Milano: The Peter Witts at 75

摘要

Easter Day 2004 will mark a very special anniversary in the city of Milano (Milan). On 11 April 1929, the first of the production batch of 'Peter Witt' bogie tramcars took to the streets, revolutionising passenger transport in the northern Italian capital and starting a love-affair with the local population that continues to this day. Over a two-year period, the full production batch of 500 cars was in service, transforming the quality of public transport in the city. What is remarkable is that so many of these sturdy, robust and uncomplicated cars should still be going about their daily business in Milano 75 years later. In the July 1989 issue of Modem Tramway, we published a technical article about these cars on the occasion of their 60th birthday, which included the observations that the ATM (Azienda Trasporti Municipali, since renamed Azienda Trasporti Milanesi) even then regarded the 1928-series cars as 'obsolete', but expected some to soldier on until the opening of the extension to metro line M3 in 1990/91. That line has long since opened and a subsequent change of political direction has led to the construction of new tramway extensions and re-opening of routes previously closed, so that a further 15 years on, the Peter Witt cars still ply their predictable, reliable and unpretentious way through the streets of Milano. They richly deserve a further accolade. In autumn 2003, the ATM officially recorded 199 cars still in stock and serviceable, of which 107 were rostered for maximum daily service on school term weekdays. The whole point about these cars is that they are not some mere embarrassing survivors from a past age, brought out when all else has been used. No ― they are just as likely to be found on the streets at 06.00 on a Sunday as any other time, are based at all four urban depots and (at least until service changes of December) had the exclusive use of all the nine routes they were still rostered for.