Following completion of the delivery of rolling stock in the 1950s, no new additions were made to the passenger trains on the Ferrovie Nord network. At the same time, in addition to the increase in traffic, there was an ever more pressing need to replace the most obsolete stock, which was still heavily used every day to transport tens of thousands of travellers.
The general economic situation of the railways in the 1960s had changed due to the collapse of freight transport, which had always guaranteed a basic income, including in terms of investments.
The turning point came in 1974. In November of that year, the region of Lombardy acquired a 51% stake in Ferrovie Nord. The aim was to launch a major modernisation plan, which in practice took several decades to complete, by means of appropriate funding. In addition to work on the infrastructure, one of the first actions implemented regarded the rolling stock, permitted by funding from Law 493/75 and Regional Law 22/78.
By the mid-1970s, several dozen second-hand cars had been purchased in Switzerland and Germany to replace the now worn-out two-axle coaches and bogie coaches with wooden body. But this was still not enough.
In the 1970s, power electronics and the Full-Chopper drive system were being developed in the railway industry with trains produced by the Consorzio GAI. The focus for the new FNM trains was on purchasing electric multiple units with electronic traction system similar to those in FS class 724. These first 12 electric railcars, put into service in the early 1980s, were registered to the EB 750 class and coupled in a fixed composition with two types of coach. The first was a double-decker, built by Bologna-based Casaralta on licence from CIMT Lorraine to a French design, and the second a single-decker designed and produced by SOCIMI.
In addition to the lightweight alloy body and bogies with a brand-new design, the main features of the 750s were the Full-Chopper electronic traction system, pneumatic and electric braking with wheel slip and wheel slide protection, and an automatic cab-side coupler to simplify coupling two trains.
A radical change in the set-up of the rolling stock made them incompatible with the old fleet. The service therefore saw the traditional trains coexisting and alternating with the new types of train.
At the same time, the purchase of 6 new locomotives was being trialled, which were again similar to the stock being introduced by the FS. These were 6 E 620 locomotives with electronic traction designed for pulling both single and double decker standard shuttle trains.
For trains with the EB 750 and E 620, a number of control cars were also supplied, both Casaralta double-deckers and SOCIMI single-deckers, which allowed bidirectional shuttle operation.
Despite this substantial introduction of new stock, it was nonetheless essential to keep the trains of the old fleet in service. For this reason, they too underwent major modernisation work.
The work focused mainly on replacing the intermediate cars of the EB 730 and 740 trains equipped with routed cables and which had been included in the composition of these trains since the 1950s. These were cars built in the 1920s-1940s designed to be placed between the engine and the control car. They were replaced between the 1970s and 1990s by second-hand lightweight cars from Switzerland.
The overall result of these actions and of the introduction of the new E 750s, which reached 24 units, made it possible to continue into the mid-’90s, when the entire Milan branch of the FNM fleet would be completely overhauled and revamped with the new TAF trains and, a decade later, the TSR trains.