A link between Rome and Ostia was necessary since the end of the nineteenth century, when the population of the coastal area began to rise dramatically.

The first project for a railway that connected Rome to its sea was proposed by Engineer Felipe Costa in 1868 and was accepted by the Papal State, which at the time ruled the whole area.

For the financing of the project, 9 million pounds, at the time, had been raised by Roman nobles who had the intention of creating a private group.

The following year the Chamber of Commerce approved a budget of 15,000 pounds for the costs of the projects and advocated the opening of a railway line on the fiftieth anniversary of the unity of Italy that would have been celebrated in 1911.

Shortly after, the engineer Paolo Orlando (future commissioner to Agro Romano with Mayor Prospero Colonna ) promoted the establishment of the Company "La Marina di Roma", which proposed a standard gauge railway and electric traction.

During the fifties, given the expansion of Ostia and its transformation to the favorite seaside resort by the Romans, the demand for transportation to and from the capital continued to increase.

Later that year, the Roma Lido line was extended all the way to Termini in central Rome, the main railway station.

Over the years that followed, the number of passengers greatly increased, thanks to the direct connection to Termini, the main interchange for the capital, which allowed the use of the Rome–Lido railway not only by tourists, but also by commuters, students and workers.

On 9 September 1989, the terminus of the Rome-Lido was set back temporarily to Magliana station to allow for the modernization of Porta San Paolo.

During the summer trains run more frequently due to increased usage of the line, mostly by tourists visiting the beach.

At night the line is replaced by the N3 bus which runs from Piazza Venezia (instead of Pyramid / Porta S. Paolo) to Christopher Columbus.

Roma - Lido has interchanges with Metro Line B at Piramide, Basilica San Paolo and EUR Magliana.

Outside the Greater Rome Area, it stops in the neighbourhoods of Tor di Valle, Vitinia, Casal Bernocchi, Centro Giano, Acilia and Ostia Antica.