| Modena trolleybus system | |||||||||||||
| Autodromo (CAM) / MAN articulated trolleybus. | |||||||||||||
| Operation | |||||||||||||
| Locale | Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy | ||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
The Modena trolleybus system (Italian: Rete filoviaria di Modena) forms part of the public transport network of the city and comune of Modena, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy.
In operation since 1950, the system has undergone several phases of expansion and contraction over the decades, including a re-launching since the start of 2000. It presently comprises three lines, and is one of the largest trolleybus systems in Italy.
Contents |
In 1949, the comune of Modena decided to replace the city's tram network with a trolleybus system, believed to be more efficient and modern. The first two lines of the planned system (3/ Centro - San Faustino and 5 viale Buon Pastore - San Cataldo) were activated on 22 January 1950; in the following months, the system was expanded gradually at the expense of the trams, with all of the initial lines (1 to 5) opening by 21 October 1950.
In 1952, after almost two years of service, it became necessary to revise the system, in light of observed traffic flows. In particular, it was necessary to add an "interstational" service (an extended line 5), departing from Modena Piazza Manzoni railway station. There was also a new line 6.
On 30 September 1954, a new line 7 was activated (piazza Torre - via Farini - cavalcaferrovia - Sacca), to provide a proper service to the new Sacca district, located north of the Milan–Bologna railway. This line remained in operation for little more than one year; the comune lacked the resources to extend the line westward to the village of Madonnina (and in particular to equip the homonymous overpass with overhead wires). The line was therefore operated by conventional bus until 1959, when the Madonnina extension was finally electrified, and the opportunity was taken for a second reorganization of the system.
In later years, new extensions came into service, but were accompanied by the first closures. Conventional buses were starting to be seen as more flexible, at intersections as traffic became chaotic, and in enabling Modena's transport network to cover urban expansion without the need for new infrastructure.
Specifically, on 8 December 1963 line 6 was extended to the Sacco district, to serve the new INA Casa public housing district, and on 14 June 1965 line 4 was "temporarily" suspended, to allow the construction of the Crocella overpass (on which it was planned to install the overhead wire to extend the line). Then, on 24 July 1965, the line was diverted to the new Hospital. The line along la Crocetta was abandoned, and later permanently deleted (on 18 June 1966) and replaced by the new line 7, routed by the Sant'Agostino barrier to Modena railway station, and following the new routing at viale Monte Kosica. Also, line 4 to Madonnina was abandoned.
On 2 October 1967, an extension of line 6 was inaugurated from viale Buon Pastore to via Conco, including a level crossing over the SEFTA line to Sassuolo. This extension operated for many years (until 2000), and was constructed from scratch. The following years saw only contractions of Modena's trolleybus system. The closure in 1964 of the railway to Mirandola, and the planned closure (implemented in 1969) of the railway to Vignola, reduced the importance of Modena's "little station" (Modena Piazza Manzoni railway station), and trolleybus lines 1 and 2. Both lines were therefore closed on 21 August 1968, together with line 3, which was transformed into a conventional bus line and prolonged. Finally, on 2 October 1972, under the pretext of establishing a one-way Viale Fabrizi, line 5 was closed.
The long sequence of closures was stopped, at least in part, by the so-called austerity, and the concomitant spread of ecological awareness. Indeed, the scarcity of fuel available for private traffic had necessitated increased frequency of public transport. However, to avoid excessively intensive bus traffic in the streets of Old Town, it was decided to divert the conventional buses onto the ring roads. This left only the trolleybuses in the city centre, to operate the two north-south and east-west bus lines, the high frequency lines. Limited availability of trolleybuses enabled the continued operation of the important line 7, but forced the closure of line 6. The reform came into force on 1 October 1973.
Less than a year later, on 15 June 1974, a further change took place, transforming line 7 and extending the EO shuttle bus service to the railway station. At the end of the period of austerity, after the need to ensure high frequencies, the EW and NS shuttles could be deleted, and lines 6 and 7 reactivated. The line 6 trolleybus assumed the designation 6/, being the reinforcement of a longer, conventional bus route. The network was then stable for nearly two decades, because all of the investment funds of AMCM (absorbed in 1988 by ATCM) were directed, throughout the 1980s, to the renewal of the fleet of trolleybuses, which had become obsolete.
It was only in the 1990s that the trolleybus system faced a new golden era as a plan (known as the "Husler Plan", after its editor, the Swiss engineer Willi Husler) was prepared for the reform of the entire system. It provided for upgrades and extensions, and the opportunity was taken to rebuild the system to the most modern dictates, by reconstructing the overhead wire to make it suitable for higher speeds, and increasing the voltage from 600 V to 750 V.
All of these challenging works necessitated interruption of the system from 30 October 1995 until 13 May 2000, when the renovated line 7 was reopened. The new line 6 followed on 13 December 2000, and the new line 11 on 11 June 2001.
In detail, in addition to the reconstruction of the two old lines 6/ and 7, the following routes were created from scratch:
In recent years, line 7 has been extended from the Hospital to via Gottardi, curiously through the halls of the Hospital itself, while line 6 has ceased operating to the railway station, leaving unused the new line at viale Berengar.
The lines comprising the present Modena trolleybus system are:
| 6 | via Santi - barr. Sant'Agostino - corso Canal Chiaro - piazza Risorgimento - viale Buon Pastore - via Forlì |
|---|---|
| 7 | viale Gramsci - stazione FS - viale Monte Kosica - barr. Sant'Agostino - largo Garibaldi - Policlinico - via Gottardi |
| 11 | Sant'Anna - Sacca - stazione FS - corso Canal Grande - corso Canal Chiaro - piazza Risorgimento - via Giardini - viale dello Zodiaco |
The following trolleybuses have been used on the Modena system, but are now retired:
Modena's present trolleybus fleet is made up of only the following three types:
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Trolleybuses_in_Modena Trolleybuses in Modena] at Wikimedia Commons
This article is based upon a translation of the Italian language version as at July 2011.
|
|||||||||||||||||||