Electric trams (1900-1959)
Close to the end of the concession of the blood tram system, in 1892 studies began to be carried out to electrify the tram service. To this end, Santiago Ossa") begins with projects to use the waters of the Maipo canal in the production of electricity, necessary to move the trams. In 1896, a year before the concession expired, the Municipality of Santiago called for competition to modernize the old tram system. After the call, 3 bidders presented themselves: Eugene de la Motte du Portail, the Santiago Urban Railway Company - which operated the blood cars at that time - and the brothers Dillwyn and Alfred Parrish; the latter were awarded the tender on January 13, 1897 - in the meantime, a law of February 25 of the same year authorized the municipalities of Santiago, Ñuñoa and San Bernardo to grant concessions for public lighting and electric or mechanical traction trams for up to 30 years -,[11] the contract was signed on July 6 of the same year - which received official authorization. of the government on September 2—[12] and the company also began providing public lighting to the city, forming the Chilean Electric Tramway and Light Company in May 1898.[13].
Although the company had its management in London, the Spanish engineer Pedro Merry del Val y Zulueta was in charge of the project, beginning its work on October 9, 1897. Almost three years later, on September 2, 1900 at 2:30 p.m., Santiago's first electric tram—a blue car with capacity for 36 people—began its march from the heart of the system: the power plant located at the intersection of Brasil and Mapocho avenues; The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Vice President of the Republic, Elías Fernández Albano, the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies (Fernando Lazcano and Carlos Palacios, respectively), and the mayor of Santiago, Rodolfo Marín Briones, among others.[14] With this new plus, the network of the Chilean Electric Tramway and Light Company began to grow rapidly, eventually covering almost the entire city of Santiago at the beginning of the century.[15].
The expansion of the tram network, as well as the replacement of animal traction lines with electric lines, intensified during the early years of the 1900s. On June 6, 1902, the Bellavista line of electric trams was inaugurated, which covered said avenue from Pío Nono and the Molinos de Santa Margarita.[16] On October 27, 1907, the electric tram service was inaugurated on the then called Gran Avenida in the sector. from Ñuñoa and Macul, in the “New Ñuñoa Population”; The rates for said service had been set by the decree of April 16 of the same year.[17][18] In February 1911, a new route was inaugurated in the northern sector of Santiago that connected with the Lo Negrete sector.[19].
In 1918, tram workers organized one of the first strikes over wage demands in the city. As a measure, they parked their cars without allowing traffic and shouted slogans alluding to their demands. Around 1919, someone who in the future would become the executioner of this system appeared in Santiago: the microbus, although at that time due to its primitive design and its transport capacity they were not a great danger.
In 1921, the Chilean Electric Tramway and Light Company and the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza Eléctrica "Compañía Nacional de Fuerza Eléctrica (1919)") join together to form Chilectra. Around 1925 the company - through the subsidiary called "Compañía de Tracción y Alumbrado de Santiago", founded in that same year and converted into the "Compañía de Tracción de Santiago" in 1933 - began to renew part of its material, eliminating the imperial ones in 1926, and integrating cutting-edge technology for the time such as electric bells and automatic systems to open and close the doors; The color that the trams adopted at that time was yellow, which would remain until the 1940s. [20] Also in 1925, the double track of the trams that circulated along the Alameda began to be separated - until that year the round-trip trams circulated on the south road - when a track was installed on the north road between Bandera and San Martín; In March 1928, the northern route was installed between San Martín and Brasil Avenue.[21].
On March 10, 1931, a new contract signed between the Santiago Traction and Lighting Company and the Municipality was approved, which established, among other things, the acquisition of 30 new four-axle trams, which were added to 30 trams that had been recently acquired, also expanding the vehicle fleet to 360 cars—in the drafts of the contract, discussed during 1930, it was originally established to increase it to 500—.[22][23] In August 1938, another 15 trams were added, manufactured in Chile by the Traction and Lighting Company.[24].
On May 7 and 8, 1941, the last major mass strike of tram workers occurred, which produced great chaos in the city. The government led by Pedro Aguirre Cerda decides to intervene in the company for 120 days through Law 6932 of May 19,[25] naming a provisional administration.[26] At the same time, on May 19, a commission was established that would study the problem of public transportation in the Chilean capital and look for ways to solve it.[27].
The Tram Tax Administration was headed throughout its existence by manager Miguel Vergara Imas.[28] In 1943, efforts were made to obtain financing through the Production Promotion Corporation (Corfo) in order to increase the tram fleet.[29].
On September 15, 1945, four years after the fiscal intervention, the Empresa Nacional de Transportes Colectivos S.A. was created. (ENT), a mixed public limited company that in 1953 became the State Collective Transport Company (ETCE), wholly owned by the state and which began to manage the 488 trams operated by Chilectra. The mission of the ETCE was to manage and modernize transportation systems; for the transportation of the city of Santiago, began with the importation of new vehicles such as buses and trolleybuses. This event marked the beginning of the end of the tram system.[30].
In 1946 the ENT acquired 16 second-hand trams from the Schenectady Railway Company, which began to arrive in the country in June of the same year.[31] Since 1946, 100 new diesel and oil buses began to arrive - manufactured by the Pullman Standard Corporation of Worcester, Massachusetts -, and around 1947 the first trolleybus began its tests, beginning its public use on October 31 of that same year through the first line of the system, which circulated from Mac Iver Street to the El Golf sector in Las Condes.[32].
By the mid-1950s, trams had left their dominant role on important arteries such as Alameda and passengers preferred the use of these new competitors; In February 1956, there were 101 operational trams left and it was planned to reduce this number to 75.[33] In November 1958, an Advisory Commission of the Undersecretariat of Transportation announced the imminent end of the tram service as a result of the economic losses it generated for the ETCE and the poor condition of the cars—of which at that time there were only 25 that were operational.[34] At the end of January 1956, In 1959 there were only 8 trams left in circulation[35] and finally on February 21 of that year the ETCE trams circulated for the last time.[1].
After the closure of the main tram network, there was a private line that continued to operate for some years: this was the case of the Santiago Oeste Electric Railway in Quinta Normal, which covered part of the route of San Pablo Avenue between Matucana and Las Rejas; Its closure marked the end of the era of trams.[36][37] After an accident that occurred on November 6, 1964 - in which a tram circulated around 8 blocks without brakes when the power outlet was disconnected-,[38] the service was suspended as of the 13th of the same month by a resolution of the Undersecretariat of Transportation that canceled all trams from the service. system.[39][40] Already in previous years, especially between 1962 and 1964, there had been discrepancies between the Municipality of Quinta Normal and the tram concessionaire regarding who should assume the economic cost of paving San Pablo Street, given the layout of the railway that passed through said avenue, in addition to there being different complaints about the poor safety of the service.[41][42].
After the closure of the service of the Santiago Oeste Electric Railway in November 1964,[43] on February 17, 1966, the company was intervened to try to establish a provisional service,[44] which was finally not fulfilled because the corresponding arrangements were not made and it was met with opposition from the residents of Quinta Normal,[45] so the concession was officially expired by decree of July 11, 1966. 1968;[46] after that situation the company declared bankruptcy in the following years.[1][47] After that the FESO trams were abandoned; By 1978 the surviving cars were stored abandoned in a yard near the Yungay station.[47].