The city of Milano has an extensive tram network of almost 51 kilometres and altogether 19 tram lines. But the city's trams are actually famous because of the very old trams which are still kept in working condition and used as touristic landmarks. This is one of them, ATM's tram 1990 of the tram class 1500 which were built 1927-1930. About 500 of them were built and still ca. 200 are in working condition. The city of Milano has also more modern trams, but these they definitely want to keep.
The 500 trams of this type were bult by six different factories. The one on this picture was built by Officine Elettroferroviarie
Tallero. The trams were put into service 1929-1930 and they are often also known as Witt trams. They have 29 seats and space for
about 100 standing passengers.
Picture from Milano (Milan) 30.6.2007 by Hannu Peltola.
In San Francisco USA there is one tram line which has a collection of old trams from all over, not just from the US. One of those trams
is an old Witt tram from Milano. Here it is on the museum tram line bound for Fisherman's Wharf. Note the very old trolley pole type of
pantograph.
Picture from San Francisco 8.9.2008 by Hannu Peltola.
New and old are meeting. A Witt tram from the 1920s and a modern Ansaldobreda Sirio tram on the same tram stop. The class 7100 Sirio trams
are 35 metres long and are composed of seven segments.
Picture from Milano 7.6.2007 by Hannu Peltola.
One of the more than 100 years old Witt trams, now in its nw painting scheme in yellow and white, is taking on passengers at the tramstop of
Milano Domodossola train station on tramline no.19.
Picture from Milano Domodossola station 6.7.2019 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Two Witt trams are meeting in front of the Milano Domodossola train station.
Picture from Milano Domodossola station 6.7.2019 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Not all of Milano's trams are a century old. This no.7609 is one of the 7500 series called Sirietto. They were built by Ansaldobreda since 2003.
A total of 35 trams were made. It has 54 seats and space for 152 standing passengers. Motorisation is handled by four motors, 106 kW each. Top
speed is 70 km/h. The somewhat exotic looking look and feel comes from the world famous design agency Pininfarina.
Picture from the station Milano Centrale 7.7.2019 by Ilkka Siissalo.
The same Sirietto tram as above, but now seen from behind.
Picture from the station Milano Centrale 7.7.2019 by Ilkka Siissalo.
The capital of Italy, Rome, once used to have the most extensive tram network of all Italy, but unfortunately today only some remnants remain. The tram system is maintained and operated by ATAC, Agenzia per i Trasporti Autoferrotranviari del Comune di Roma, which is a communal agency under control of the city council. There are currently six lines left whose key point of operations is Porta Maggiore where four lines meet. The total length of the system is today only 36km.
There are currently four types of trams in use in Rome and this is the oldest type. This tram type was designed during World War II
based on a previous type from 1937. A prototype was built in 1942 and the first series of these trams (50 trams) was built in 1948-49.
A further series of eight similar trams was built in 1953. This one on the picture, no. 7015 is one of the early ones of the first
series, probably dating back to 1948. The trams have been modernised though. For example the pantograph on the roof is much younger.
But judging today, the tram looks like being more modern than it is. Very few cities in the world had this kind of trams in the late
1940s or early 1950s. Of course for today's demands it is old and outdated.
Picture from Piazza Thorwaldsen 11.1.2019 by Ilpo Ruissalo.
Tram 9126 which is here seen just leaving Piazza Thorwaldsen is much younger than the tram seen above. These double-articulated
trams were ordered from Cityway Fiat Railway in 1998 to mark the opening of line no.8. 28 trams were ordered. It is a partly
low-floor modern tram type, 31 metres long, which run on lines 2 and 8. The tram class is called Cityway I.
Picture from Piazza Thorwaldsen 11.1.2019 by Ilpo Ruissalo.
ATAC tram no.9027 underway on line 5 not far from the famous Spanish Steps of Rome. Line 5 runs from the Roma Termini railway station
to Piazza dei Gerani in the east. This tram is one of the so called SOCIMI T8000 trams. 33 articulated double-ended low-floor trams
numbers 9001-9033 were delivered in 1990 and 1991 by SOCIMI from Milano. The intention was to buy 60 of these trams, but SOCIMI went
bankrupt before it could deliver the rest of the series.
Picture 10.1.2019 by Ilpo Ruissalo.
The Roma–Giardinetti railway is a 950 mm gauge light rail connection with 1650 V DC electricity operated by tram trains of ATAC.
The line is 5,4 km long from Roma Termini to Giardinetti. A typical train has three coaches with only the middle one motorised.
This picture is still from the times when the trams were blue, but the current livery is white with a broad yellow band.
Picture from Roma Termini Laziali 13.2.2005 by Hannu Peltola.
Another view of the same tram-train of the Roma–Giardinetti railway.
Picture from Roma Termini Laziali 13.2.2005 by Hannu Peltola.
The city of Padova (often in English referred to as "Padua") has just one tram line numbered as SIR1. It is a very special tram. It is
built according to the French system Translohr. The trams run with rubber tyres and there is just one metal rail on the street which
takes care of the direction the tram is going to. The tramline is owned and managed by a company called APS. The route is now 10,3 km long
but as this picture was taken in 2007, the other end station was at the main station and then the route was only 6,4 km long. Currently
the line runs from Pontevigodarzere in the north to Guizza in the south. The trams were built by Lohr Industrie in France and the line
was opened for commercial traffic in March 2007.
Picture from Padova main station tram stop 10.7.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Another view off the same Translohr tram as above.
Picture from Padova main station tram stop 10.7.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.
The old Trieste to Opicina tram line is a very special one, even seen on a global scale. Trieste is
a city which is built on very steep slopes. The tramline starts in the city and climbs first uphill so steeply that no normal
tram could ever manage such steep climbing. Therefore the first part on the line is constructed so that there is an add-on
funicular operated by a metal wire which pushes the tram uphill. Further along the line on top of the 300+ metres high first
hills the tram leaves this pushing funicular and operates as a normal light rail tram-train until it reaches the small town
of Opicina. This whole system has been out of use for several years now following an accident in 2016 when two trams collided,
but the trams have been kept in good working order and a recent article from summer 2018 has promised public money to put the
tram system up and running again.
This picture shows one of the old trams and the pushing funicular wagon. The funicular wagons are also called "cable dummies"
(Italian: Carro scudo).
Picture from Trieste 12.7.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Same tram and its pushing funicular wagon seen from the other side.
Picture from Trieste 12.7.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.
A closeup picture of the same tram wagon no.407. This one was built in 1942. The very first tram of the line dates
back to 1902 and it has later been modified into a service wagon. Wagons no. 401-405 are from the year 1935 and 406 and 407 are the newest
from 1942.
Picture from Trieste 12.7.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.
This is the beginning of the tram track at the Trieste city end of the line. The peculiar looking red metal rods
are a security precaution. It could happen that the metal wire which pulls the funicular wagons and which normally sits on rolls in
the middle of the tracks could slip away from its holding rolls and in such a case in this kind of a steep curve the wire could even hit the
house or someone walking by the tracks.
Picture from Trieste 12.7.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Wagon 404 from the year 1935. This is one of the two trams that got badly damaged in the 2016 accident when two trams
collided. With two wagons out of use, there were only three others in usable condition and therefore traffic had to be suspended. But in the autumn
of 2017 the regional council promised 3 million euros to restore tram operation. However still in the summer of 2018 only technical test operation
was taking place.
Picture from Opicina end station of the line 12.7.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Closeup of wagon 404 at the Opicina terminus. It looks like it could start boarding passengers at any minute but the
doors were locked and the replacing bus service was running.
Picture from Opicina end station of the line 12.7.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.
