We would like to welcome CAF, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles as a new Patron of the Spanish Chamber.
Winners 0f our Annual Golden Award 2018 and with over 100 years since its establishment, CAF designs, manufactures, maintains and supplies equipment and components for rail systems throughout the world. The company boasts a workforce of 8,500 people across their main factories in Beasáin, Zaragoza Irún, Castejón and Linares; as well as others in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, France and the UK.
In Spain, CAF is one of the most prominent providers within the Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles (RENFE), providing metro units, trams and the latest innovative trains to cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Vitoria, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga and Granada.
CAF began to expand abroad as of 1992 and has been operating in the UK since 1994 when it won the contract to manufacture Heathrow Express trains. In 1997, it won the contract to make the train and carriages for the Heathrow Express; the fast train from Paddington station to Heathrow airport. Since then, they have worked on large scale projects such as the diesel trains for the NIR and the tram networks in Edinburgh and Birmingham. The firm is currently working with Arriva, First Group, Serco and West Midland Trains for the provision and maintenance of new trains that will operate on various routes covering the north of the country.
In 2017, CAF selected the Celtic Business Park at the Llanwern steelworks site near Newport in South Wales as the location of its future UK factory. The 46,000 m2 plant will be designed to accommodate the production of a range of different vehicle types, including diesel and electric multiple-units, trams and high speed trainsets. CAF is to invest £30m in the plant; a major economic boost to not only the surrounding area, but also to the wider UK supply chain through the development of a cluster of local and national companies to supply components. The project consists of the supply of 51 two-car units, 26 three-car units and the maintenance of the units until the end of the franchise in 2033.
CAF’s sales reached 1,447 million euros in 2017 and they achieved a net profit of 42.5 million euros. Moreover, the firm has undertaken projects in over 35 countries including providing metro units in Washington, Rome, Mexico City, Bucharest and Sao Paulo; as well as trams in Belgrade, Edinburgh, Nantes, Sydney and Stockholm. They have also built diesel and commuter trains in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and the USA and high speed trains in Turkey and Norway.
Should you want to know more about our new patron, please visit their website by clicking here.