[2] The construction of a railway line to connect the Republic of Transvaal to the port of Lourenço Marques, in Portuguese East Africa, was preceded by a long planning phase.

The Pretoria government tendered the project, winning the concession for a private railway company in 1870, promising areas of 850 farms as payment guarantee.

The Portuguese engineer and officer Joaquim José Machado carried out a new survey of land in 1881 and 1882 to find an ideal route, as some gold fields on both sides of the Crocodile River should have easy access to a rail connection.

[5] An obstacle to route planning on the South African side was the steep mountain positions and the deep valleys near Komatipoort, in the area of the Crocodile River.

[6][7] The official opening took place on 8 July 1895 in a ceremony chaired by the president of Transvaal Paul Kruger, attended by the Mozambican colonial administrator António Enes.