The line was a part of the first suburban railway line in Perth, opening on 1 March 1881. It originally operated as the Eastern Railway and ran between Fremantle and Guildford passing through Perth. The line was extended from Guildford to Chidlow's Well, opening in March 1884. Throughout the 1880s, the Eastern Railway line was extended beyond Guildford and Midland Junction along its first route to Chidlow and Northam. The second route varied after Bellevue proceeding to Chidlow. The third route saw the removal of the Bellevue Railway station in its construction, with the new Midland railway terminus replacing the older Midland Junction railway station. An anomaly of the Midland line timetables in the 1950s and 1960s was that Bellevue was nominally the terminus of the line until 1962. Koongamia, which was a new station prior to Greenmount on the original first route, was the terminus from 1962 to 1966. In 1966, the stations on the first two Eastern Railway routes as well as the old Midland Junction railway station were closed and the new Midland was constructed 200 metres to the west and became the new terminus. Generally, changes from the 1970s saw a significant number of stations on the line moved or turned into island platform stations. On 24 July 2004, Bassendean became the first station to be upgraded under the Building Better Stations project. In the earlier decades of the twentieth century, a significant number of rail-crossing accidents between motor vehicles and trains occurred. Unattended crossings were provided with boom gates, flashing lights and bells to counter inattention or risk taking from drivers. Also, crossings were reduced, and in a number of locations, bridges were constructed. In mid-February 2006, an express train heading from Midland to Perth was involved in an accident with a passenger car. Near Guildford, a tourist, unfamiliar with the road layout illegally turned right at a set of traffic lights onto the wrong side of the road crossing the railway. This lane was not protected on the oncoming side with a boom gate as it was a one-way lane. The train slammed into the vehicle, dragging it for a short distance. The accident resulted in the death of the car's driver, but no fatalities or reported injuries to the passenger and driver of the train.
Below is the annual patronage of Midland railway line from 2010–2011 financial year. Figures are provided as total boardings, which includes all fare-paying boardings and free travel on stations within the free transit zones as well as transfers between stations. The figures for rail replacement and special events services are not included in the total.
Railway stations
Since 21 July 2019, all regular services stop at all stations on this line.
