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Union Switch and Signal

Union Switch & Signal
Public
Industry Rail transport
Fate Acquired by Ansaldo STS S.p.A. in 1988.
Predecessor Union Electric Signal, Interlocking Switch & Signal
Successor Ansaldo STS USA, Inc.
Founded 1881
Founder George Westinghouse
Headquarters Pittsburgh, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Products Railway signalling equipment, communication systems and services, grade crossing signals
Number of employees
900 (2005)

Union Switch and Signal (US&S) is a supplier of railway signaling equipment, systems and services in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As of January 1, 2009, US&S is known as Ansaldo STS USA.

George Westinghouse founded Union Switch & Signal in 1881, consolidating the assets of the Union Electric Signal Company (founded by track circuit inventor William Robinson) and the Interlocking Switch & Signal Company (which had pioneered interlockings). In 1925 US&S acquired the Hall Signal Company, primarily to obtain the latter company's patents for searchlight signals.

US&S operated as an independent company until 1917, when it became a subsidiary of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO). In 1968, American Standard purchased WABCO and reorganized US&S as a separate division.

In 1988, Ansaldo purchased US&S from American Standard. In November 1993, US&S became a publicly traded company with shares listed on Nasdaq. In December 1996, US&S merged with the other signaling investments of Ansaldo. As a result of that merger, US&S is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Ansaldo STS, a global supplier of signaling, control and automation systems. The company was renamed Ansaldo STS – USA in January 2009.

Throughout its history, US&S had manufacturing facilities in the borough of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The Swissvale plant was closed in 1985 and demolished in 1986. US&S moved manufacturing operations to a facility in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina. It maintained a research facility in Pittsburgh. Other facilities include a service and repair shop in Kingston, Ontario.


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