ASTRA Arad, also known as Întreprinderea de Vagoane Arad (IVA), is the name of a group of industrial engineering and rolling stock companies originated in Arad,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. Operating as a single entity until 1996, the company then split into other independent companies, ''Astra Vagoane'' for freight cars production (integrated later in Astra Rail Industries),

Astra Vagoane Călători Astra may refer to: People * Astra (name) Places * Astra, Chubut, a village in Argentina * Astra (Isauria), a town of ancient Isauria, now in Turkey * Astra, one suggested name for a hypothetical fifth planet (hypothetical), fifth planet that be ...

for passenger coaches and trams, and

Astra Bus Astra Bus is a bus manufacturer based in Arad, Romania. The company was established in 1996, splitting from Astra Vagoane Arad, a company specialized in manufacturing railroad cars. Since 2003, it is part of the Cefin Holding Group and their p ...

for bus and trolleybus manufacturing.

History

Early history

Johann Weitzer’sche Maschinen-Waggonfabrik

Johann Weitzer (born in 1832, died in 1902) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

skilled blacksmith and businessman. In 1854, he founded his own workshop, which expanded quickly, even producing vehicles for the construction of the Suez Canal. The main products were railway wagons and arms for Austrian use. In 1872, he transformed his enterprise into a joint-stock company, which later merged with two other companies to

Simmering-Graz-Pauker Simmering-Graz-Pauker AG (SGP), founded as Simmering-Graz-Pauker AG für Maschinen-, Kessel- und Waggonbau, was an important Austrian machine and engine factory, manufacturing: machinery, boilers and rail vehicles. It was established in 1941 thr ...

. In 1891, Johann Weitzer founded, as a subsidiary of the Austrian company in the Hungarian part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, the ''John Weitzer Engine- & Waggon-building & Iron Casting Joint-stock Company'' (german: Johann Weitzer’sche Maschinen-Waggonfabrik und Eisengiesserei Actien-Gesellschaft; hu, Weitzer János Gép-, Waggongyár és Vasöntöde Rt.). It produced locomotives, railway waggons, tramcars (such as 17 items for Temesvár (today

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

)), and, since 1903,

Weitzer railmotor The railmotors of J. Weitzer ''Engine- & Waggon-Building & Iron Casting Joint-stock Company'' ( Hu.: ''Weitzer János Gép,- Waggongyár és Vasöntöde Részvénytársaság'') were Europe's first self-propelled railcars with internal combustion ...

, Europe's first successful series of railcars.

MARTA

The automobiles manufactured in Arad was a licensed production of Westinghouse 150 cars from 1909 to 1912. In 1912 the plant was taken over by

Austro-Daimler Austro-Daimler was an Austro-Hungarian automaker company, from 1899 until 1934. It was a subsidiary of the German ''Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft'' (DMG) until 1909. Early history In 1890, Eduard Bierenz was appointed as Austrian retailer. The ...

and renamed to MARTA, the acronym for ''Hungarian Automobile Joint-stock Company Arad'' ( Hungarian: Magyar Automobil Részvény Társaság Arad). After the edition auf 500 automobiles, civil production ceased in 1914, due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Acsev14.jpg, Weitzer Railmotor at the

ACsEV The ACsEV (Aradi és Csanádi Egyesült Vasutak, En.: Arad & Csanad United Railways) were a Hungarian joint-stock railway company. Till 1920, the network had a length of 391 km. Since 1903, the company bought more than forty petrol-electri ...

Martatax.jpg, MARTA taxi Marta autobus.jpg, Marta bus in Arad in 1909 MARTA 35-45 HP Dublu-Phaeton karosszériás.jpg, Marta car Marta Trucks under construction.jpg, Marta Trucks under construction in the factory

ASTRA Arad

In 1921, after the dissolution of the Austria-Hungary and the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...

, the two companies, located in

, merged to form ''ASTRA Automobile & Waggon Factory'' ( Romanian: Fabrica de automobile și vagoane Astra). This company from 1922 to 1926 also manufactured some automobiles and lorries, but the main production were rail vehicles.

Întreprinderea de Vagoane Arad (IVA)

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the company was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

and became Europe's biggest manufacturer of

freight car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

s, as ''Întreprinderea de Vagoane Arad'' (IVA). The factory also produced passenger coaches and ensured the entire fleet of coaches for

Bucharest Metro The Bucharest Metro ( ro, Metroul din București) is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the large ...

. It produced railcars for internal market and exported to all five continents. In 1990, the company was renamed as ''ASTRA Vagoane Arad''. With privatization, in 1998-2000, it was split into specialists for the various branches. The production of freight cars, Astra Vagoane Arad, was sold to

Trinity Industries Trinity Industries Inc. is an American industrial corporation that owns a variety of businesses which provide products and services to the industrial, energy, transportation and construction sectors. Now, the company has five business groups, wh ...

, which sold it to International Railway Systems (IRS), seated in Luxemburg, but mainly based on plants in eastern Europe. In November 2010, Astra Vagoane Arad and the two other Romanian subsidiaries of IRS went bankrupt, and reformed under the name Astra Rail Industries (ARI) in 2012. In 2016,

The Greenbrier Companies The Greenbrier Companies is an American publicly traded transportation manufacturing corporation based in Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States. Greenbrier specializes in transportation services, notably marine barge and freight railcar manufacturin ...

and ARI agreed to form a joint venture, 75% owned by Greenbrier. The new business is to be named ''Greenbrier-Astra Rail''. The other descenders of ASTRA Arad are (Astra Passenger Cars) and

. InnoTrans 2016 (018) Travelarz.JPG, Grain hopper car made by Astra Rail Industries 2018-10-22 (984) 37 84 7829 520-7 at Bahnhof Herzogenburg, Austria.jpg,

GATX GATX Corporation is a railcar lessor that owns fleets in North America, Europe, and Asia. In addition, jointly with Rolls-Royce Limited, it owns one of the largest aircraft spare engine lease portfolios. It is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. ...

tank car (Astra Rail Industries) Regiojet Astra Bmpz 013 Praha Smichov 01.jpg, Astra Vagoane Călători passenger car produced for RegioJet Arad tram 2017 03.jpg,

Astra Imperio Astra Imperio is a tram produced by the Romanian company Astra Vagoane Călători in Arad. It is a 100% low-floor, designed in partnership with Siemens. Imperio's design is based on the Avenio platform using electronic and traction equipment supp ...

tram produced for CTP Arad (Astra Vagoane Călători in partnership with

Siemens Mobility Siemens Mobility GmbH is a separately-managed company of Siemens, arising from a corporate restructuring effective 1 August 2018. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens Mobility has four core business units: Mobility Management, dedi ...

) Temeswar, Armonia-Tram, 1.jpeg, Rebuilt GT4 Armonia tram for STP

(Astra Vagoane Călători in partnership with

Electroputere VFU Electroputere VFU (former Remar S.A.) is an industrial engineering and manufacturing company based in Pașcani, Iași County, Romania. The company is a leader in the Romanian spare parts segment. History Founded in 1869, as Atelierele Căile Fe ...

) 2017 Trolleybus in Kolozsvár.jpg,

Astra Citelis The Astra Citelis is an urban solo trolleybus with a low floor, bodywork by Astra Bus Arad, Romania, on an Irisbus Citelis The Irisbus Citelis is a low-floor city bus produced by Irisbus from 2005 to 2013 when it was replaced in production by ...

18 trolleybus for CTP Cluj-Napoca (Astra Bus in partnership with

Iveco Bus IVECO Bus (formerly Irisbus) is a bus manufacturer with headquarters in Turin. IVECO Bus is now only a brand division of IVECO which is a company incorporated under Dutch law and listed on Borsa Italiana. History IVECO (1975 - 1999) In 1975 F ...

)

References

* *

External links

Astra Vagoane Călători

Astra Rail Industries

Astra Bus

cimec.ro
Primele automobile române fabricate în România (in Romanian)

Astra Vagoane Arad (in Romanian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Astra Automobile and Waggon Factory Arad, Romania Companies established in 1891 Motor vehicle manufacturers of Austria-Hungary Rolling stock manufacturers of Romania Tram manufacturers Privatized companies in Romania Companies of Arad County de:Astra Vagoane Călători#Fabrica de automobile și vagoane Astra