The present day line consists of parts of different railways constructed during the 19th century when Poland was divided between the Russian empire, Prussia and Austria.

Eventually the line was built in stages from 1870 by the Margraviate-Poznań Railway company under concession from the Prussian government.

In 1862 the Warsaw-Bydgoszcz Railway was opened running from Łowicz in the Russian controlled Congress Poland, where it connected with a branch line of the Warsaw-Vienna railway, through Kutno, Aleksandrów Kujawski on the Russian-Prussian border, to Prussian controlled Toruń and Bydgoszcz.

Between 1900 and 1902 the Russian broad gauge Warsaw–Kalisz Railway was built connecting Warsaw through Łowicz with Kalisz near the Prussian border and in 1906 extended with a dual-gauge segment to Prussian controlled Ostrów Wielkopolski through which a standard gauge line ran to Poznań.

After Poland regained independence in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I the Warsaw-Kalisz Railway was rebuilt to standard gauge and in 1921 the first new line built in Poland was a missing link from Kutno through Konin to Strzałkowo from where a local line reached Poznań, significantly improving the connection between Warsaw and Poznań.