Sorry for the lateness, here a little Christmas gift.
Starting a speech about private or "non state owned" railways, seems me a good idea to begin with the busiest one, that incidentally I know very well having lived all my youth near its main station.
Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM), that can be translated as Railways to the North of Milan, born in 1879 as Ferrovie Milano Saronno and Milano Erba, from the names of the first ends, but yet in 1883 became FNM. The company was set up by a Belgian businessman, Mr. Vaucamps, because between 1800 and 1900 Belgian investment groups were strongly involved in local railways and tramways in various parts of Europe.
Starting with the two first lines, that still today are between the busiest ones in Italy, FNM absorbed other companies and built new lines so that, in 1928, it managed 247 km (153 miles) connecting four provinces, two regions and two nations; not bad for a local railroad.
The FNM web of lines in 1928, in its maximum expansion.
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Interestingly, the Saronno to Como line born as a roadside tramway but was bought by FNM in 1888 and modified as a railway becoming one of the arms of the web.
Another really interesting line has been the so called Valmorea railway that, built to serve the paper mills along the Olona river from Castellanza to the north, was prolonged to Mendrisio, in Switzerland, with the idea of connecting the Genoa harbour with the Gotthard line and northern Europe. Unfortunately the international link only survived two years, from 1926 to 28, because the fascist government was not happy with a border transit managed by foreign investors and sabotaged the line never completing the custom services. So what remained of the line, the only one never wired of the original FNM web, has been used only for local services until the 50s, when the passenger services ceased (hamlets were far away from the stations), and the freight ones followed until mid 70s when, closed the main plants, all movements were stopped.
Given the big numbers, yet early the busiest stretches started to be doubled and now the core line, Milan to Saronno, has four tracks.
Note that FNM has its own stations and the Milan Cadorna one, the biggest, has 10 tracks for passengers movement.
Apart the Valmorea one, only the Como to Varese line has been closed (only few years afteor having been wired!) following a wave of policy against the rail. In same times (50s/60s) the Saronno to Seregno line became freight only; only in 2012 it has been rebuilt and reopened to passenger services as part of the suburban Saronno to Vermezzo connection.
Also the Seveso to Camnago short stretch became freight only in the 50s and in 2006 reopened as terminus for the shuttles from Milan.
In 1974 FNM was bought by the Lombardy regional government and slowly became its operating arm.
On the freight side, logically FNM born as a commercial carrier and until the end of the 70s there has been good freight traffic (e.g. the Alfa Romeo factory in Arese was connected to Garbagnate station and on the Saronno to Seregno line various chemical plants had sidings) but, for political reasons, from the mid 70s railways were practically dedicated to commuters and in FNM freight trains were seen only as disturbs to passenger ones so quickly disappeared for the happiness of truck drivers and the lines have been rebuilt in a metro style.
In 1992 FNM became the manager of the diesel operated Brescia to Edolo railway, previously in the hands of another company, and, in 1999, of the newly built Malpensa airport connection. When open access freight services became reality, the company has been between the first ones to start this kind of operations with the help of DBcargo (that now is the major shareholder of the freight division).
Instead the passenger branch, after various adjustments in the last years, in which was renamed Ferrovienord and then Lenord, in 2011fusioned with the Lombardy regional division of Trenitalia and became Trenord so putting the railway service (apart long distance trains) in the region under a single operator.
Hope it can interest you, very quietly I will follow with the interesting FNM rolling stock.
Ciao
Starting a speech about private or "non state owned" railways, seems me a good idea to begin with the busiest one, that incidentally I know very well having lived all my youth near its main station.
Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM), that can be translated as Railways to the North of Milan, born in 1879 as Ferrovie Milano Saronno and Milano Erba, from the names of the first ends, but yet in 1883 became FNM. The company was set up by a Belgian businessman, Mr. Vaucamps, because between 1800 and 1900 Belgian investment groups were strongly involved in local railways and tramways in various parts of Europe.
Starting with the two first lines, that still today are between the busiest ones in Italy, FNM absorbed other companies and built new lines so that, in 1928, it managed 247 km (153 miles) connecting four provinces, two regions and two nations; not bad for a local railroad.
The FNM web of lines in 1928, in its maximum expansion.
Another really interesting line has been the so called Valmorea railway that, built to serve the paper mills along the Olona river from Castellanza to the north, was prolonged to Mendrisio, in Switzerland, with the idea of connecting the Genoa harbour with the Gotthard line and northern Europe. Unfortunately the international link only survived two years, from 1926 to 28, because the fascist government was not happy with a border transit managed by foreign investors and sabotaged the line never completing the custom services. So what remained of the line, the only one never wired of the original FNM web, has been used only for local services until the 50s, when the passenger services ceased (hamlets were far away from the stations), and the freight ones followed until mid 70s when, closed the main plants, all movements were stopped.
Given the big numbers, yet early the busiest stretches started to be doubled and now the core line, Milan to Saronno, has four tracks.
Note that FNM has its own stations and the Milan Cadorna one, the biggest, has 10 tracks for passengers movement.
Apart the Valmorea one, only the Como to Varese line has been closed (only few years afteor having been wired!) following a wave of policy against the rail. In same times (50s/60s) the Saronno to Seregno line became freight only; only in 2012 it has been rebuilt and reopened to passenger services as part of the suburban Saronno to Vermezzo connection.
Also the Seveso to Camnago short stretch became freight only in the 50s and in 2006 reopened as terminus for the shuttles from Milan.
In 1974 FNM was bought by the Lombardy regional government and slowly became its operating arm.
On the freight side, logically FNM born as a commercial carrier and until the end of the 70s there has been good freight traffic (e.g. the Alfa Romeo factory in Arese was connected to Garbagnate station and on the Saronno to Seregno line various chemical plants had sidings) but, for political reasons, from the mid 70s railways were practically dedicated to commuters and in FNM freight trains were seen only as disturbs to passenger ones so quickly disappeared for the happiness of truck drivers and the lines have been rebuilt in a metro style.
In 1992 FNM became the manager of the diesel operated Brescia to Edolo railway, previously in the hands of another company, and, in 1999, of the newly built Malpensa airport connection. When open access freight services became reality, the company has been between the first ones to start this kind of operations with the help of DBcargo (that now is the major shareholder of the freight division).
Instead the passenger branch, after various adjustments in the last years, in which was renamed Ferrovienord and then Lenord, in 2011fusioned with the Lombardy regional division of Trenitalia and became Trenord so putting the railway service (apart long distance trains) in the region under a single operator.
Hope it can interest you, very quietly I will follow with the interesting FNM rolling stock.
Ciao
Alcohol is an enemy. Man that escapes from the enemy is a coward!
