On July 12, 1852 the Jaén Town Council held a taxpayers meeting to discuss, for the first time, the possibility of providing Jaén with its own railway line. In 1859 another important meeting was held to discuss the building of a branch line to link Jaén with Espeluy and to the general Andalusia rail network. However, nearly ten years were to pass, and many different projects were proposed, before the idea was finally adopted. It was decided to build a railway line from the general Andalusia rail network at Jaén which would link up with Puente Genil via Cabra and Lucena. The Act authorizing the construction of the line was passed in 1873.
In 1876 the project submitted by Malaga born Jorge Loring was accepted, and work was started in 1879 under the auspices of the newly formed Compañía de Ferrocarriles Andaluces (Andalusian Railway Company). In July 1881 the section between Espeluy and Jaén was completed. Later, in 1890, the engineer De la Pierre proposed a modification to the original route of the line to include the stations of Martos, Vado Jaén, Alcaudete, and the major viaducts on the route (Guadajoz, Víboras,...). The works were carried out under the supervision of Carlos Alexandre, an engineer of the Compañía de Ferrocarriles Andaluces, while civil engineers Daydé and Pille of Creil (France) were responsible for the construction of the metal viaducts and wooden bridges.
In 1891 the Cordovan section between Puente Genil and Cabra was completed while 1893 saw the end of the work on the Cabra to Jaén section. The region was now served by a railway line that ran from Linares to the station at Campo Real (Cordoba), passing through the stations of Jaén, Torredelcampo, Torredonjimeno, Martos, Vado-Jaén, Alcaudete, among others.
The completed Linares-Puente Genil railway line transported heavy metallurgical goods from Linares and Belmez, and farm produce from the province of Jaén and the south of Cordoba, to the sea port of Malaga. As most of this farm produce was olive oil, the route became known as the “Olive Oil Train”, especially after the bumper year for olive oil in 1963 when the train was instrumental in getting the oil to market.
The Spanish economy was not very buoyant in the early decades of the 20th century, and in 1936 the railway was taken into receivership due to its critical financial position. During the Civil War, however, the Linares-Puente Genil line saw renewed activity as an alternative to the bomb damaged Espeluy-Sevilla route. Once the war was over, the line once again entered into a decline; locomotives were rarely seen and when they were they ran at very low speed (30 Km/h.).
On July 2, 1969, RENFE published a plan forming part of the Special Report on the Jaén-Campo Real line in which, given the line’s untenable situation, a number of proposals were considered, such as the withdrawal of passenger services, the suspension of the public goods service, and the dismantling of the section between Torredonjimeno y Campo Real. The line remained active until 1985.