It was the first and longest (at 133.8 km) of all the narrow gauge railways built to serve the area north of the River Douro.

The northern section of the line between Mirandela and Bragança was suddenly closed in December 1991, with the closure being formalised in 1992.

Most of the remaining 54 km section south of Mirandela was closed abruptly in August 2008 on grounds that emergency track repairs were necessary.

[5] However, the taxi service was restarted on 9 July 2012 for a further initial three-month period, later extended indefinitely.

In May 2016 the Mirandela local authority decided to withdraw funding for the replacement road service due to financial constraints.