The line was built by Thomas Brassey under contract to the Società Vittorio Emanuele ("Victor Emmanuel Company", named in honour of Victor Emmanuel II, then king of Piedmont and Sardinia) and opened between Turin and Novara on 20 October 1856 and extended to the Ticino river—which formed the boundary between Piedmont and the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia (then part of the Austrian Empire)—on 18 October 1858. The bridge over the river connecting to the existing railway from Milan at Magenta was opened on 1 June 1859.
Three days later the French-Sardinian army led by Napoleon III defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Magenta with the help of supplies brought by the new railway. This was a major step in the unification of Italy.[5]
Following the nationalisation of the railways, the line was incorporated into the state network and its operation was taken over by Ferrovie dello Stato between 1905 and 1906.
The line was severely damaged during the Second World War. In 1951, it was restored to operation, albeit temporarily, in some parts.
The main line from Novara to Rho was electrified from the timetable change in May 1960.[6] The missing section from Turin to Novara was electrified the following year and inaugurated on 4 June in the presence of the Minister of Transport Giuseppe Spataro,[7] on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the unification of Italy.[8]
The line is double-track, electrified at 3,000 volts DC and standard-gauge with a length of 153 kilometres (95 mi). Its infrastructure manager, RFI classifies it as a "fundamental line".[9]
