Ansaldo Breda
 |
|
| Società per Azioni | |
| Industry | Engineering |
| Predecessor | Ansaldo Trasporti and Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie |
| Founded | 2001 (merged into AnsaldoBreda) 2015 (acquired by Hitachi) |
| Headquarters | Naples, Pistoia, and Reggio Calabria, Italy |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Maurizio Manfellotto (President & CEO) |
| Products | Rail transport vehicles |
| Services | Maintenance |
|
Number of employees
|
2,400 |
| Parent |
Finmeccanica (2001–2015) Hitachi Rail (2015–present) |
| Subsidiaries | Hitachi Rail USA |
| Website | italy |
Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. (HRI) is a rail transport engineering company based in Italy whose main products are designing and manufacturing of railway and mass transit vehicles. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail along with the 40% share of Ansaldo STS that Finmeccanica owned. After the deal was finalized, the current name was adapted in November 2015 to reflect the new ownership.
In 1853, the company Gio. Ansaldo & C. was registered in Genoa as a manufacturer of steam locomotives, rail rolling stock and steam engines. The company was supported by the Minister of Finance, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, who aimed to reduce the State of Savoy's dependence on imported trains and rolling stock. Ansaldo entered the age of the steam locomotive in 1854 with its model FS113, also known as Sampierdarena.
In 1886, Ernesto Breda founded Ing. Ernesto Breda and C., the company which became Società Italiana Ernesto Breda (SIEB) in 1899. In 1908 SIEB's thousandth locomotive was built, a model FS 685 with serial number 600 now preserved in the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in Milan. It used Caprotti valve gear.
Breda (SIEB) entered the electric locomotive era in 1936 with the production of the FS Class ETR 200 series electric multiple unit. In 1939 this type set the land speed record for rail vehicles at 203 km/h (126 mph). Although only 18 trains of this type were constructed they remained in service for a long time until they were finally withdrawn from service in 1993.
In 1976 the FS ETR 400 entered service. Fiat Ferroviaria manufactured the body and bogies, whilst Ansaldo produced the power unit. It was the first train in the world featuring active body tilting to enter commercial service and was capable of speeds of up to 250 km/h (160 mph).
...
Wikipedia