The Milan–Monza railway line is the second oldest railway in Italy. It was the first railway in the

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia (), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" (; ), was a constituent land (crown land) of the Austrian Empire from 1815 to 1866. It was created in 1815 by resolution of the Congress of Vienna in recogniti ...

, part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

, opening in 1840 as the ''Imperial-Regia Privilegiata Strada Ferrata da Milano a Monza'' ("

Imperial and Royal The phrase Imperial and Royal (, ) refers to the court/government of the Habsburgs in a broader historical perspective. Some modern authors restrict its use to the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. During that period, it in ...

Privileged Railway from Milan to Monza") and was long.

History

In November 1839 the Austrian Emperor

Ferdinand I of Austria Ferdinand I ( 19 April 1793 – 29 June 1875) was Emperor of Austria from March 1835 until his abdication in December 1848. He was also King of Hungary, King of Croatia, Croatia and King of Bohemia, Bohemia (as Ferdinand V), King of Lombardy– ...

authorized construction of the railroad by the Holzhammer Company, owned by the aristocrat Giovanni Putzer. Planning was by the Italian engineer Giulio Sarti. In one year the railway was built with two stations, the Porta Nuova Station in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and the

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

Station. It had rails mounted on large cubic stone sunk into the ground and gauge was maintained from time to time with transverse bars. The line was opened for service on 18 August 1840. The line was straight and the movement of trains was supervised by signalmen in high masonry towers along the line who communicated the movement of trains with optical and acoustic signals. Trains operated four return trips each day—which was soon increased to six—with a time of about 20 minutes. The railway equipment included three English

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s built by George Rennie and

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson , (honoris causa, Hon. causa) (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of hi ...

, named ''Lombardia'', ''Milano'' and ''Lambro'', and 21

passenger car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

s. The terminal stations were at Porta Nuova in Milan and Monza and there was an intermediate station at

Sesto San Giovanni Sesto San Giovanni (; , ), locally referred to as just Sesto (), is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy. It was awarded with the honorary title of ''città'' (city) by decree of 10 Apri ...

. By the end of 1840, 150,000 passengers had been carried. The original station was replaced by a new station nearby also called ''Porta Nuova'' in 1850, which was in turn replaced by a new through station called ''Milano Centrale'' in 1864. The original ''Milano Centrale'' station was replaced by the modern terminal station of

Milano Centrale Milano Centrale () is the main railway station of the city of Milan, Italy, and is the second busiest railway station in Italy for passenger flow (after Roma Termini) and the largest railway station in Europe by volume. The station is a terminu ...

, built by

Ulisse Stacchini Ulisse Stacchini (July 3, 1871 – 1947) was an Italian architect. He was born in Florence and studied in Milan and died in Sanremo. His major works include the Milan Central Station and Stadio Giuseppe Meazza San Siro is a association fo ...

between 1924-31. However, most passenger trains have been routed to Milano Porta Garibaldi (opened in 1963 near the old ''Porta Nuova'' stations) since the opening of a tunnel connecting it with the Monza line in 1966. The line now forms part of the Milan–Chiasso line; the line to Lecco connects Monza to the

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; (); or ; ; ) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski centre, hot spring spas, bresa ...

region.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milan-Monza railway Railway lines in Lombardy Railway lines opened in 1840 Railway companies established in 1839 1839 establishments in the Austrian Empire