The constitution, the activity and the development of S.T.E.F.E.R.’s social network are closely linked to the progress of the public transport services in Italy’s capital city, in the Province of Rome and in the whole of Lazio in general.
The Società delle Tramvie e Ferrovie Elettriche di Roma (Company of Tramways and Electric Railways of Rome) was one of the first companies in the whole of Italy, which foresaw, as the sole endpoint, a structure and activity "of railways and tramways with animal, steam or electricity traction with any system". The plan for immediate activation, which was presented in a concrete form at the same time as the constitution of the company of competent bodies of the State, Province and Rome City Council, was to be the same propeller of that vast network of tram, rail and car connections that extended across the district of the provinces of Rome and Frosinone, along the Casilina, Anagnina, Prenestina, Tuscolana and Appia roads and the Ostia motorway.
S.T.E.F.E.R. was established as a transport policy tool in order to identify the possibility of useful financial investments only in the creation of a network of connections to be exercised with modern criteria, which would actually satisfy the needs of the population.
S.T.E.F.E.R. was founded on November 29th 1899 with the deed of the notary Enrico Lo Capo and the act was ratified by the Rome Civil Court on December 11th 1899. S.T.E.F.E.R. had its first registered office in Via dell'Impresa no. 19 and a capital of 1,500,000 Lira, of which 450,000 Lira was deposited. The companies that contributed to the capital made available an amount up to 12,000,000 Lira to be deposited while the concessions were achieved in line with the demands of the works.
Meanwhile, on December 9th 1899, the engineers Mora and Manassei presented a request for concessions for some urban lines. The company, with a letter dated December 20th 1899 and this was the first official document sent by S.T.E.F.E.R. to the Rome City Council, communicated to the Municipal Administration, enclosing declarations by the engineers Mora and Manassei, that the recent request forwarded by these individuals had the intention of taking the name of Società delle Tramvie e Ferrovie Elettriche di Roma. The request was not carried out. On August 19th 1901, the company communicated to the Rome City Council that it was to abandon every urban tramway line project and would limit its actual request to the concession of a single line along the lay-out of San Giovanni-Piazza dei Cinquecento, running along Via Emanuele Filiberto and Viale Principessa Margherita, which was a line to be considered as a continuation of the Castelli Romani line to allow passengers to reach or depart from a point internal to the city of Rome.
The Castelli Romani Tramway
The first section of the electric Castelli Romani tramway line, the Rome-Frascati, was opened to the public on February 19th 1906. The network development plan was subsequently completed in March, April and May, and finally in October with the inauguration of the Squarciarelli-Rocca di Papa line, a limited service at the foot of the hill, awaiting the completion of the funicular work, which was opened the following year on August 2nd 1907, together with the block system plant.
On March 4th 1912, the Via delle Cave-Albano section was opened, while the following year on September 12th 1913, the remaining section up to Velletri was opened to the public. On July 8th, the branch for Lanuvio was opened and the connections plan between Rome and the Castelli area was therefore completed. On July 28th 1932, the extension of the tramway line from Valle Oscura to Valle Vergine and the new Rocca di Papa funicular system entered into service.
The Rome City Council buys out the company
On December 21st 1928, the Governor of Rome, with Decree no. 145, acquired the company’s entire block of shares (33,000 shares) with the aim of imprinting its own directives on the company, with a trend towards the coordination of communications between Rome and the Castelli Romani with a building development plan of the city of Rome towards the Latium hills. On December 22nd 1928, the network increased to include steam tramways, bought in for a price of 850,000 Lira, which connected Rome to Tivoli.
The takeover of three companies
1941 was particularly important in the life of the company as it was the year in which S.T.E.F.E.R. accomplished one of its most petitioned-for transport policies. On July 26th 1941, the Rome-Ostia-Lido railway was acquired, opened on August 10th 1924, already part of S.E.F.I. and from the latter subsequently handed over to I.R.I. On August 18th 1941, the acquisition of the Rome Fiuggi railways was agreed, also owned by I.R.I., but already part of S.F.V., which was opened from Rome to Genazzano on June 12th 1916 and from Genazzano to Fiuggi on May 6th 1917
In 1969, the Rome-Civita Castellana-Viterbo railway was acquired from S.R.F.N., which was opened on October 28th 1932. The technician’s know-how, the commitment and the highly social criteria with which the company carried out the transport services received high recognition with the State, which entrusted the operation of the metropolitan line Termini-EUR. On April 22nd 1952, the section between Magliana station of the Rome-Lido railway and the station of the whole Termini-EUR section was opened to traffic (in the presence of the President of the Republic).
On November 6th 1976, S.T.E.F.E.R. joined A.CO.TRA.L.
The history of Cotral SpA
S.T.E.F.E.R. joined ACoTral (Azienda Consortile Trasporti Laziali – Latium Transport Associated Company) in 1976, whose constitution was aimed at the promotion of regional transport. With the latter, another company became part of the constituent company, another Roman railway company, the SRFN, Società Romana per le Ferrovie delNord (Roman Company for the Northern Railways), better known as Rome-Nord, owned by STEFER since 1969
At the end of the 1970s, ACoTral was entrusted with the management of Line A (opened for business in 1980) as part of the extension plan of Rome’s metropolitan network, in whose realisation the company collaborated extensively. On February 24th 1993, in realisation of the Law dated June 8th 1990, no. 142 – Local Autonomies Reform – ACoTral was turned into CoTral (Consorzio Trasporti Pubblici Lazio – Lazio Public Transport Consortium). To surpass the transport monopoly, following the European directive, the legislative decree no. 422/97, the regional law 30/98 in realisation of the decree, the decrees of the Rome City Council and the exercise of the simplified procedures of Law 127/1997 (so-called Bassanini Bis) were needed. CO.TRA.L. (Consorzio Trasporti Pubblici Lazio – Lazio Public Transport Consortium) was established in February 1993 by the transformation of the former C.T.L. (Consorzio Pubblici Servizi di Trasporto del Lazio – Lazio Public Transport Services Consortium) and the dependent A.CO. TRA.L. (Azienda Consortile Trasporti Laziali – Latium Transport Associated Company), in conformity with the combined provision of Articles 60 and 25 of the Italian Law dated June 8th 1990 no. 142. The confirmation of the associative will, or associated form, of the Provincial Administrations of Rome, Frosinone, Latina, Rieti and Viterbo was expressed in the then transformed corporation, as resulting from the board acts of the individual bodies, granted in the decree of the Associative Assembly no. 1 dated February 24th 1993, constituted by CO.TRA.L. The corporation’s aim – Economic Public Corporation in conformity with the combined provision of Art. 22, let. c), of the Law 142/90 and Art. 2093 and 2201 of the Civil Code – is to directly manage the collective transport service for people in the city of Rome and the five provinces of Lazio in an associative form in conformity with Art. 25 of Law no.142/90. The Consorzio Pubblici Servizi di Trasporto del Lazio (Lazio Public Transport Services Consortium) and the managing company, A.CO.TRA.L. were founded between 1975-1976, following regional laws regarding the promotion of public transport in the Lazio region with subsequent transfer to C.T.L. and by this to A.CO.TRA.L., of concessions that were previously consented to public and private organisations (STEFER, SRFN and about 80 private companies): regional for out-of-town public transport on wheels, Rome City Council for the operation of the metropolitan lines A and B and the State’s Ministry for Transport for the operation of the Rome-Lido, Rome-Pantano (formerly Rome-Fiuggi) and Rome-Viterbo railways. In 1996, the Provincial Administrations of Rome, Frosinone and Latina expressed a desire to withdraw from the associative consortium in conformity with the statutory prevision. As a result, from January 1st 1997, the consortium was constituted by the Rome City Administration and the Provincial Administrations of Rieti and Viterbo, which agreed to reconfirm the associative bond with decree no. l dated January 22nd 1997. To surpass the transport monopoly, following the European directive, the legislative decree no. 422/97, the regional law 30/98 in realisation of the decree, the decrees of the Rome City Council and making use of the simplified procedures of Law 127/1997 (so-called Bassanini Bis), the Consorzio Trasporti Pubblici del Lazio (Lazio Public Transport Consortium) was turned into two public limited companies, Metroferro Spa, now Met.Ro., and Linee Laziali Spa, which has now been summed-up by the name of Co.Tra.L. S.p.A.
CO.TRA.L. S.p.a. COMPAGNIA TRASPORTI LAZIALI (LATIUM TRANSPORT COMPANY)
Società Regionale S.p.a.
The company is the first national carrier of out-of-town public transport bus lines.
The major shareholder is the Lazio Regional Authority. The other shareholders are the Provincial Authorities of Rome, Rieti and Viterbo and the Rome City Council.
Cotral Spa, Sede legale: Via B. Alimena, 105 - 00173 Roma
P. Iva, C. F. e Registro delle Imprese di Roma: 06043731006
Capitale Sociale: Euro 11.043.222,50
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