The railway was commissioned in 1884 with its headquarters was located in Kryvyi Rih, before being relocated to Dnipro (Yekaterinoslav) and renamed to Yekaterinin Railroad.

The idea of building a railway network passing through Dnipro city is credited to the first Russian minister of railways Pavel Petrovich Melnikov who in 1862 expressed an interest in connecting the Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Basin (Kryvbas) with the Donets Coal Basin (Donbas).

The railroad serves the major industrial centers: Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Krivyi Rih, Pavlohrad, Nikopol, Novomoskovsk and others, and also agricultural areas.

The freight transported is dominated by iron and manganese ores, coal, coke, ferrous metals, industrial goods, machinery, equipment, building materials, fluxes, grain.

Tight supply transportation 27,000,000 t-km/km Intensive passenger traffic exists from Moscow, Donetsk, Odesa, South-West, North Caucasus, October, Lviv Railways.

During the battles and the liberation of the territory from invaders, railroad workers carried out the supply to frontlines, the transport service, the restoration path and rolling stock.