A CAF LRV in downtown Sacramento.
(paulkimo9, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
CONSTRUCCIONES Y AUXILIAR DE FERROCARRILES (CAF)
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Grupo CAF, lit. 'Construction and Other Railway Services') is a Spanish publicly listed company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment and buses through its Solaris Bus & Coach subsidiary. It is based in Beasain, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. Equipment manufactured by Grupo CAF includes light rail vehicles, rapid transit trains, railroad cars and locomotives, as well as variable gauge axles that can be fitted on any[citation needed] existing truck or bogie.
Over the 20 years from the early 1990s, CAF benefited from the rail investment boom in its home market in Spain to become a world player with a broad technical capability, able to manufacture almost any type of rail vehicle. CAF has supplied railway rolling stock to a number of major urban transit operators around Europe, the US, South America, East Asia, India, Australia and North Africa.
Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Adtranz–CAF EMU built by CAF and Adtranz.
(Baycrest, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons)
History
CAF was an acronym for the earlier name of Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, as well as for Construcciones y Auxiliar de Feres.
Fábrica de Hierros San Martín
In 1860, Domingo Goitia, Martín Usabiaga and José Francisco Arana established this company, whose main activity was puddling furnaces and cylinder rolling.
La Maquinista Guipuzcoana
In 1892, Francisco de Goitia (Domingo Goitia's son and heir) joined the Marquess of Urquijo to set up La Maquinista Guipuzcoana, whose main activity was the operation of machinery and the forging and construction of railway rolling stock.
In 1898, it set up its plant in Beasain, Gipuzkoa. In 1905 it changed its name to Fábrica de Vagones de Beasain (FVB).
Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles
Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) was founded in 1917, specializing in freight car production and with a total of 1,600 employees.
In 1940, the Irun factory was set up, following the expansion of activity after the Spanish Civil War (CAF took part in reconstructing the Spanish rail fleet).
In 1954, CAF took over Material Móvil y Construcciones (MMC) from Zaragoza (Aragon), a company with extensive experience in manufacturing long-distance and subway trains.
Since 1958, the company has modernized and enlarged its Beasain plant and expanded its activity to include all kinds of rolling stock. In line with this, in 1969 CAF created its Research and Development Unit, which increased the company's competitiveness and intensified the focus on in-house technology.
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles
In 1971, the existing Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) merged with Material Móvil y Construcciones (MMC) and the company adopted its current name Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles.
Since the early 1990s, CAF has also been active internationally. In the early 2000s, CAF supplied high-speed trains to the Spanish RENFE and in 2005, high-speed trains were exported for the first time (to Turkey).
In 2018, CAF took over the Polish bus manufacturer Solaris. The company also acquired the Talent 3 platform from competitor Bombardier Transportation in 2022, as well as the Coradia Polyvalent platform and the plant in Reichshoffen from train manufacturer Alstom. This was a condition imposed by the European Commission's competition authority for the approval of the 2021 takeover of Bombardier Transportation by Alstom.
Subsidiaries
CAF U.S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of CAF, was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Elmira, New York. It manufactures rolling stock for the North American market at a plant in Elmira that the company acquired from ADtranz in 2000. The company from Beasain continued its expansion during the third millennium.
On 24 May 2019, it announced the acquisition of the Swedish company Euromaint at a cost of circa €80 million, following other international contracts to supply Flemish and English railway and underground networks in 2017.
CAF Rolling Stock U.K. Ltd. is the CAF subsidiary in the United Kingdom. Its factory is based at Celtic Springs Business Park, at Llanwern steelworks near Newport, Wales as a result of an agreement made between CAF and the Welsh Government. The Newport factory has built stock for Transport for Wales, Arriva Rail North, the Docklands Light Railway, and potentially High Speed 2 if CAF win the bid process.
CAF Signalling was fined in 2021 with 1.7 million euros by the Spanish commission on markets and competition because of its participation in a cartel with other 7 international companies which colluded in tenders over Spanish rail infrastructure.
Rolling stock
North America
- Canada: Calgary Transit Urbos 100 (On Order)
- Mexico: Mexico City Metro (NE-92, NM-02, FE-07, FE-10, NE-16)
- Mexico: Mexico City suburban rail
- Mexico: El Insurgente commuter rail
- US: Viewliner II (Amtrak)
- US: SacRT light rail, California Class 200
- US: Pittsburgh Light Rail, Pennsylvania Class 4300
- US: Washington Metro, 5000-Series
- US: METRORail, (Houston, TX)
- US: Kansas City Streetcar
- US: Cincinnati Streetcar
- US: MBTA Green Line Type 9 LRV and Type 10 (on order – delivery starting 2027)
- US: MTA Maryland Purple Line (On order, 5 delivered as of October 15th)
Overview
Company type: S.A. (Sociedad Anónima, English: Society Anonimous)
Traded as: BMAD: CAF; ISIN ES0121975009
Industry: Manufacturing
Founded: 1917 (Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles)
Headquarters: Beasain, Basque Country, Spain
Number of locations: 11 factories, including:
- Beasain (Basque Country)
- Zaragoza (Aragon)
- Irún (Basque Country)
- Linares (Andalusia)
- Hortolandia (Brazil)
- Huehuetoca (Mexico)
- Elmira, New York (US)
- Bagnères-de-Bigorre (France)
- Newport, South Wales (UK)
Key people: Jose María Baztarrica Garijo, Andrés Arizkorreta (Chief Executive Officer and Chairman)
Products: Design, manufacture, maintenance and supply of equipment and components for railway systems
Revenue: Increase €2.943 billion (2021)
Operating income: Increase €165 million (2021)
Net income: Increase €89 million (2021)
Total assets: Increase €4.269 billion (2021)
Total equity: Increase €740.4 million (2021)
Owner: Public; Employees via Cartera Social S.A. (25%); Kutxabank (14%)
Number of employees: 13,284 (2021)
Website: CAF.net
