Union Carriage & Wagon
South African railway vehicle manufacturer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Union Carriage & Wagon (UCW) is a rolling stock manufacturer in South Africa. It presently functions as one of the two South African subsidiaries of the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom.
 | |
| Industry | Rolling stock manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1957 |
| Founder | Commonwealth Engineering |
| Headquarters | , |
| Parent | Commuter Transport Engineering |
| Website | https://www.alstom.com/alstom-south-africa |
Union Carriage & Wagon was established in 1957. Initial shareholders were Commonwealth Engineering (51%), Budd Company (25%) and Leyland Motors (12%).[1] By 1965, Budd and Metro Cammell Weymann held a combined 41% shareholding which they sold to Anglo American plc and General Mining. In December 1969, Commonwealth Engineering reduced its shareholding to 42% with the other two shareholders each owning 29%.[2][3][4]
Having initially built carriages, in 1964, UCW delivered its first electrical locomotives to the South African Railways, the South African Class 5E1, Series 2.[5] The Class 5E1 was also the first electrical locomotive to be produced in quantity in South Africa.[6]
In 1974, UCW entered the international market with orders from Angola and Zambia.[7] In 1976, UCW received its first Asian order for twenty Type E100 electric locomotives for Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), based on a GEC design. In addition, the TRA E1000 push-pull trainsets were also manufactured jointly by UCW, GEC-Alsthom, Tang Eng Iron Works of Taiwan and Hyundai Rotem of South Korea.[8] In 1993, UCW formed a joint venture with Siemens Mobility, SGP Verkehrstechnik and China Steel Corporation to manufacture 216 cars (36 6-car sets) of C321 metro cars for the Bannan Line of Taipei Metro, the first of which entered service in 1999.[9]
Rolling stock for Gautrain is assembled at the UCW plant in Nigel under a partnership agreement between Bombardier Transportation and UCW.[10][11][12]
In 1987, Commonwealth Engineering Parent company Australian National Industries sold its shareholding to Malbak Limited.[13] In October 1996, the business was sold to Murray & Roberts.[13][14] In February 2013, UCW was purchased by Commuter Transport Engineering.[15] In April 2016, Alstom acquired 51% shares and renamed the company Alstom Ubunye.[16]
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