Hitachi Rail Italy
Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the deal was finalized, the current name was adapted in November 2015 to reflect the new ownership. History Early history: Ansaldo and Breda Ansaldo 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 backed by Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, the powerful finance minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, who aimed to reduce its 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. During the First world war, Ansaldo became a large supplier of weapons to the Italian army; facing insurmountable difficulties with post-war reconversion to civilian industry, the company was eventually nationalised in 1921. During the rest of the 1900s, the company diversified in different fields, especially power generation (Ansaldo Energia) and nuclear research, while the rolling stock activities were reunited under Ansaldo Trasporti. Breda In 1886, Ernesto Breda founded in Milan Società Italiana Ernesto Breda. By 1908, Breda's thousandth locomotive was built. Breda 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 . Similarly to Ansaldo, also Breda became a main weapon supplier to the Fascist regime, especially of artillery and airplanes. After the Second World War the company was facing bankruptcy, and was eventually nationalised in 1947. During the Italian economic miracle of the 1950-60s, Breda produced a highly successful commuter train, the FS Class ETR 300, several classes of railcars and locomotives, and diversified into defense (OTO Melara) and, especially, buses. In the 1980s Breda participated in the consortium that designed the first Italian high-speed train, the FS Class ETR 500. Merger and crisis (2001–2015) In a massive restructuring effort, in 2001 the Italian state merged all the rolling stock activities of the then loss-making Ansaldo and Breda in a new company, AnsaldoBreda, that in turn became part of the Finmeccanica state-owned group. The new company won a string of big contracts across Europe and the United States; however, lacking adequate funding and capacity, AnsaldoBreda became infamous for its unreliable products and long delays, damaging the reputation of the company. Controversies during the 2000s In 1991, 100 4000 Series railcars from AnsaldoBreda were delivered to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. On 4 July 2010, after several incidents where the doors would open while the train was in motion, Metro removed the fleet for repairs until 20 July that year. On 17 November 2016 Metro discovered an error in which a 4000-series car would display an incorrect speed limit to a train operator while in manual mode (which is the only mode used since the June