It links three regions, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo, and three provincial capitals: Terni, Rieti and L'Aquila.

However the unsolved Roman question threatened to interrupt railway service between the then-capital Florence and the then-biggest city Naples, and to protect its military and strategic interests the Italian government urged the construction of an alternative route from Florence to Naples that didn't enter the Papal States, which could be created with a new railway between Terni and Roccasecca, passing through Rieti and Avezzano.

An agreement was reached in 1879, when Public Works Ministry Baccarini granted Strade Ferrate Meridionali to build another railway to satisfy the need of connecting Abruzzo to Rome (the Rome-Sulmona railway) but tied the company to finish the former line till Terni.

[33] The line's importance as the primary means of transport between Abruzzo and Rome, however, lasted five years: in 1888, the Rome-Sulmona railway was opened and all trains from Abruzzo's Adriatic shore to Rome were diverted on the newer, shorter line.

Many players were killed and most couldn't play football again; the team was relegated and never recovered its lost position.

Maximum allowed speeds vary for each stretch of the line; the highest is 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph), which is reached in the straight and flat stretch between Contigliano and Marmore, while the lowest is 55 kilometres per hour (34 mph), which is reached in the winding trait between Antrodoco and Rocca di Fondi, at the start of the Apennine pass.