Union Carriage & Wagon was founded in 1957. The company initially built
passenger coaches. In 1964, UCW produced its first
electric locomotive for the
South African Railways, the
Class 5E1, Series 2. The Class 5E1 was also the first electric locomotive to be produced in quantity in South Africa. UCW also built electric multiple units, including the
5M2A fleet used in South African commuter rail between 1962 and 1985. Many of these units were later rebuilt into newer classes such as the 10M3, 10M4, and 10M5. The
Nigel manufacturing plant became a major production site, covering about . Between 1964 and 1985, UCW produced over 1,600 electric locomotives with
GEC traction equipment. Over time, the plant delivered about 14,000 vehicles, including locomotives, coaches, wagons, and specialised vehicles. In 1974, UCW entered the international market with orders from
Angola and
Zambia. In 1976, UCW received its first Asian order for twenty
Type E100 electric locomotives for the
Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), based on a
GEC design. 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. In 1993, UCW formed a joint venture with
Siemens Mobility,
SGP Verkehrstechnik, and
China Steel Corporation to manufacture 216 cars (36 six-car sets) of
C321 metro cars for the
Bannan Line of the
Taipei Metro, with the first entering service in 1999. UCW assembled rolling stock for the
Gautrain at its Nigel facility under a partnership with
Bombardier Transportation. It also built electric locomotives such as the Class 19E and 15E for Transnet.
Ownership The initial shareholders were
Commonwealth Engineering (51%),
Budd Company (25%) and
Leyland Motors (12%). 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%. In 1987, Commonwealth Engineering Parent company
Australian National Industries sold its shareholding to Malbak Limited. In October 1996, the business was sold to
Murray & Roberts. In February 2013, the company was sold to the Commuter Transport and Locomotive Engineering (CTLE). CTLE is a
consortium between the
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Commuter Transport Engineering (CTE). In April 2016,
Alstom acquired a 51% stake in CTLE and renamed
Alstom Ubunye. ==See also==