The Transnordestina was planned due to the importance of railway transport for the sustainable economic, social and environmental development.

Originating in the Stone Age or Neolithic period, the ox cart (carro de boi) came to Brazil with the first sugarcane plantations in Portuguese colonial times.

The construction of a road linking Recife to Olinda began in 1817, passing through Santo Amaro das Salinas, where a dump had been made and whose route, in a straight line, considerably reduced the journey. Due to the conflicts resulting from the 1817 revolution, the construction was abandoned.