Line M1 - Milan Subway (Metropolitana di Milano)
Encyclopedia
The Milan Metro Line One, (Linea Uno in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

), is the first subway built in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is part of the Milan Metro
Milan Metro
The Milan Metro is the rapid transit system serving Milan, Italy, operated by Azienda Trasporti Milanesi. Milan metro is the longest metro system in Italy, and is the core of the Milan Transportation System...

 and it is operated by ATM
Azienda Trasporti Milanesi
Azienda Trasporti Milanesi is a public company, responsible for public transportation in Milan city and some surrounding municipalities, in Italy...

. Works on the line began in 1957, and the first part was opened on 1 November 1964, running from Sesto Marelli to Lotto station. The line is also called Red Line (Linea Rossa in Italian), as it is visually identified by red signs. Due to its premiership, the line gave its red color to the Milan subway logo.

The line runs underground from the northern suburb of Sesto San Giovanni
Sesto San Giovanni
Sesto San Giovanni is a comune in the Milan metropolitan area, located in the province of Milan and region of Lombardy in Italy. Its railway station is the northernmost stop on the Milan Metro M1 line. The city is informally referred to as "Sesto"...

 to the city centre, then to western district with two different branches, one to northwest to Rho
Rho
Rho is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 100. It is derived from Semitic resh "head"...

, the other to the west to Bisceglie. It is 27 km (16.8 mi) long and serves 38 underground stations.

History

On 6 April 1952 the city administration asked for a project of a metro system and on 6 October 1955 a new company, Metropolitana Milanese, was created to manage the construction of the new infrastructure. The project was funded with
Italian lira
The lira was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. Between 1999 and 2002, the Italian lira was officially a “national subunit” of the euro...

 500 million from the municipality and the rest from a loan. The construction site of the first line was opened in viale Monte Rosa on 4 May 1957. Stations on the new line were designed by Albini-Helg architecture studio. Bob Noorda
Bob Noorda
Bob Noorda was a Dutch-born graphic designer who lived and worked primarily in Milan from 1954 to his death in 2010...

 designed the famous signaling.

The line from Lotto to Sesto Marelli (21 stations) opened on 1 November 1964, after 7 years of construction works.

Rolling stock

There are 3 types of trains running on the line: the original first series trains, revamped original trains and the new AnsaldoBreda Meneghino
AnsaldoBreda Meneghino
The Meneghino is an electric multiple unit manufactured by italian company AnsaldoBreda. Meneghino was specifically designed for the Milan Metro, hence its name, which means of Milan in italian....

trains. The track gauge is the 1,435 mm standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

. The entire line is electrified by means of a third
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...

 or fourth rail at 750 V.

Planned extension

An extension on the north from Sesto Primo Maggio to Monza
Monza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...

 is currently under construction. It is expected to be completed by 2015 before the Milan Expo
Expo 2015
Expo 2015 is the next scheduled Universal Exposition after Expo 2010, and will be hosted by Milan, Italy. On November 23, 2010, the event was officially announced by the Bureau of International Expositions, after that the BIE assembly in Paris had decided in favour of the Milanese candidature on...

. The new section will be 1.9 km (1.2 mi) long with 2 stations (Sesto Restellone and Monza Bettola), entirely underground. The total cost will be €206 million.
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