On November 26, 1904, the station master, Ramayya, waved the green flag, and the coal-powered train set off, marking the historic beginning of the Kollam-Shenkottai railway line in Kollam, Kerala. Though the coal-powered trains were later replaced by electric locomotives, the scenic journey through the winding hills of the Western Ghats remains as beautiful today as it was then.

In 1873, the Madras Government proposed the idea of linking Kollam and Shenkottai with a meter-gauge railway. Recognizing Kollam's strategic importance as a major industrial center and its central location in Travancore, the government deemed it the ideal site for establishing the railway line.

The capital for the project included Rs 17 lakh from the government, Rs 7 lakh from the railway, and Rs 6 lakh from Ramiengar, the Diwan of Travancore.

The survey for the railway started in 1888 during the reign of Uthram Thirunal. Construction began in 1900, and after building bridges over rivers and tunnels through the hills, the railway line was completed in 1902.

The first train journey took place on July 1, 1904, on the route earlier tested by freight trains. However, due to heavy rains causing tunnel walls to collapse, the train was only able to travel from Kollam to Punalur on the inaugural day. The local people dubbed the coal-powered train "Dhoomashakadasuran".

Stretching 94 kilometers, the broad-gauge conversion project for this railway line began 94 years later. The first broad-gauge train from Kollam to Punalur ran on May 10, 2010, covering a distance of 45 kilometers. The conversion to broad gauge for the 49-kilometer Punalur-Shenkottai stretch was completed in 2018, after which the broad-gauge train began running from Kollam to Shenkottai.

The first electric train on the Kollam-Punalur route was introduced on June 9, 2022. On July 27, 2024, the electric train also began running on the Punalur-Shenkottai route.