The ALe 803 are a series of
EMUs
Emus may refer to:
* Emu
The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the ...
built in the 1960s for the Italian state railways
FS, and now used by the railway company
Trenitalia
Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail transp ...
.
Description
Each trainset is composed by 3 or 4 cars: a power car (ALe 803), 1 or 2 trailers (Le 803.100), and a control car (Le 803.000).
The numbers are ALe 803.001–053 for the power cars, Le 803.101–161 for the trailers, and Le 803.001–053 for the control cars.
History
The ALe 803 were conceived at the end of the 1950s to resolve the increasing problems of
commuting
Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regu ...
around the larger cities of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.
They were designed together with the
ALe 601 series luxury railcars, with a similar structure and shared components.
In 1959 the
Ferrovie dello Stato
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...
ordered a first series of 20 trainsets, and a second series of 15 trainsets specifically conceived for the
Naples metropolitan railway, with fewer seats and more austere interiors. Each set was made of three distinct cars - power car, trailer and control car.
Those series were delivered from 1961 to 1963; the first were assigned to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and in 1964 they were put in service in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
for its
urban railway service.
The FS were satisfied with those early trains, so in 1971a third series of 18 trainsets was ordered, ten 3 car sets and eight 4 car sets (with two intermediate trailers). These were delivered in 1972–1973.
Beginning in the late 1970s the ALe 803 series trains were supplanted by the newer EMUs of
ALe 801/940 and
ALe 724. By 2009 only 15 of these trains were still in use. The last one was retired in 2015, train number 803-033.
Derived units
The
EN 300 series trains for
SEPSA, built in 1977, were derived from the ALe 803.
[''Le napoletane...'' In: ″I Treni″ Nr. 320 (November 2009), p. 19.]
References
Bibliography
* Giovanni Cornolò: ''Automotrici elettriche dalle origini al 1983.'' Duegi Editrice, 2011 (reprint of 1985). P. 235–249.
* Attilio Di Iorio: ''ALe 803 per i pendolari.'' In: ″I Treni″ Nr. 319 & 320 (October & November 2009), p. 27–31 & 14–19.
External links
{{FS EMUs and DMUs, collapsed
ALe 803
Railway locomotives introduced in 1961
3000 V DC multiple units
Aerfer