Its southern part, between Rosarno and San Lucido is also used as an RFI freight route between the Port of Gioia Tauro and the Adriatic railway.

The line is characterised by a track mostly close to the coast and is used by all categories of trains coming from Naples, Rome and other northern cities headed for Calabria, Sicily and on the initial section to Battipaglia, to Potenza.

Already, in 1861, the Minister Peruzzi had stated that the connection would be very useful for Calabria and Sicily and, in 1870, the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy authorised the government to proceed with its construction.

New agreements had also been entered into with France, Austria-Hungary and Switzerland, and the citrus trade began to move from the Americas to the centre of Europe, thus shifting from sea to rail transport.

In the meantime construction of the line along the Vallo di Diano route began very slowly, reaching only as far as the section between Sicignano degli Alburni and Lagonegro in 1892 but not continuing any further.

The Tyrrhenian line immediately proved to be the fastest and most economical means of transport and had a continuous and constant increase in freight and passenger traffic.

The transport service was superior to those offered by the steam ships that carried the coastal traffic between the small ports of the Calabrian region and those of Salerno and Naples, the stagecoaches for the carriage of passengers and the very slow animal-hauled wagons.

As early as 1908, the municipal administrations and notables from the Taurese district held meetings to promote the construction of the projected Gioia Tauro–Gioiosa Ionica railway and branches.

The 1,310 km (810 mi)-long electrified route from Milan was considered a work of great importance at the time and had required the use of 691 electric locomotives, made up of three classes, E.626, E.326 and E.428.

In 1961, the double track between the Gioia Tauro and Villa San Giovanni stations was activated; as part of the work, the stations of Taureana, Palmi, Bagnara and Favazzina were rebuilt with the erection of new station buildings[8] In the sixties, the line had reached saturation following a substantial increase in passenger and freight traffic, especially of foodstuffs coming from Sicily; this required the doubling of the track, which was implemented through the widening of the existing right of ways and tunnels, the construction of deviations and the construction of viaducts and long tunnels, especially on the routes between Agropoli and Praia a Mare and between Palmi and Villa San Giovanni.

In the seventies, the second phase of structural strengthening was carried out with the construction of two sections that formed complete deviations from the old route: the Praia–Scalea section, which is almost entirely in a new double track tunnel, was opened at the end of 1970 and the so-called direttissima (Italian for "most direct") between Rosarno and Lamezia (then called Sant'Eufemia-Lametia), which rejoined the old route at the Eccellente crossing loop with the creation of a junction, was opened in 1972.

The old route passing through Pizzo Calabro, Tropea and Nicotera was not abandoned, but remained a single track and used for regional or medium-distance traffic, without being improved in any way despite its considerable tourist potential.

The new railway, in addition to benefiting the travellers and commuters of the area, had the function of creating a new alternative route for connections between Sicily, Calabria, Apulia and the Adriatic regions and overall between the south and the north.

The Port of Gioia Tauro is connected to the line and has a railway yard with six sets of tracks, which allows the loading of six trains at a time and the operation of train-loads of containers on the national RFI network.