Alstom Crespin, formerly Bombardier Transport France and ANF Industrie, is a French

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles ca ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

based at Crespin, in

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. The ...

region,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The company was acquired by

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...

in 1989, then by

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the A ...

in 2021.

History

Origins

Blanc Misseron - Plaque de constructeur BiCabine TS N60

''Les Ateliers de Construction du Nord de la France'' (The Construction Workshops in the North of France) was founded in 1882 as a subsidiary of Franco-Belgian company ''La Métallurgique''. The company was established to avoid import tariffs imposed in 1881 in France on goods imported from Belgium. In 1908 the company merged with and absorbed ''Société Nicaise et Delcuve'' (based in

La Louvière La Louvière (; wa, El Lovire) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boussoit, Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pierre, Houdeng-Aimeries, Houde ...

, Belgium), and was renamed ''Ateliers du Nord de la France et Nicaise et Delcuve'' by 1910. In 1913 the ''Trust Métallurgique Belge-Français'' reorganised; the factories in La Louvière, Belgium (the former ''Nicaise et Delcuve'') were combined with other of the ''Trust Métallurgique Belge-Français'' interests in Belgian industry (including ''La Société la Brugeoise'') to form '' La Société La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve'',A forerunner of the Belgian rail vehicle manufacturing company La Brugeoise et Nivelles and the ''Ateliers du Nord de la France'' became an entirely French concern. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

the factory was occupied by the Germans, and its material removed to Germany. Post war the factory was rebuilt and its machinery recovered. By 1928 production had reached pre-war levels and employed around 4,000 people. The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

caused a reduction in the workforce to half previous, and a similar decrease in production. In 1934 the company acquired part of the shares of Sambre et Meuse, which became an important manufacturer of cast steel parts for rolling stock (i.e. bogies). During

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the main ANF plant at Blanc-Misseron initially produced orders for military use, and was later occupied by the German forces. The plant was a target of Allied bombing in 1944 due to its use in keeping the rail network in occupied territory running. In 1970 ANF Industrie produced the

Turbotrain The Turbotrain was any of several French high-speed, gas turbine trains. The earliest Turbotrain entered service in 1967, for use on France's SNCF intercity lines. There were four versions in total, with the last exiting service in 2005, and ...

, a high-speed gas turbine train. It saw limited success due to the oil crisis of the late 1970s, and was overshadowed by the

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

. Between 1986 and 1988, the 425 R68 New York City Subway Cars were manufactured by Westinghouse Amrail Company, a joint venture of Westinghouse and

Francorail Francorail was a grouping of French railway rolling stock manufacturers, formed in the early 1970s and defunct by the late 1980s. History The Francorail grouping was formed to combine the individual areas of expertise or production of a number o ...

(itself a joint venture of ANF Industrie, Jeumont Schneider, and Alsthom), with ANF Industrie as leader.

Acquisition by Bombardier

In 1987 the

industrial association ended, due to the transfer of Schneider group's railway activities to

Alsthom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

; the resultant isolation of ANF within the railway sector led to its acquisition by Bombardier in 1989. In November 2001 after the acquisition of Adtranz, Bombardier indicated that the plant would be one of three main sites in Europe for bogie manufacture, and a core site for final assembly. Bombardier has made the plant one of its key production sites with over 2,000 employees (2010), and claims an investment of over €500 million. The site accounts for around one third of French domestic passenger rail production. Following its takeover by Bombardier, the manufacturer has also signed contracts that provide for production at the Crespin site, including: a participation with Alstom in the construction of the MF 01, the so-called Autorail à grande capacité (AGC) trainsets, the Francilien NAT and Regio 2N trainsets. On 4 December 2020,

announces a €25 million investment plan to modernise and increase the production capacity of its Crespin plant, in the presence of Xavier Bertrand, President of the

region.

Notes

References

Sources

External links

{{Commons category, ANF Industrie Coordinates not on Wikidata Rolling stock manufacturers of France Manufacturing companies established in 1882 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1989 Bombardier Transportation 1882 establishments in France 1989 disestablishments in France