The need for a railway connecting Italy to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was identified in the early 19th century, and a line was proposed connecting Wien with Milano and Venezia. In 1865 the Belluno area engineer proposed building a connection between Venezia and the Tirol via Dobbiaco, and in 1868 approval was given to the construction of a horse-worked railway between Ampezzo and Dobbiaco. No work was started, and the approval lapsed. In July 1899 a revised plan, following more closely the route of the valley road, was presented to the Tirol Parliament, who declined to provide the needed subsidy.

In March 1905 the Regal Imperial Ministry of Railways in Wien employed engineer Josef Riehl from Innsbruck to prepare plans for an electric railway between Dobbiaco and Cortina, using hydro-electric power generation. Although the first 29km of route were surveyed, approval was never fully granted for the line, the Austrian Government not wishing to build a line so close to the southern border of the Empire, provoking international alarm.

After the outbreak of the Great War, the projected line assumed great military importance, being part of a logistical chain over the mountains from Northern Tirol, to ammunition dumps in and around Cortina. A “Feldbahn” or military railway, lightly-laid to 750mm gauge, was quickly constructed along the surveyed route, using Italian and Russian Prisoners of War. At Cortina, a spur was laid from the town square up into Podestango, where galleries were hewn out of the mountain to contain the stored armaments.

After the end of the Great War ended, part of the Feldbahn was used in the reconstruction of the line, with the route being re-gauged to 950 mm, and with the steam locomotives also being re-gauged as a result of Austrian reparations. Public services started on the line on 20 June 1920 and the line was officially opened in February 1923 by Prince Umberto of the Italian Royal Family.

The 65 kilometre-long line was rebuilt to the standard Italian narrow gauge of 950 mm between Calalzo, where there was once a transfer interchange with the main line, through Cortina D’Ampezzo to the mountain resort of Toblach /Dobbiaco, rising 760 metres between the end stations.

A curiosity was the interchange at Calalzo which had two narrow-gauge stations adjoining, but on different alignments, Calalzo Scalo next to the main line station, and Calalzo Stazione Superiore approximately 300 metres away. The line from the interchange station cut across the line into the main narrow-gauge station at the station throat on the level, before curving gently around the back of a hotel and some houses, joining the rest of the narrow-gauge line about 1.5 km from the stations. There was even a link between the lines, but was only used for light engine movements.

The railway was electrified using 2700v D.C., in 1927, using grants from the city of Cortina, and electric railcars and Bo-Bo electric locos started working on the line from 1 July 1929. The Winter Olympics had been awarded to Cortina for 1944 back in 1930, but were cancelled because of the War. After peace was restored, the local population could not at first agree whether they could afford to hold an Olympic Games, but underwriting by the Italian Olympic Committee helped sway them – the first Winter Olympics to be held in Italy. As part of the agreement, the railway was to be upgraded, and it was suggested that the gauge should be changed to that of the main line. In the event, although 1,000 million lira was spent, the gauge was left at 950 mm. Some of the sharpest curves were eased, and part of the track was rebuilt entirely with level crossings being signalled.

Two new higher capacity articulated railcars were supplied from Officine Meccaniche della Stanga (OMS) of Padova, as were three new trailer coaches. The President of the Italian Republic was conveyed to Cortina in one of the new electric railcars for the opening ceremony. Because of road competition on an increasingly antiquated railway, the line gradually lost traffic and the councils decided that they could no longer support the line, which closed on Sunday 17 May 1964, although special trains continued to run for sometime afterwards. The tracks were eventually removed, and 50 km of the line turned was into a cycle way, running between Belluno and Calalzo via Cortina. Unit ET 8, one of the units built in 1955 by Stanga / TIBB was sold to FETM, becoming their ET 008, and after a long period of rebuilding, entered service on 11 Sept 1994.

Efforts continue to try to reopen the route, as a new inter-urban connection to Cortina, relieving traffic congestion.

In the Blake Edwards film “The Pink Panther”, the master thief (Sir Charles Litton, played by David Niven) escorts the Princess Dala to the railway station at Cortina D’Ampezzo. The Princess boards a three-carriage blue and white train, one of those supplied to the railway for the 1956 Winter Olympics, which was held at Cortina.