infrastructure (embankments, cuttings, bridges, viaducts, etc.)

After its "retirement" it was exhibited in front of the new railway station in Koper (built in 1967 for the new standard gauge line from Divača) together with a few Bosnian cars, that were never used at the Porečanka.