Naples tram
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| Basic information | |
| Country | Italy |
| city | Naples |
| opening | 1875 |
| operator | Azienda Napoletana Mobilità (ANM) |
| Infrastructure | |
| Route length | about twelve kilometers |
| Gauge | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Power system | Overhead line / 750 or until 2001 600 V = |
| business | |
| Lines | 3 |
| vehicles | 22 AnsaldoBreda Sirio 30 CT139K Peter Witt |
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The Naples tram is the tram system in the Italian city of Naples and is operated by the local transport company Azienda Napoletana Mobilità (ANM). The route network is around twelve kilometers long and is served by three lines :
- 1: (Via Stadera) Emiciclo di Poggioreale ↔ Port (Via Cristoforo Colombo)
- 2: Emiciclo di Poggioreale ↔ San Giovanni a Teduccio (depot)
- 4: San Giovanni a Teduccio (depot) ↔ port (Via Cristoforo Colombo)
history
The Naples tram opened as a horse-drawn tram in 1875 and was later electrified. The first steam trams started running in 1883 . In 1911, 27 lines were operated by several companies. In 1929 the city of Naples took over lines, vehicles and infrastructure from the various predecessor companies and brought them together in the company Azienda Tranviaria Napoli (ATCN), which was founded in 1918.
A short time later, in December 1930, the company was handed over to Ente Autonomo Volturno , a local publicly owned electricity supplier. In 1937 the EAV became a concessionaire for the company, but due to various difficulties, the EAV gave back the concession on January 1, 1941 and the municipality ran the tram as its own company.
In 1947 the Azienda Tranvie Autofilovie Napoli (ATAN) was founded, which took over the city trams from the Ente Autonomo Volturno.
As in many Italian cities, the tram network was drastically reduced in size between 1952 and 1954, in favor of trolleybuses and buses. From 1963, four lines still operated. With the network reduction, the so-called red line numbers were also a thing of the past.
The attempts to further develop the remaining trunk network - already without the Barri – Borelli stretch, which was destroyed by the Irpinia earthquake in 1980 - did not lead to any result. Here in particular is the Linea Tranviaria Rapida (" express tram ") project planned for the 1990 World Cup , which led to the closure of the entire route to Fuorigrotta (Via Cumana - Via Lepanto - Via Giambattista Marino to the local depot).
The Linea Tranviaria Rapida was never completed due to technical problems. As a quick fix, some old wagons were repainted in blue and white colors and called the sea line. So they resembled the modern - never in service - tram cars of the express tram.
Instead, there were further cuts in the tram network. According to the local transport plan of 1997, the tram should no longer go beyond Rathausplatz. In 1998, due to the protests of many traders, the section from Piazzale Tecchio to Bagnoli was closed, and in 2000 the section from Piazza Vittoria to Piazzale Tecchio followed.
Only after the turn of the millennium was a program to strengthen the tram started: in 2004, the new AnsaldoBreda Sirio vehicle was presented, the historic Poggioreale terminal was put back into operation thanks to the redesign of the route between the Emiciclo Poggioreale and Piazza Nazionale, where the tram stopped Looped around the square. The turning loop is no longer in operation, but should be reactivated. Another important renewal (even if only half done) concerns the route on the Riviera di Chiaia.
Nevertheless, there are numerous obstacles on the way to normal tram traffic, starting with the perpetual urban works.
They are also the reason why there were no trams in Naples from 2016 to autumn 2019. Because of a 40-meter-long construction site directly in front of the only depot, the vehicles could no longer leave it.
After the first test drives to reopen the tram network in late summer, the restart of operations was planned for the near future. As of October 2019, the 22 new Sirio vehicles are in use again. Eighteen old CTK vehicles are also operational again.
Planning
The municipal general transport plan provides for the creation of new lines to the Ponticelli district, along Via S. Alfonso Maria dei Liguori and to Piazza Carlo III, as well as the re-opening of the Mergellina loop and a new line on its own track with light rail character from Piscinola to Villaricca of the Alifana bassa railway, which was closed in 1976 , but this line does not seem to have got beyond the planning stage.
After the completion of the construction works and the realization of these projects, the Naples tram network should consist of the following lines:
- 1 Emiciclo di Poggioreale ↔ Piazza Sannazaro
- 2 Via Stadera ↔ San Giovanni a Teduccio
- 2 / Emiciclo di Poggioreale ↔ San Giovanni a Teduccio ( dashed line )
- 4 San Giovanni a Teduccio (depot) ↔ Piazza Vittoria
- Branch to Piazza Carlo III
- Line to Ponticelli
- Line Piscinola ↔ Villaricca
vehicles
- 22 AnsaldoBreda Sirio
- 30 CT139K (type Peter Witt )
Two carriages of the southern type have been preserved for museum purposes: Car 1004 - externally restored - is located in the former Fuorigrotta tram depot, while car 1029, after a true-to-original restoration that has been carried out by the staff of the San Giovanni depot since 2006, is on 10. January 2011 was presented to the city in the classic green color scheme of the 1960s. On this occasion, car 1052 was completely renewed and presented in a new color scheme, which in future will carry the entire fleet of Peter Witt cars after they had been painted in what is known as Ministerial Orange for more than thirty years .
A third car of the same type, car 961, was purchased from a Turin company that is responsible for its preservation and restoration.
Depots
Of the original five depots of the Naples tram, only the San Giovanni depot is still in operation, located in the San Giovanni a Teduccio district in the eastern periphery of Naples.
The Fuorigrotta depot was shut down after the 1980 earthquake and, in addition to the museum car 1004, is also home to various historical trolleybuses and omnibuses that are on display there.
Web links
- La storia. Azienda Napoletana Mobilità SpA, accessed November 10, 2010 (Italian).
- I numeri. Azienda Napoletana Mobilità SpA, accessed November 10, 2010 (Italian).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ulrich Theurer: The situation of the tram companies in Italy (part 1) . In: Tram magazine . Issue 5, May 1972, p. 42-52 .
- ↑ Urban Transport Magazine: Tram Naples: reopening is imminent. Transport & Verkehr Media UG, accessed on November 3, 2019 .
- ↑ Rino Mastropaolo: Ritornano i Tram a Napoli tra San Giovanni Piazza e municipality (Italian). Napoli da Vivere, accessed November 4, 2019 .
