The Grödnerbahn, like several other narrow gauge lines in Süd Tirol, was built during the First World War to provide quick access to areas of conflict, allowing the reprovisioning of troops stationed there. The people of the Grödner Valley (today called Val Gardena) have specialised for several hundreds of years in the manufacture of large wooden works of art and crafts, many of religious significance. However, transporting these large pieces out of the valley was a problem, even after the track way from Eisacktal was completed in the early 1800's, whilst a road from Waidbruck, on the Brennerstraße, into the valley, to the villages of Sankt Peter, Ortesei Sankt Ulrich, Sankt Christina and Wolkenstein was completed only in 1856. This road was, however, completely unable to cope with tourists who started to visit the area in the late 1890's, and proposals were drawn up for an electrified, metre gauge railway from Klausen in Eisacktal to Sankt Ulrich. Like many other schemes, finance was not found, and the scheme was never presented to the Austrian Ministry of Transport. After the outbreak of War in 1914, the need to quickly supply troops in the Dolomites caused the Army High Command to resurrect the plans for the railway, and by the start of September 1915 a start was made, using 6,000 Russian Prisoners of War to build the 760 mm gauge steam - operated line. The 31 km route as far as Sankt Christina was opened for traffic in Mid January 1916, despite the extremely harsh Winter, and the whole 42 km line was officially opened - although still incomplete - on 6 February 1916.

The line started at Klausen station, on the Brenner line north of Bolzano, and climbed steeply up into the valley over the Lajenried Pass, through the towns of St. Peter, St. Ulrich and St. Christina, to the valley head at Plan, where the pathways divided over the Passes to the east and south. Cable car routes were erected here, giving extensive connections over the mountains into the areas of fighting. Locomotives were at first commandeered from other railways - one of the first being "Lago di Garda", a 2-6-4T (C1n2t) built by Krauss Linz in 1890 for the Lokalbahn Mori-Arco-Riva. (Although no longer extant, another of the series for the same line is still at work - number 2 "Riva" , Krauss 2360/1890 is at work on the Omaha Zoo Railway, Omaha, Nebraska, USA)

By the end of 1916 the line had been equipped with new locos, also built by Krauss Linz (7171-7177/1916), 0-8-2T (Dt-n2) numbered 4141-4147, with a top speed of 18 km/h. The four-coupled axles had some side play, and were constructed to the Klein-Lindtner System, which gave better traction on uneven, sharply-curved lines. The locos were rated at 150 hp. As the battle front moved south, so the need for the line diminished. After the collapse of the Austrian Front in the summer of 1917, and the end of the War the following year, the Italian Government laid claim to Süd Tirol, and the region became part of Italy. With the change came a new owner of the line - Ferrovie dello Stato, FS. The locomotives were renumbered in the 410. range.

The area slowly recovered, the line bringing in supplies and tourists. Despite this, little maintenance was carried out on locos, coaches or track, and trains still took two hours for the journey. With the coming of the Second World War, the line was again pressed into war service, and suffered heavy damage, both from air and ground attack. Repairs were not completed, and by 1945 the line was in a sorry state, working but badly in need of modernisation. FS, however, declined to modernise the route, and as a result of competition from buses using the new road into the Val Gardena, traffic slumped. The line was formerly closed on 29 May 1960, and the track removed. Between the outskirts of Klausten (Chiasa) and St. Ulrich, the trackbed was used to make a new road, the S242dir, which even reused some of the narrow-gauge railway tunnels. Beyond St. Ulrich, most of the trackbed is now a pedestrian walkway. Most of the line's stock was scrapped, but R410.004, formerly kuk HB Ivc 4154 was rescued and cosmetically restored, being plinthed in the centre of the town, in gardens occupying the area where the station once stood.

Today, however, the area is not completely without railways, as officially opened on 04 December 2004 is a new underground railway from near the centre of Sankt Christina to the Ciampinoi and the Sellaronda skiing area to the north of the town. Planned by engineer Dipl. Ing Klaus. Rotter from Innsbruck, and using vehicles from Gangloff in Switzerland, the 1244 metre-long tunnel runs right under the town centre. A funicular running on 1200 mm gauge track, the engine is at the top station, next to the cable car base, whilst the base station is next to the talstation of the south-facing cable car linking the Grödentals Seceda-Col Raiser. The lower end of the tunnel emerges just below the stone viaduct on the former railway line, just to the south of the town centre, which has been repaired and in use as a footpath. The area is very proud of the "Val Gardena Ronda Express".