opening of the Sondrio to Tirano railway, Italy

In 1899 the company for the Ferrovie Alta Valtellina (FAV) was formed in order to connect Sondrio with Tirano, 26 km. The line, called the Alta (high) Valtellina, was a continuation of that of the Valtellina, and was inaugurated on 29 June 1902. Initially it was worked by 4 T3 steam locomotives, but in 1932 it was electrified with the same system of the lines of the Valtellina which were the first in Italy to use three-phase alternating current and the first in the world to have a high operating voltage. On 15 October 1902 electric traction began on the lines Colico-Lecco-Chiavenna and Colico-Sondrio, overhead lines at 3,600 Volts and frequency 16.7 Hz, supplied by the power plant of Campovico.

A few years later, on 1 July 1908 the Swiss private Berninabahn Company (now part of the Rhaetian Railway) opened its line from Tirano to St Moritz.

One of the four 1,000 kW 3-phase AC machines (4 coupled axles) built in 1932 and used to 1967, now on display at the Pietrarsa museum.

In 1932 the FAV obtained 4 electric locomotives of the E.440 class, an example of which is exhibited in the National Railway Museum at Pietrarsa.  The 1967 the line was dieseled, but electrified again in 1980 by the FS in the standard Italian system of 3,000 Volts DC.