It is also called the ferrovia Pontebbana in Italian after the town of Pontebba, which was located near the former border between Italy and Austria-Hungary during the first thirty years of its operation.

This railway would follow the Udine route, passing through Gemona del Friuli and Pontebba, near which the border crossing would be located.

Upgrading work was carried out on the line in the 1960s; in particular, new passenger buildings were erected in the stations of Tarvisio Centrale and Pontebba, and in the latter the freight facilities were doubled in capacity.

Since 2000, it has been substantially rebuilt with the opening of the new section from Carnia to Tarvisio, most of which in the tunnel, Subsequently the old single-track and tortuous line and all its stations were dismantled.

The doubling of the track in the northern section of this deviation involved, among other things, the demolition of the overpass of the Udine–Tarcento electric tramway.

At the Pontebba goods yard there are the remains of the buildings of the large customs office, used until the European Single Market entered into force in 1993.

From Pontebba the line enters another tunnel and emerges at the halt of Bagni Santa Caterina, which was abandoned in 2003.

The route of the tunnel between Pontebba and Ugovizza-Valbruna follows a sort of "M", coming out into the open only in the middle of the M, near Bagni S. Caterina.

After Tarvisio Boscoverde, the line connects at the Austrian border with the Rudolf Railway, which continues to Villach.

It was replaced because it was subject to landslides and floods and because, being single-track, it was no longer adequate for the freight traffic that had been developing.

[13] There are also various international connections operated by the ÖBB with the use of its own rolling stock, while the driving and traction staff on Italian territory is provided by Trenord for EC/EN trains and Trenitalia for EN 234/235 trains:[14][15][16] In addition, the ÖBBs also maintain a bus service, called Intercitybus, which connects Venezia Mestre station and Udine to Klagenfurt and Villach.

[18] In order to restore a daytime service between Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Carinthia, the two local administrations activated in 2012 an experimental service between Udine and Villach called "Miglioramento dei collegamenti transfrontalieri di trasporto pubblico" (Micotra, "improvement of cross-border public transport connections").

[14][15] A second pair of EuroCity services between Venice and Vienna was reintroduced starting from the timetable change on 10 December 2017.