From 1901 to 1951, the Varese railway of the Rete Mediterranea from Milan via Varese to Porto Ceresio was equipped with a power supply of 650 volts direct current via a conductor rail. Passenger services began with 20 MAC^fc_e railcars, whose electrical equipment, including the four traction motors, came from General Electric. The car body was built by Officine Meccaniche in Milan and was based on the Interurban trams, which were very popular in the USA at the time. When the Italian State Railways took over operations in 1905, they were redesignated E.101 to E.120. After the railcars 5111 to 5130 followed five more powerful MCDU^fc_e with the numbers 5301 to 5305 and 16 lighter MAC^fc_{e[/ t] with the numbers 5131 to 5146. The use of the 5111 to 5130 ended in 1923 when the E.321 series locomotives went into service. The traction motors and other electrical equipment were used to build the six-axle E.620 series locomotives.}