Union Carriage & Wagon

Union Carriage & Wagon
	Builder's plate on a South African Class 6E1, Series 7
Industry	Rolling stock manufacturing
Founded	1957
Founder	Commonwealth Engineering
Headquarters	Nigel, Ekurhuleni, South Africa
Parent	Commuter Transport Engineering
Website	https://www.alstom.com/alstom-south-africa

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.

History

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]

References

^ Com-Eng to Build New Plant in South Africa Railway Transportation July 1958 page 26
^ Comeng Sells Interest in Sth African Subsidiary Railway Transportation December 1969 page 41
^ Dunn, John (2008). Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering Volume 2 1955-1966. Dural: Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 188–209. ISBN 978-1877058424.
^ Dunn, John (2010). Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering Volume 3 1966-1977. Dural: Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 92–106. ISBN 978-1877058738.
^ History Union Carriage & Wagon
^ South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
^ South African rail works is well experienced Rails September 1978 pages 4-6
^ 台灣鐵路火車百科：台鐵、高鐵、捷運(第三版)，蘇照旭著，人人出版2014年2月出版（ISBN 9789865903404
^ Yonkers Fighting To Save Rail-Car Jobs Archived 2020-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, Elsa Brenner, 25 July 1993
^ "assembly process at Union Carriage and Wagon Partnership". Gautrain. 16 October 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
^ "Renewed hope for jobs in Nigel as Union Carriage and Wagon Partnership (UCWP) starts assembling Gautrain vehicles". 10 September 2008. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
^ Radebe, Jeff (11 September 2009). "Address at the Union Carriage and Wagon Partnership's (UCWP's) 10M4 launch". Department of Transport. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
^ ^a ^b Dunn, John (2013). Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering Volume 5 1985-2012. Dural: Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 13–15, 203–219. ISBN 9781922013521.
^ UCW Murray & Roberts
^ South Africa's CTE acquires Union Carriage & Wagon International Railway Journal 4 February 2013
^ "Alstom completes acquisition of CTLE shares, reinforcing its local presence in South Africa". Alstom. Retrieved 2024-06-17.