Milan and Monza railroad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Milan and Monza Rail Road is one of the oldest railroads in Italy, the first rail road in North Italy, Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, opening in 1840 and consists of 12.8 km in length.

In November 1839 the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria authorized construction of the railroad by Impresa Holzhammer, owner the noble Giovanni Putzer, planned by Giulio Sarti, designer. In one year the railroad was built with two stations, the Porta Nuova Station in Milan and the Monza Station. The line was opened for service on August 17, 1840. The average duration of travel between the two stations was 19 minutes.

The railway equipment included three English steam locomotives named Lombardia, Milano and Lambro and 21 passenger cars.

From Monza the line branches to the Gotthard Pass and the Valtellina region.