It was the first railway in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, part of the Austrian Empire, opening in 1840 as the Imperial-Regia Privilegiata Strada Ferrata da Milano a Monza ("Imperial and Royal Privileged Railway from Milan to Monza") and was 12.8 kilometres (8.0 mi) long.

In November 1839 the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria authorized construction of the railroad by the Holzhammer Company, owned by the aristocrat Giovanni Putzer.

[2] 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 locomotives built by George Rennie and Robert Stephenson,[2] named Lombardia, Milano and Lambro, and 21 passenger cars.