The Krishna Canal-Nandyal (KCC-NDL) stretch was a part of the important East-West coast link that connected Margao in Goa to Masulipatnam in the erstwhile Madras Province of British India. It was originally built to Metre Gauge by the Southern Mahratta Railway (later the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway-MSMR) during 1889-90. The track passed through the Nallamala Hills and as a result quite a few major engineering works were undertaken in the course of the railroad construction, the most impressive of them being the massive Dorabavi Viaduct and the Bogada Tunnel, both of them about 30 km from Nandyal. This section was converted to Broad Gauge during 1993-95 under Indian Railways' Project Unigauge. The gauge conversion was a difficult task owing to the difficult terrain. The old alignment between Gazulapalli and Diguvametta was abandoned and a new Bogada tunnel, about 1.6 km in length and a new Dorabavi Viaduct located at a much lower altitude were constructed at a huge expense. The railway passes through the historic Cumbum Tank starting from Cumbum railway station for a distance of about 7 km. It is one of the most picturesque valleys in Guntur-Nandyal section of South Central Railway.
The Guntur-Macherla (GNT-MCLA) section was opened in 1930 by the MSMR to serve the backward inner Telangana region. It too was originally metre gauge and was converted to Indian gauge in 1992-93. This section was used for the transport of limestone, quartz &cement, primarily from Piduguralla, popularly known as the Lime City.
The section from Guntur to the coastal town of Repalle was built to the broad gauge by the Madras and Southern Railway in 1916. This line connected to the East Coast main line at Tenali. The section from Tenali to Repalle was owned by Guntur District Board until 1964.
The foundation stone for the 152 km long Bibinagar-Nadikudi rail project that opened an alternative route toSecunderabad from Vijayawada and connected the interior of Telangana to Hyderabad was laid by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi on 7 April 1974. The project was finally finished in 1989 and the line commissioned a year later. Two major bridges to span the Krishna River and Musi are located in this section. It is used by many south/east bound trains in a bid to decongest the heavily used Warangal-Vijayawada line. Cement is an important commodity that is transported through this line, besides quartz , coal and fertilizer.
