Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles
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| Public (BMAD: CAF) | |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1917 (Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) |
| Headquarters | Beasain, Spain |
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Number of locations
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11 factories, including: Beasain, Zaragoza, Irún, Linares (Spain); Hortolandia (Brazil); Huehuetoca (Mexico); Elmira (USA) |
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Key people
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Jose María Baztarrica Garijo, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman |
| Products | Design, manufacture, maintenance and supply of equipment and components for railway systems |
| Revenue |
 € 1,45 billion (2014 |
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€ 146 million EBITDA (2014) |
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| Profit |
€ 62 million (2014) |
| Owner | Public; Employees via Cartera Social S.A. (30%); Guipúzcoa Donostia Kutxa (23%) |
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Number of employees
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7,000 (inc. subsidiaries) |
| Website | www.caf.es |
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Grupo CAF) (literally "Construction & Auxiliary of Railways") is a Spanish private company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment. It is based in Beasain in the Basque Country. 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 existing truck or bogie.
Over the 20 years from the early 1990s, CAF benefitted 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 USA, South America, East Asia, India and North Africa.
CAF was an acronym for the earlier name of Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, as well as for Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles.
In 1860 Domingo Goitia, Martín Usabiaga and José Francisco Arana established this company, whose main activity was puddling furnaces and cylinder rolling.
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, Gipuzkoa. In 1905 it changed its name to Fábrica de Vagones de Beasain (FVB).
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.
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Wikipedia