# Trams in Brescia

The Brescia tramway network (Italian: Rete tranviaria di Brescia) was part of the public transport network of Brescia, Italy.
Initially, network was animal-drawn and it was operated by a Belgian company: Tramways à vapeur de la province de Brescia (TPB). It was later municipalized and it was operated by the local multi-utility company (ASM Brescia) which also electrified all the lines. From 1935 trams were gradually replaced by trolleybuses; the last urban tramway was closed in 1949.

## History
### Horsecar era

From April 1881 to June 1882, four interurban lines opened in the province of Brescia: Brescia-Orzinuovi-Soncino, Brescia-Vobarno, Brescia-Gardone Val Trompia and Brescia-Montichiari-Castiglione delle Stiviere.
TPB operated three of them: Brescia-Gardone Val Trompia, Brescia-Orzinuovi-Soncino and Brescia-Vobarno. Their tram station located near the city railway station, so the municipal administration asked to TPB to build an horsecar tram line to connect railway and tram stations to Piazza Duomo, the square of New and Old Cathedral of Brescia. Soon, tramway operating difficulties suggest TPB to close the line between Corso del Teatro (since 1904, Corso Zanardelli) and Piazza Duomo. The municipal administration agreed on condition that TPB would built an extension from Corso del Teatro to Porta Venezia. The extension opened on 14 November 1882.
On 6 January 1883, Porta Milano-Corso Palestro tram line was opened. Since then, the tram service consisted of two lines:
* Stazione (Railway Station)-Corso del Teatro-Porta Venezia, later Stazione-Corso del Teatro;
* Porta Milano-Porta Venezia.
On 6 September 1885, TPB opened the first tramway outside city walls that connected Porta Milano to Borgo San Giovanni. In the second half of the 1880s two other lines outside city walls were opened: Porta Trento-Stocchetta and Porta Venezia-Sant'Eufemia. These two lines used part of interurbans which connected Brescia to Gardone Val Trompia and Vobarno respectively.

### Electric car era

The first electric tramway was opened on the occasion of a business exposition organized in the Castle of Brescia from May to October 1904. It connected Corso Zanardelli to the Castle
The following year, Società Elettrica Bresciana (SEB) got the right to build an electric interurban that connected Brescia to Cellatica and to Gussago. It also asked the municipal administration to build a new urban line inside the city walls that connected Porta Trento to Porta Cremona using part of the exposition line, from Porta Trento to Corso Zanardelli. SEB got the permission on 29 May 1905 and started to build it in the following month. SEB also wanted to buy the horse tram network from TBP, because it planned to electrify all the tram lines to promote itself among the citizens of Brescia, but the city council voted for tram municipalization on 5 June 1906.
Municipalisation was confirmed by a popular referendum on 3 February 1907. Nevertheless, SEB acquired the horsecar tram network from TPB and manage it from 1 May 1907. The first municipal electric tram line opened on 25 September 1907: it connected Porta Trento to Porta Cremona, since SEB had never completed the project. On 6 January 1908, ASM, the municipal company, opened two new electrified tramways: Stazione-Corso Zanardelli and Porta Milano-Porta Venezia. The last three horsecar tram lines were operated by SEB until the summer 1909 when the company closed them to focus on electric interurbans.
ASM extended the tram network in the following year:
* the new electrified Porta Milano-Borgo San Giovanni-Ponte San Giacomo (1912);
* the new circular tram line that connected Railway station to Corso Zanardelli passing through Corso Martiri della Libertà, on west, and Corso San Martino della Battaglia, on east (1913);
* Piazza Loggia-Mompiano (1915);
* the extension from Porta Cremona to Forca di Cane (towards the end of 1915).
In the 1910s, the lines were numbered:
* Porta Milano-Porta Venezia
* Porta Trento-Forca di Cane
* Porta Milano-Ponte San Giacomo
* Zanardelli-Railway station (circular)
* Piazza Loggia-Mompiano
* Porta Trento-Castle
After the First World War, tram line development slowed. A new tramway was opened only on 1931: it connected Piazza San Barnaba, inside the city wall, to Sant'Eufemia. This line was in competition against the Brescia-Salò-Gargnano interurban, because it was in the opposite side of the same street.

### Trollebuses conversion

After a failed bus service experiment that connected Sant'Eustacchio to Bottonaga, ASM decided to convert tramways to trolleybus lines to reduce maintenance expenses.
The first trolleybus line started as an experiment and it replaced line 3 (Porta Milano-Ponte San Giacomo) in 1935, followed by a combined trolleybus-tram service in 1936 on line 4 (circular Zanardelli-Railway station-Zanardelli). On november 1937 also line 1 and 2 were converted to trollebus system.
In 1938, the network was composed by three trollebus line (1, 2 and 4) and two tram line (5, via Pisacane-Mompiano, and 6, via Benacense-Sant'Eufemia). The two tramway were not connected to each other and they had separated depots.
After Second World War, the new city administration planned to convert the last two tramway: via Benacense-Sant'Eufemia closed in 1948 and via Pisacane-Mompiano closed the following year.

### Planned reintroduction

In 2018, Brescia Mobilità, local transport company, and Italian state railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) signed an agreement for the construction of two tram lines in Brescia: one line would run from Pendolina in the northwest to the new Pala Eib sports centre in the southwest, mostly following the line of current bus route 2; the second route would connect Via Vallecamonica in the west and Viale Bornata in the east. The project was not funded by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Trasport (MIT), but the municipal council resumed the Pendolina-Pala Eib tramway in 2021 only with collaboration of Brescia Mobilità; MIT financed it with 359 milions of euro in 2021 and with other 63 milions in 2023.
On 24 July 2024, the city council approved the project, giving authority to Brescia Mobilità to choose the contractor.