Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 7, 2016 The Marão Tunnel in northern Portugal made its debut. This new highway structure was officially dedicated by António Costa, the prime minister of Portugal. As a key part of the inaugural festivities on that Saturday, hundreds of people in attendance traveled through the tunnel either on bicycle or by foot. The Marão... Continue Reading →
May 4, 1957 Construction began on the rapid transit system Metropolitana di Milano (Milan Metro) in Italy’s second most populous city. Public transportation in Milan dates back to 1840, when the Milan-Monza Railway made its debut. As early as 1914, Milan’s public officials discussed creating an underground transit network similar to those in other major... Continue Reading →
April 14, 1900 The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), which remains the international governing body for sports cycling well over a century later, was established at a meeting in Paris, France. UCI was founded as a replacement for the International Cycling Association (ICA), which had been organized eight years earlier as the first world body for... Continue Reading →
April 10, 1899 The Napoleone Pimpinelli Company was awarded a contract to build an electric tram (streetcar) line in the city of Perugia in central Italy. The company subsequently carried out that construction project under the supervision of the German electrical engineering company Siemens & Halske AG. The project was part of a larger modernization... Continue Reading →
April 6, 1957 Shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis officially launched Olympic Airways in Greece. The genesis of this enterprise can be traced to three airlines that been established in Greece by 1947: Technical and Aeronautical Exploitations Company (TAE); Hellenic Airlines; and Aeroporiki Metfori Elados (AME). In 1951, the poor financial performances of these airlines led the... Continue Reading →
March 24, 1907 After a few trial runs, one of Italy’s earliest trolleybus systems was officially inaugurated in the vicinity of Siena in the central region of the country. These trolleybuses were the first means of public transportation for that city and its surrounding area that did not rely on horses for operation. The source... Continue Reading →
March 17, 1817 In the northern region of the present-day Republic of Ireland, a new lighthouse first went into service at the end of a peninsula known as Fanad. (At that time, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged together as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; this sovereign state remained... Continue Reading →
March 5, 1919 Finland’s Helsinki Central railway station was officially opened. This structure replaced a station that had been built in 1862 but was no longer large enough to accommodate the ever-growing number of trains and passengers. The new and larger station was designed by architect Eliel Saarinen, whose proposed plans were selected from a total... Continue Reading →
February 27, 1869 Greece’s first railroad line – as well as one of the oldest metropolitan-area transit systems in the world – was officially opened to serve Athens and its vicinity. The Athens & Piraeus Railway commenced its regular operations along a 5.5-mile (8.8-kilometer) route with a steam locomotive that pulled six cars from the... Continue Reading →
February 20, 1898 In Switzerland, a referendum calling for the creation of a state-owned railway company was approved by a vote of 386,634 to 182,718. “Swiss Railways for the Swiss People” had served as the rallying cry for the supporters of this measure. The demand for a national railway system in Switzerland was rooted in... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 