At the eastern end of the Wyalkatchem to Southern Cross railway line, the Eastern Goldfields Railway to Southern Cross had been completed in 1894. At the western end, the Goomalling to West Merredin railway line, passing through Wyalkatchem, was constructed in two distinct stages, with the first section to
Dowerin opening in 1906 and the second section, to Merredin, opening in three stages during 1911. The '''', an
act by the
Parliament of Western Australia granted
assent on 21 December 1909, authorised the construction of the eastern end of the railway line from Southern Cross to
Bullfinch, with the contract awarded to the Western Australian
Public Works Department on 10 December 1910. The railway line to Bullfinch was opened on 1 December 1911. The '
, assented to on 24 December 1912, authorised the construction of the western end of railway line from Wyalcatchem to Bencubbin. The contract for the construction of this section was awarded to the Public Works Department on 18 April 1914 and the section was opened on 1 February 1917. while the ', assented to on 13 November 1922, authorised the construction of the railway line from Mukinbudin to
Lake Brown. The contract for the section from Bencubbin to Lake Brown was awarded to the Public Works Department on 11 November 1920 and it was officially opened on 15 October 1923. The contract for this section was awarded to the Public Works Department on 21 November 1927 and the line was officially opened on 22 July 1929. In 1954, the state government of Western Australia had compiled a list of loss-making railway operations, of which the Wyalkatchem to Bullfinch section of line was one. The report broke it into three sections, from Wyalcatchem to Mukinbudin, from Mukinbudin to Lake Brown and Lake Brown to Bullfinch. The Wyalcatchem to Mukinbudin had a total expenditure of almost four times its earnings in the financial year to June 1953, while the other two sections were considerably worse. The Mukinbudin to Lake Brown section had an expenditure of
£A 4,161 versus earnings of £A 199. The Lake Brown to Bullfinch section of the Southern Cross railway line had an expenditure of £A 17,515 versus earnings of £A 425. Subsequently, the Transport Board and parliament came to the decision of closing the Muckinbudin to Bullfinch section of the line in 1957. The
Railways (Cue–Big Bell and other Railways) Discontinuance Act 1960, assented to on 12 December 1960, authorised the official closure of 13 railway lines in Western Australia, among them the Southern Cross to Mukinbudin section of the railway to Wyalcatchem.
Arc Infrastructure, the railway line's operator, deems the line to be part of its Grain Freight Rail Network, which, in 2017, accounted for 50 percent of its network but only 10 percent of its freight. The line as far as
Koorda is classified as
Tier 1 while the remainder, to Mukinbudin, is classified as Tier 2. In its current form and length, the line is referred to by Arc Infrastructure and the
Public Transport Authority as the Wyalkatchem to Mukinbudin railway line. ==Heritage==