Not until 8 August 1925 was a concession supplementary to that already in existence agreed between the FNM and the government, whose expiry was extended to 12 February 1972. The concession included not only the scheduled electrification of the Saronno and Meda lines, but also other major works, as previously described, aimed at increasing the network’s transport capacity. This concession was granted by Royal Decree No. 1577 on 22 August 1925: the electrification of Ferrovie Nord was about to become reality!
Equipping the two previously mentioned sections for the operation of electric traction, carried out by Tecnomasio Italiano Brown Boveri in collaboration with the Ferrovie Nord engineers, was also a remarkable feat from a purely technical point of view. The power system adopted, via overhead lines powered by “3000 V direct current, attests to the considerable daring shown by the Nord engineers in achieving it”, at a time when the only line operating in Italy with this system was the Benevento-Foggia run by the Ferrovie dello Stato. This particular line had opened too recently and its operating characteristics were too different to be able to draw any definitive technical conclusions or judgements, particularly regarding the suitability of the high-voltage direct current for suburban and local services.
Electrification of the Milano-Saronno and Bovisa-Meda lines had already been achieved by autumn 1928, but only in May 1929 could a regular passenger and goods service by electric traction be implemented. The early days of operation were not free from setbacks, and not two months after it opened, a fire which half-destroyed the Novate substation, putting it out of action for several months, prompted a hasty return to steam power.
It did not take long, however, for the advantages of electrification to become apparent: whereas the suburban service previously required 10 steam locomotives, it now needed only 6 of the 8 previously supplied electric railcars to run twice as many trains, without affecting the work performance times of the staff. The 46 staff needed for steam power was reduced to 19, as both the electric railcars and the electric locomotives, the latter initially only used for goods services, were equipped from the very beginning with the “dead man’s switch” safety feature, which meant only a single driver was necessary. The two electrified lines, diverging at Bovisa station, were powered by a single substation for transformation and conversion built at Novate Milanese, around 7 km from Milan.