Rhenus (company)
The Rhenus Group is a German logistics company with operations in Europe and South America. On 13 November 1912 Badische Actiengesellschaft für Rheinschiffahrt und Seetransport and Rheinschiffahrts Actiengesellschaft established a joint company with headquarters in Frankfurt, it was named Rhenus adopting the Latin word for the Rhine. Branch offices were established in Antwerp, Mainz and Rotterdam. In 1929 Rhenus merged with Badische Actiengesellschaft, Rheinschiffahrts Actiengesellschaft and other shipping companies merged. In 1934 Hibernia Bergwerksgesellschaft, a subsidiary of VEBA, acquired a majority shareholding in the company. In 1969 VEBA restructured. Hugo Stinnes taking over the transport activities of VEBA. In 1971 Hugo Stinnes restructured its inland waterway shipping activities; the Fendel-Stinnes-Schiffahrt company was set up near Duisburg. In 1976 Rhenus merged with Fendel-Stinnes-Schiffahrt and WTAG to form Rhenus-WTAG with company headquarters moving to Dortmund. At this stage, Rhenus-WTAG had 40 branch offices throughout Germany.
The CCS Combined Container Service was founded at the same time. In 1984 Rhenus-WTAG resumed under the name Rhenus. In 1988 Rhenus was restructured into three companies: Rhenus Weichelt handled road freight transport, Rhenus Lager und Umschlag took on warehousing and inland waterway shipping and Rhenus Transport International was responsible for international freight forwarding and air freight. In 1990: Hugo Stinnes entered into a strategic alliance with Schenker AG, acquiring a 25% stake in this subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn. In 1991 Stinnes purchased Schenker AG outright and the three Rhenus divisions were restructured again. Rhenus Transport International became part of the newly formed Schenker International. In 1996 the three divisions were merged. In 1993, a 60,000 m² logistics centre opened in Brein. Other logistics centres were opened in the following years in Langgöns, Mannheim, Stuttgart and Prague. In 1998 Rethmann & Co took over Rhenus. In 2000 Rhenus rebranded it Rhenus Alpina. In the same year, Rhenus started operating the Ikea central warehouse in Salzgitter and launched the International Consolidation Centre in Giessen.
In 2002, Rhenus Alpina took over Cargologic and began handling air freight at Bern and Zurich Airports. A new logistics centre was built near Paris and an external supplier warehouse for Daimler-Benz opened in Stuttgart. In 2003, Rhenus set up a joint venture with Kerry Logistics in Asia. In 2004 Polish logistics provider Polta was purchased. In December 2014 Rhenus purchased a 50.1% shareholding in Swiss rail freight operator Crossrail. In June 2015 it acquired a 50% shareholding in Austrian rail freight operator LTE Logistik. Rhenus Veniro operates public transport companies. Rhenus operated services in a joint venture with Keolis as Eurobahn; the joint venture was dissolved in December 2007, with Rhenus taking nine bus companies, two railway contracts and a tram contract. It operates two railway contracts in Rhineland-Palatinate. Company website
Berlin
Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,748,148 inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London; the city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, contiguous with its capital, Potsdam; the two cities are at the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, which is, with about six million inhabitants and an area of more than 30,000 km², Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions. Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree, which flows into the River Havel in the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree and Dahme rivers. Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. About one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, gardens, rivers and lakes; the city lies in the Central German dialect area, the Berlin dialect being a variant of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects.
First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After World War II and its subsequent occupation by the victorious countries, the city was divided. East Berlin was declared capital of East Germany. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all of Germany. Berlin is a world city of culture, politics and science, its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a complex public transportation network; the metropolis is a popular tourist destination. Significant industries include IT, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology and electronics.
Berlin is home to world-renowned universities, orchestras and entertainment venues, is host to many sporting events. Its Zoological Garden is one of the most popular worldwide. With the world's oldest large-scale movie studio complex, Berlin is an popular location for international film productions; the city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, contemporary arts and a high quality of living. Since the 2000s Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene. Berlin lies in northeastern Germany, east of the River Saale, that once constituted, together with the River Elbe, the eastern border of the Frankish Realm. While the Frankish Realm was inhabited by Germanic tribes like the Franks and the Saxons, the regions east of the border rivers were inhabited by Slavic tribes; this is why most of the villages in northeastern Germany bear Slavic-derived names. Typical Germanised place name suffixes of Slavic origin are -ow, -itz, -vitz, -witz, -itzsch and -in, prefixes are Windisch and Wendisch.
The name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of today's Berlin, may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. Since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city, it is therefore a canting arm. Of Berlin's twelve boroughs, five bear a Slavic-derived name: Pankow, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Treptow-Köpenick and Spandau. Of its ninety-six neighborhoods, twenty-two bear a Slavic-derived name: Altglienicke, Alt-Treptow, Buch, Gatow, Kladow, Köpenick, Lankwitz, Lübars, Marzahn, Prenzlauer Berg, Schmöckwitz, Stadtrandsiedlung Malchow, Steglitz and Zehlendorf; the neighborhood of Moabit bears a French-derived name, Französisch Buchholz is named after the Huguenots. The earliest evidence of settlements in the area of today's Berlin are a wooden beam dated from 1192, remnants of a house foundation dated to 1174, found in excavations in Berlin Mitte; the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century.
Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document, Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, is referenced in a document from 1244. 1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated. In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. During the 15th century, his successors established Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, subsequent members of the Hohenzol
Buffers and chain coupler
Buffers and chain coupler is the standard train coupling system used in Europe, outside the former Soviet Union. It is occasionally used outside Europe; the vehicles are coupled by hand using a hook and links with a turnbuckle that draws the vehicles together. In Britain, this is called a screw coupling. Vehicles have buffers, one at each corner on the ends, which are pulled together and compressed by the coupling device; this arrangement limits the slack in lessens shunting shocks. By contrast, the semi-automatic Janney coupler requires comparatively jarring encounters in order to engage the coupling fully; the earliest buffers were fixed extensions of the wagon frames, but spring buffers were introduced. The standard type of coupling on railways following the British tradition is the buffer and chain coupling used on the pioneering Planet class locomotive of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway of 1830; these couplings were made more regular. This coupling is still the standard in European countries.
Coupling is done by a worker. First he winds the turnbuckle to the loose position, he can hang the chain on the hook. After hanging the chain on the towing hook the turnbuckle handle is stowed on the idle hook to prevent damage to itself, the vehicle, or the brake pipes. Only shunting is permitted with a dangling chain. Disconnected brake pipes must be stowed on dummy connectors, to allow proper operation of the brakes; the hooks and chain hold the carriages together, while the buffers keep the carriages from banging into each other so that no damage is caused. The buffers can be spring-loaded; that means. The other benefit compared with automatic couplers is that its lesser slack causes smaller forces on curves; the disadvantage is the smaller mass of the freight that can be hauled by chain couplers. Early rolling stock was fitted with a pair of auxiliary chains as a backup if the main coupling failed; this made sense before the fitting of continuous fail-safe braking systems. On railways where rolling stock always pointed the same way, the chain might be mounted at one end only, as a small cost and weight saving measure.
On German and Scandinavian railways, the left buffer is flatter than the right one, more rounded. This provides better contact between the buffers than would be the case if both buffers were rounded. A peculiarly British practice was the "loose-coupled" freight train, operated by the locomotive crew and a'Guard' at the rear of the train, the successor to the brakesman of earlier times; this train type used three-link chain couplings for traction and side buffers to accept pushing forces: since such trains were not fitted with an automatic through-train braking system there were no pipes to connect between the vehicles. The last vehicle of the train was a ballasted guard's van with its brakes controllable by a handwheel convenient for the guard. The'slack' between vehicles was convenient when starting heavy trains with a low-powered locomotive on the level or a rising gradient. On the driver's command the guard would apply his brake as hard as possible; the driver would gently reverse to close up the wagons onto their buffers.
The locomotive was driven ahead and it could pick up the load, wagon by wagon, thus giving an easy start up the gradient. Wagons of that era didn't have roller bearings and the grease-lubricated bearings had considerable resistance to start moving on a cold day, so starting wagon-by-wagon reduced the traction force required from the locomotive; the downside of this convenience was that the guard could get badly thrown about as the train changed speed due to the inter-wagon gaps opening or closing. In the worst case these jerks could cause a derailment. A skilled guard would observe or listen to his train and apply or release his brake to keep the last few couplings reasonably taught and act as a shock-absorber; the same effect was seen when the route changed gradient, when going over a hill the rear of the train would catch up with the wagons held back by the locomotive, the guard could minimize this. This working of the brake was why the guard was required to prove his route knowledge, same as the driver, before being in charge of a heavy train.
Such trains were phased out in the 1970s. An improvement on this is the "Instanter" coupling, in which the middle link of a three link chain is specially triangular shaped so that when lying "prone" it provides enough slack to make coupling possible, but when this middle link is rotated 90 degrees the length of the chain is shortened, reducing the amount of slack without the need to wind a screw; the closeness of the coupling allows the use of inter-vehicle pipes for train brakes. Three-link and Instanter couplings can be operated from the side of the wagons using a shunter's pole and are safer when shunting work is under way; the screw-adjustable coupler can be connected by a shunter's pole once it has been unscrewed. Ordinary chain couplings have been superseded by screw or buck-eye couplers in UK freight trains today. On some narrow-gauge lines in Europe and on the
Germany
Germany the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north and the Czech Republic to the east and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to the west. Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,386 square kilometres, has a temperate seasonal climate. With 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the most populous state lying in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is a decentralized country, its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport. Germany's largest urban area is the Ruhr, with its main centres of Essen; the country's other major cities are Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Dresden, Bremen and Nuremberg. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity.
A region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation was formed in 1815; the German revolutions of 1848–49 resulted in the Frankfurt Parliament establishing major democratic rights. In 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the revolution of 1918–19, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic; the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a dictatorship, the annexation of Austria, World War II, the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, Austria was re-established as an independent country and two new German states were founded: West Germany, formed from the American and French occupation zones, East Germany, formed from the Soviet occupation zone.
Following the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, the country was reunified on 3 October 1990. Today, the sovereign state of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic led by a chancellor, it is a great power with a strong economy. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer of goods; as a developed country with a high standard of living, it upholds a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection, a tuition-free university education. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the European Union in 1993, it is part of the Schengen Area and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20, the OECD. Known for its rich cultural history, Germany has been continuously the home of influential and successful artists, musicians, film people, entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors.
Germany has a large number of World Heritage sites and is among the top tourism destinations in the world. The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine; the German term Deutschland diutisciu land is derived from deutsch, descended from Old High German diutisc "popular" used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz "popular", derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- "people", from which the word Teutons originates; the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a coal mine in Schöningen between 1994 and 1998 where eight 380,000-year-old wooden javelins of 1.82 to 2.25 m length were unearthed. The Neander Valley was the location where the first non-modern human fossil was discovered.
The Neanderthal 1 fossils are known to be 40,000 years old. Evidence of modern humans dated, has been found in caves in the Swabian Jura near Ulm; the finds included 42,000-year-old bird bone and mammoth ivory flutes which are the oldest musical instruments found, the 40,000-year-old Ice Age Lion Man, the oldest uncontested figurative art discovered, the 35,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels, the oldest uncontested human figurative art discovered. The Nebra sky disk is a bronze artefact created during the European Bronze Age attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt, it is part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme. The Germanic tribes are thought to date from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and north Germany, they expanded south and west from the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well
Regentalbahn
The Regentalbahn is railway company based in Bavaria, is owned by Ferrovie dello Stato and the Luxembourg infrastructure fund Cube, through the German holding company of Netinera. It runs railway infrastructure, as well as regional and long-distance passenger services in Bavaria and Saxony with links into the Czech Republic, Germany-wide goods trains; the subsidiary Regental Bahnbetriebs-GmbH operates goods trains though its subsidiary Regental Cargo, passenger trains through Vogtlandbahn GmbH, whilst Regental Fahrzeugwerkstätten operates railway wokshops. A fourth subsidiary Regental Kraftverkehrs, a bus operator, ceased operations in 2004. On 9 May 1889 the "AG Localbahn Gotteszell - Viechtach" railway company sprang to life as a result of a "concession for the construction and operation of a standard gauge railway from Gotteszell to Viechtach" dated 28 April 1889. Lokalbahn was the name for a local branch line in Bavaria. On 10 November 1890 goods trains were running from Gotteszell to Teisnach and on 20 November 1890 full services to Viechtach began.
The company acquired in 1903 the granite factory of Teisnach AG and the Prünst quarry, that still provides ballast for track construction today. On 1 January 1928 the Lokalbahn Deggendorf-Metten AG was acquired and merged with the Gotteszell – Viechtach Lokalbahn company, now called the Regentalbahn AG. In 1924/25 construction of the line from Viechtach to Blaibach was begun. Goods services started here on 2 January 1928 and passenger trains on 1 February 1928. On 1 January 1973 the Regentalbahn AG took over the eighty-year-old AG Lokalbahn Lam - Kötzting; the period since the 1970s has been marked by rationalisation. A large number of railcars were various parts of the business split into subsidiaries. In 2002 the Regentalbahn acquired the trade name Die Länderbahn, with which it is clear that it is active in Bavaria, Saxony and the Czech Republic. In 1980 the Prünst granite works became a limited company, in which the Regentalbahn had a 50% stake; this share was sold in 2005. At the same time the following 100%-owned subsidiaries were created within the Regentalbahn AG: In 1979 the Regental Kraftverkehrs GmbH - bus operations In 1988 the Regental Bahnbetriebs-GmbH - railway operations In 1989 the Regental Fahrzeugwerkstätten GmbH - workshops In 1998 the Vogtlandbahn GmbH - Vogtland railway in 2012 the vlexx GmbHOn 1 January 2004 the Regentalbahn Kraftverkehrs was disbanded for economic reasons.
The vehicles and personnel were taken over by the bus company Regionalbus Ostbayern, that continues to run bus services Viechtach and Lam. Since 1997 Regental Bahnbetriebs has operated all the lines of the Bavarian Forest railway under contract to the Deutsche Bahn. Under this contract it has run since 2001 under the trade name Oberpfalzbahn not only its own route from Bad Kötzting to Lam, but the Schwandorf–Cham–Furth im Wald, Cham–Waldmünchen and Cham–Bad Kötzting lines. In addition, the goods traffic branch Regental Cargo belongs to the Regental Bahnbetriebs-GmbH. Regental Cargo runs goods trains countrywide, has its centre of operations at Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg and is part of the goods wagon network Eccocargo; the Vogtlandbahn, founded on 1 January 1998, took over Regentalbahn's operations in Saxony. Since 2005 it offers its own Vogtland Express, a long-distance train, that links the Vogtland with Berlin daily. Since 2007 it operates the ALEX; the Regental Fahrzeugwerkstätten runs two workshops for all the railways of the Länderbahn.
One is at the headquarters in Viechtach in the other at Neumark im Vogtland. Since 2006 there has been a third workshop at Schwandorf for the Oberpfalzbahn and future tasks of the Länderbahn for the maintenance of the Oberpfalzbahn shuttle and the locomotives and wagons of the ALEX. In December 2003, the Allgäu Express started working between Munich and Oberstdorf as a substitute for the withdrawn Interregio-Linie 25; this was done in cooperation with EuroThurbo. When the Regentalbahn won the competition in December 2005 for the next, longer contract period, it became responsible from the timetable change in December 2007 for long-distance services not just on the line from Munich to Oberstdorf, together with a new train portion to Lindau, but the Munich–Regensburg–Hof and Munich–Regensburg–Furth im Wald-Prague routes. Negotiations over an extension via Hof to Leipzig and Berlin continue; the trade mark ALEX will mean from now on Arriva Länderbahn Express. Following the takeover by FS in 2010 it has now been rebranded as alex.
Following the advertisement published in summer 2006 for Regionalbahn services on the Freilassing–Berchtesgaden railway, the contract went in October of the same year to the Berchtesgadener Bahn, a consortium of the Regentalbahn and the Salzburg AG who, as the winners will take over these services after the timetable change in December 2009. The Regentalbahn is a member of the Tarifverband der Bundeseigenen und Nichtbundeseigenen Eisenbahnen in Deutschland. Since December 2015, the subsidiaries of the Regentalbahn have been operating under the umbrella of Länderbahn GmbH DLB, a 100% owned subsidiary of Regentalbahn, thus Regentalbahn-Bahnbetriebs GmbH, Vogtlandbahn GmbH, Regental Fahrzeugwerkstätten GmbH and vlexx are under one roof. The shares of the Regentalbahn were split between numerous owners. In 1940 these included the Deutsche Reich, the state of Bavaria, the Bavarian State Bank and the Deutsche Reichsbahn. By 1982 the Fr
Scharfenberg coupler
The Scharfenberg coupler is a used type of automatic railway coupling. Designed in 1903 by Karl Scharfenberg in Königsberg, the coupler has spread from transit trains to regular passenger service trains, although outside Europe its use is restricted to mass transit systems; the Schaku is superior in many ways to the AAR coupler because it automates electrical and pneumatic connections and disconnections. However, there is no standard for the placement of these electro-pneumatic connections; some rail operators have placed them on the sides while others have placed them above the mechanical portion of the coupler. The main disadvantage of the Scharfenberg coupler is the low maximum tonnage it can support, which makes it unsuitable for freight operations; the face of the Scharfenberg coupler has a matching cup. Inside the cone there is a rigid metal hoop connected to a revolving, spring-loaded metal disk with a notch on the opposite side; when ready to couple, the spring turns the disk. As the cars meet, the hoop enters the cup on the other coupler.
The hoops are pressed back into their own coupler, causing the disks to rotate until the notches align with the hoops. After the hoops have entered, the notches on the disks spring back into the hoop extended position, locking the coupling. In the coupled position, forces on the hoops and disk will balance out, which means that the Scharfenberg, unlike many other couplers, is not dependent on heavy latches to stay locked. Small air cylinders, acting on the rotating heads of the coupler, ensure the engagement of the components, making it unnecessary to use force to get a good coupling. Joining portions of a passenger train can be done at low speed, so that the passengers are not jolted. One problem with the coupler is that it is hard to connect it in a curve. Planned coupling is done on a straight flat track, while there has been trouble coupling a broken down train at an unplanned place. Rail equipment manufacturers such as Bombardier offer the Schaku as an option on their mass transit passenger cars and locomotives.
Presently, Scharfenberg couplers are in use on the following passenger transit systems: San Francisco Bay Area - BART Denver - RTD Bus & Rail Baltimore - Baltimore Light Rail New Jersey - New Jersey Transit Portland, Oregon - TMTC Minneapolis - METRO Montreal - Metro Vancouver - Skytrain Toronto - Scarborough RT Channel Tunnel - Eurotunnel Le Shuttle São Paulo - Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos São Paulo - Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo Additionally, the coupler is in use on some multiple unit trains in Australia, on all trains in Singapore except for APMs. Type 10 2008/232/EC "a technical specification for interoperability relating to the ‘rolling stock’ sub-system of the trans-European high-speed rail system" 4.2.2.2.2.1.: "Automatic centre buffer couplers shall be geometrically and functionally compatible with a'Type 10 latch system automatic centre buffer coupler'" used for high-speed rail ICE, TGV, AVE S-102 Type 35 Type 330 Type 430 Unknown designation: The variant used for the Eurotunnel shuttles had to be particular strong: As one engine had to be capable of starting a shuttles in an emergency, the required maximum starting force to be handled is 400 kN.
Janney coupler Draft gear Railway coupling by country Media related to Scharfenberg coupler at Wikimedia Commons Scharfenberg coupler animation
Adtranz
ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation known under its brand ADtranz, was a multi-national rail transport equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company was created in 1996 in the merger of Daimler-Benz's and ABB's rail equipment manufacturing facilities. In 1999 DaimlerChrysler bought ABB's shares and changed its official name to DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems. Bombardier Transportation acquired the company in 2001, at which time Adtranz was the world's second largest manufacturer of such equipment; the acquisition increased the size of Bombardier's rail industry holdings making Bombardier the largest rail equipment manufacturer in the world. Adtranz manufactured mainline locomotives, high-speed, regional and underground passenger trains and people movers as well as freight wagons. Non rolling stock businesses included signalling infrastructure. On 8 May 1995 ABB and Daimler-Benz proposed a merger of their rail industry related activities into a single autonomous 50:50 joint venture.
In Germany the combined company, along with Siemens would have a duopoly or near-duopoly in the market areas of electric locomotives and regional electric and diesel multiple units and metros, catenary systems. In the EU, outside Germany, the merger would have meant no significant market share increase, including Scandinavia, where ABB had a dominant market share; the proposed merger was suspended pending a report on any potential anti-competitive effects of the merger, on 18 October 1995 the merger was allowed, provided that both companies divest themselves of any shares in Kiepe. The merger came into force on 1 January 1996; the company's manufacturing facilities and product lines were rationalised, including a standard form of car body. However the company continued to be loss making, losing $111 million in 1997. Polish manufacturer Pafawag was acquired in 1997 and the facility modernised, controlling interests in MÁV Dunakeszi and Schindler Waggon Switzerland were acquired by the end of 1997.
In March 1998 Adtranz presented a set of new product brands for modular product platforms, with designs that can be adapted for the specific requirements of different customers: the Innovia guided transport vehicle, the Incentro low floor tram, the Itino diesel multiple unit, the Crusaris medium-high speed train, the Octeon electric locomotive. A new diesel locomotive design with engine and electrical traction system provided by General Electric was introduced, named "Blue Tiger". Adtranz intended to consolidate its product range around these families once on-going deliveries are finished. Adtranz continued to make an operating loss in 1998, attributed to earlier contracts with underestimated costs, as well as technical problems with products; the same year brought an order for 400 locomotives for Deutsche Bahn, as well as the acquisition of Swiss locomotive manufacturer Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik AG. In January 1999 ABB sold its 50% stake in Adtranz to DaimlerChrysler for $472million, taking up a previous agreement made on the formation of the joint venture whereby DaimlerChrysler was required to purchase ABB's stake.
In 2000 Adtranz achieved profitability. In preparation for a sale from DaimlerChrysler buyers for non-core rolling stock manufacturing businesses were sought. In January 2000 The Greenbrier Companies acquired the freight wagon business based in Siegen; the electrical installations business was sold to Balfour Beatty in late 2000 for €153million. No buyer was found for the railway signalling division. In August 2000 Bombardier Inc announced that it was to buy Adtranz for $711million, considered to be a low price; the sale was cleared by the European Union in April 2001. The takeover came into legal effect on 1 May 2001 with a final price of $725million. In 2002 Bombardier announced that it was to sue DaimlerChrysler for $867 million due to alleged misleading financial information regarding Adtranz provided by DaimlerChrysler during the takeover, in September 2004 the case was settled with the companies agreeing to a $209million reduction in price; the brand Adtranz was created by Landor Associates as part of the corporate identity of ABB Daimler Benz Transportation.
It is an acronym derived from selected letters of the complete name of the first company using it: ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, with a z in place of an s at the end for the name to imply a complete product platform from A to Z. It was capitalised by the companies with a capital D as ADtranz, following the standard English text formatting and capitalization rules it is spelled with a small d as Adtranz. Above the text ADtranz, the company logo included a green dot, symbolizing a signal set on green, as well as the environmental friendliness of railways. In addition to the company registered the slogan ADtranz – we speak railways. Rights on the brand and slogan were deleted in 2007 respectively. A list of products: LocomotivesE464 electric locomotive Norges Statsbaner El 18 locomotives DE2000 Locomotive for the Hellenic Railways Organization, designated as OSE Class 220: designated as OSE A 471-496. Subway rail vehiclesM4 subway/elevated ca
