This railway with the gauge 750 mm is located in north-eastern part of Latvia. The line with length 33 km is a remainder of narrow gauge railway Stukmaņi - Valka (212 km), which was put into operation in 1903. But during World War I the southern section between Stukmaņi and Gulbene was rebuilt into gauge 1524 mm and in 1970 was stopped the railway operation in section Ape - Valka and in 1973 between Ape and Alūksne.
Since 2002 the railway has been operated by company Gulbenes - Alūksnes bānītis. In summer 2005 three pairs of passenger trains are operated every day. Trains are hauled by diesel locomotives of the class TU2, TU2M a TU7A.