The decision to build a 311 km railway from Viipuri to Joensuu was made by the Diet of Finland in 1888. Work on the railroad started in 1890, right after work on the Savonia railroad was finished. in 1918, at the time of the Finnish Civil WarThe track from Viipuri,, via Antrea to Vuoksenniska was completed in November 1892, Antrea to Sortavala in November 1893, and Sortavala to Joensuu in October 1894. At the height of construction in September 1892 6000 men worked on the railroad. A direct link between Hiitola and Finland Station in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was opened in 1917, bypassing the Riihimäki-Saint Petersburg railroad. The bombing of the Elisenvaara station of the Karelian railroad on 20 June 1944, during the final stages of the Continuation War, was the most fatal bombing in Finnish history; over a hundred civilians were killed when bombs hit a train of Karelian evacuees After the Winter War and Continuation War Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia with Viipuri / Viborg, Hiitola, Elisenvaara and Sortavala were ceded to the Soviet Union, and most stations of the line got to the Soviet side of the new border. In the Moscow Peace Treaty on March 12, 1940, Finland lost the section Viipuri - Antrea - Hiitola - Jaakkima - Sortavala - Matkaselkä - Värtsilä to the Soviet Union. Only the Joensuu - Niirala section remained in Finland. In the early 1950s Finland built a new railroad on the Finnish side of the new border, connecting Imatra with the northern part of the Karelian railroad at Säkäniemi.
At Antrea a 39 km railway to Vuoksenniska branches off from this line. After 1940 and 1944 the Antrea - Enso section was ceded to Soviet Union. As of 2007, projects are being discussed to construct a cargo railway along the northern shore of the Vuoksi River linking Kamennogorsk to the Losevo station of the Saint Petersburg–Hiitola railroad in order to ship Russian crude oil to the sea port of Primorsk bypassing the St. Petersburg – Vyborg line.
The Elisenvaara station was linked to Savonlinna and ultimately Vaasa in Finland. The track meets the new Karelian railroad in Parikkala, on the Finnish side of the border, but the line is closed for traffic and the tracks have been removed in Finnish side to the border. On the Russian side the line from Elisenvaara to Syväoro 13 km still exists and has Sorjo station 7 km from Elisenvaara serving a local border guard station.
The Simpele - Elisenvaara section of the Vuoksenniska - Elisenvaara line has been lifted after 1944. This section is used as a local road. It had the following stations and stops: Koitsansalo halt 108 km, Lamminsalo station 111 km, Haapavaara halt 114 km, Elisenvaara 122 km. Recently, this section reconstruction to reopen and Elisenvaara - Sortavala - Matkaselkä - Suoyarvi - Tomitsy section upgrading including electrification at 25 kV 50 Hz AC and track doubling are proposed, to connect between Imatra and Petrozavodsk.
In 1921 a railroad linking Matkaselkä to Naistenjärvi 139 km was constructed, which was later in turn linked to Pitkäranta, Kostomuksha and Petrozavodsk.
In the Finnish part of the railroad there is a connection Säkäniemi – Imatra - Kouvola through the new Karelian railroad going along the border.
