In June 1919 Heinrich von Frauendorfer resigned as director of the urban trams. Otto Scholler was appointed head of municipal construction and was elected a professional city councilor in the following year, after the tram had been elevated to an independent position alongside electricity and gas works.

 

The restart of operation on the existing route network as well as the construction of additional new sections - planned pre-war - such as the Line 22 from Harras to Rotkreuzplatz (via Westend and Donnersbergerbrücke) - resulted in 25 lines being fully operational in 1920 again. In the following years reconstructions to Central Station and other renewal work took place, leading to an improvement of the local transportion offer. The growing inflation in 1922/23 brought a renewed temporary schedule restriction. Between 1917 and 1923 the tariffs had been raised sixty-seven times; on November 27, 1923, a section cost 150 billion marks.

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In 1922, a new general route plan was adopted, but could be implemented due to the inflation period only from 1925. It took into account the necessity of a straight line guidance, which was an indispensable prerequisite for a mass transportation in a city whose population had reached the million mark.

It meant the end of the winding side roads, the route through the inner city and Old Town streets and the close-meshed lines in the city center with ring and cross lines.

Still, the principle of a grid for the route plan had not yet been completely abandoned: large trunk lines were supposed to be leading from the suburbs into the city center. Furthermore, the inner city ring  was still considered and even the further development of the outer ring was envisaged, but essentially only the sections in the southern and western parts were intended.

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After the period of inflation, the run-down business was facing tremendous demands for necessary renewals, additions and expansions. Rescue came in form of the admission of the so-called "America bond" with an amount of 5 million Reichsmark in May 1924. The improvement in revenue allowed a renewal of the car fleet: Since during war and inflation years the Munich Tram could not procure new vehicles, a considerable car shortage had arisen; the purchase of 100 E-type tram cars in 1925 and 1926 put an end to it.  

The 100 railcars (526-625) were built by the wagon factories Linke-Hoffmann-Lauchhammer in Breslau, MAN in Nuremberg and Schöndorff in Dusseldorf, while the trailers were supplied by MAN and Rathgeber.

The cars were longer than those of the previous series and had much larger platforms, for the first time completely closed by doors. Although these vehicles were quite modern according to the state of the art at the time and looked pretty good, they were heavily criticized by the population. The unpopular longitudinal seats, the heavy "finger-endangering" doors and not least the orders, placed in the vast majority to northern and eastern German companies, filled many a newspaper column with snappy articles and letters to the editor. The painting, dark gray at window height and dark blue at the bottom, also did not meet the wishes of the Munich residents.

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The commissioning of the E-type cars allowed not only the installation of a variety of new or modernized turning loop facilities but also a further expansion of the Munich Tram network. On May 1, 1925, f.ex., the new Line 3 was introduced in the Arnulfstraße between Seidlstraße and Donnersbergerstraße.

In the years 1926 to 1930 there was a significant expansion of the network. First, the feeder Line 31, which led from the Ostbahnhof to Ramersdorf or Berg am Laim, was put into operation. In 1927, the project of crossing the English Garden was discussed for the first time (a project that rested for many decades and is passionately debated again today). On other segments of this Outer Ring Line construction went on and the section Neuhausen - Schwabing (of which the section Sendling - Neuhausen already existed) was completed.

 

In 1929/30 the connection of the northwestern peripheral areas with the line to Moosach finally came to pass. In 1930 - anticipating modern concepts - the first express line of the Munich Tram on the route Pasing - Hauptbahnhof opened, so that travel time shortened from 30 to 20 minutes. In the same year, this express line was extended to Moosach.

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From 1926 to 1931 all railcars of the series C were modernized: they received, according to the design of the E-tram cars, towing roofs, where the rotatable direction signs and the signal lamps for the colored lenses were incorporated in the roof. The box for the line number was placed directly on the roof and got lateral deflector arches for the leash of the trolley pole. After these changes, the C-type car was given the type designation D.

 

The creation of the new general route plan of 1928, the largest route plan ever worked out, also fell into this period. Not only it provided for the generous expansion of the tram network, but also a combination with five subway lines, which should cross the city radially. This network was to be supplemented by two to three electric highways, which should lead far out into the surrounding area. This project never got beyond the design phase.

The ring line system was to be further expanded, in addition to the already existing Inner City Ring the Outer Ring was set for completion (but then should morph into the Inner Ring).

In addition, a middle ring and a wide outer ring were provided (Pasing - Moosach - Daglfing - Riem - Unterhaching - Pullach - Solln - Großhadern - Pasing). In addition there were intentions included for random lines in the outskirts, which were only realized many years later as S-Bahn (suburban train) lines.

The planned network was supposed to include five ring lines and 25 radial lines with many cross-links, over 150 sections in total.

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The further expansion of the Munich Tram Network at the end of the 1920s required another reinforcement of the fleet. By and large, the previously delivered E-type cars were satisfactory, so their construction concept - spacious vehicles with large, closed platforms and maximum bogies - was continued with the tram cars delivered by the company Hawa (Hannoversche Waggonfabrik AG) 627-666 series F 2.10. Previously, a prototype F 1.9 with the car number 626 had been procured from the company Autokasten and MAN.

After the city trams had not gained any friends in the populace with the dark gray-dark blue color scheme of the E-type cars, the newly white and blue painted cars found joyful viewers everywhere. Some even travelled from their neighborhoods to see Line 1, on which these splendid specimens first ran. The built-in seats with two opposite benches, the interjacendly installed trays, the green sunshade curtains and the short longitudinal benches at the entrances were well received.

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Translated by Google

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Weiter: 1930 – 1938: Stagnation und großstädtische Pläne

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