Eighty-four people, five stories to tell the 10 faces of ATM. is the content of “People between the lines“, the volume published by Atm, the transport company Milanese to tell, in a photographic journey, the faces of those “gears”, as the writer Enrico Del Buono defined them, curator of the volume together with the photographer Gabriele Micalizzi, which “allow the mechanism to function”, i.e. people.
The “mechanism” that allows the city gears to function, to live in Milan is in fact made up of 2.996 drivers, 1.133 tram drivers and 518 train drivers, 27 customer assistants, 140 line tutors, 150 security guards, together with welders, technicians, instructors and many other professional figures.”
We are here to celebrate Atm and the work of our ten thousand employees who take hundreds of vehicles out every morning while we sleep, they continue as they have done in past years, as they have done in the years of covid and in this year to serve the city”, said the president of Atm Gioia Ghezzi during the presentation of the book which took place at the Palazzo della triennale in Milan.
“The book is beautiful – she continued – there are portraits of 84 of our ten thousand employees during their work: drivers, maintenance workers. It was done by two extremely capable people like Micalizzi and Del Buono and we are very proud of the result”.
Behind each face a story to tell, like Silvia’s a degree in cultural mediation, a period of study in Japan and a job on line 5, the first in the city without a driver, to assist passengers, but not only: “Among sapiens and robots an excellent synergy has been created, but it can happen that due to a breakdown it’s up to us humans to drive the train or unlock a handle”. In short, “artificial intelligence is efficient and safe, but it must be integrated”: And then that very Zen phrase quoted during the presentation: “it doesn’t matter if you hear a question asked for the fiftieth time, for that fiftieth person who is formulating is the first time”.
A Zen approach in a Mediterranean sauce, since it has replaced the passion for judo with that for medieval fencing”.
The photos in the volume are a declaration of love for the city and cover its history for almost 100 years. not only the history of transport, but that of the Ambrosian culture: During his speech from the stage, the general manager of Atm Arrigo Giana said that the “carrelli”, the traditional Milanese tram, is one of the best-known symbols together with the Duomo.
And in one of the photos in the volume there is a “carrelli 1928” which brings together two symbols of the city: the tram of line 1, in fact, in white livery, with the inscription “Milano per Carla Fracci”, dedicated to the Milanese star. Whose father, moreover, worked in Atm.
And then the faces of the ATM points, that of the “manetta” (or of the “throttle” on the rainbow trams), but also those of those who, when the lights of the city go out for a short while, illuminate it with their work, that of welders who maintain the tracks, perhaps in places like Piazza Duomo. And then again the culture that permeates transport: from the underground sound in the stations to the “green” culture of electric buses, the 350 square meters of green wall. in short, “People between lines”, collects the faces of atm, but also the faces of an evolving city.
care of the redaction
