2023Carris - 150 Years - First Day Cover

18 September 2022 marked the 150th anniversary of the Companhia Carris de Ferro de Lisboa.
Founded in 1872 by the brothers Luciano and Francisco Maria Cordeiro de Sousa, CARRIS came to revolutionise the means of transport within the city of Lisbon, starting with a system of animal traction on rails on 17 November 1873, between the Station for the Northern and Eastern Railway lines (Santa Apolónia) and the western end of the Aterro da Boa Vista (Santos). The Carro Americano [horse-drawn streetcar] was the first carriage able to transport 30 passengers, in a vehicle on rails drawn by two horses. Less than two decades later, in 1900, it was the Carro Elétrico [electric streetcar] that led to Lisbon’s first electricity plant being installed, the Santos Generator for Lisbon. Once the rails and electricity network were in place, the electric streetcar network opened on 31 August 1901 its first route travelling between Terreiro do Paço and Algés. This later became route 15E and carried the residents of Lisbon as well as passengers from other cities and countries.