Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles
Encyclopedia
Beasáin
Beasain is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, northern Spain. It has an important industry of railroad vehicles and related equipment that exports its production to all the world.-External links:* *...
in the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Equipment manufactured by CAF includes light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
vehicles, rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
trains, railroad car
Railroad car
A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...
s and locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s, as well as variable gauge axles
Variable gauge axles
A variable gauge system allows railway vehicles in a train to travel across a break of gauge caused by two railway networks with differing track gauges....
that can be fitted on any existing truck or bogie
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
.
CAF has supplied railway rolling stock to a number of major urban transit
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
operators around Europe, the USA, South America, East Asia, India and North Africa.
History
CAF was an acronym for the earlier name of Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, as well as for Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles.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 Marquis 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
Beasáin
Beasain is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, northern Spain. It has an important industry of railroad vehicles and related equipment that exports its production to all the world.-External links:* *...
, 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
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
(Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
), 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
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
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.Rolling stock
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
vehicles to cities around the world, including Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
in their home region of the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
, Valencia's FGV
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana or FGV is a public Valencian railway company which operates several metre gauge lines, in the Autonomous Community of Valencia, in Spain....
or Zaragoza tram
Zaragoza tram
The Zaragoza tram is a tram system in the Spanish city of Zaragoza, capital of the autonomous community of Aragon. Line 1 will be expanded with a second and third line.- History :In 1885, the first animal traction tram line was established....
in Spain and Pittsburgh Light Rail
Pittsburgh Light Rail
The Pittsburgh Light Rail is a light rail system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; it functions as a subway in Downtown Pittsburgh and largely as an at-grade light rail service in the suburbs. The system is owned and operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County...
and Sacramento Regional Transit in the USA.
CAF is a major manufacturer of metro
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
cars, with systems supplied including the Madrid Metro
Madrid Metro
The Madrid Metro is a metro system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the sixth longest metro in the world though Madrid is approximately the fiftieth most populous metropolitan area in the world...
in Spain, the Valley of Mexico Suburban Rail System (which CAF also built and operates), the Washington Metro
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...
in the USA, the Santiago Metro
Santiago Metro
Metro de Santiago is South America's most extensive metro system with 5 lines, 108 stations and 103 kilometres of track making it the second longest in Latin America after that of Mexico City. The metro system serves the city of Santiago, Chile. Three of the lines are rubber-tyred...
in Chile, and MTR
MTR
Mass Transit Railway is the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. Originally opened in 1979, the system now includes 211.6 km of rail with 155 stations, including 86 railway stations and 69 light rail stops...
in Hong Kong.
CAF participates in the manufacture of mainline commuter electric multiple unit
Electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...
s (EMUs), including the Civia family for Spain's RENFE
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
.
CAF also builds mainline passenger coaches, including Arco
Arco (Renfe)
Arco is a commercial passenger train service operated in Spain by Renfe Operadora. Arco fully renovates and refurbishes Renfe's B11x-10200 series of passenger trains. New bogies, capable of working at 220 km/h, were added...
coaches for RENFE, InterCity
InterCity
InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...
coaches for Hungary's MÁV
Hungarian State Railways
Hungarian State Railways is the Hungarian national railway company, with divisions "MÁV Start Zrt" and "MÁV Cargo Zrt" ....
, and Viewliner
Viewliner
The Viewliner is a single-level car type used by Amtrak on eastern routes. With the exception of a prototype dining car named "Indianapolis" , all cars built so far are sleeping cars and are assigned names that include the word "View."- Early design :...
II cars for Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
in the USA.
CAF participated in the construction of 250 km/h medium-high-speed trains, including the variable-gauge S 120
RENFE Class 120 / 121
The RENFE Class 120 are high speed electrical multiple units used on Alvia services in Spain.The trainsets are dual voltage, dual gauge units capable of changing gauge without stopping at 30 km/h 12 units were ordered in 2001, and a further 45 units in 200429 units of the class RENFE Class...
for RENFE, and the in-house constructed HT65000 fur Turkey's TCDD
Turkish State Railways
The State Railways of the Turkish Republic or TCDD is the government owned, national railway carrier in the Republic of Turkey, headquartered in Ankara...
. CAF is currently developing the Oaris
CAF Oaris
Oaris is a modular high-speed train platform developed by Spain-based manufacturer CAF.-Technical details:Oaris will be a non-articulated electric multiple unit with distributed traction, enabling 4-car, 6-car and 8-car configurations. Each car will have one powered bogie, with electric motors on...
modular platform for top speeds above 300 km/h.
See also
- Karlos ArguiñanoKarlos ArguiñanoKarlos Arguiñano Urkiola is a chef, popular TV presenter and producer.His devotion to cuisine started when he was a child and helped at home because he was the eldest of four brothers and had a disabled mother.Before beginning his training in the field of cooking, he worked for CAF, a rail car...
, a former worker at CAF who later became famous as a TV chef. - Variable gauge axlesVariable gauge axlesA variable gauge system allows railway vehicles in a train to travel across a break of gauge caused by two railway networks with differing track gauges....