Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles

CAF was an acronym for the earlier name of Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, as well as for Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles.

Fábrica de Hierros San Martín

In 1860, Domingo Goitia, Martín Usabiaga and José Francisco Arana established this company, whose main activity was puddling furnaces and cylinder rolling.

La Maquinista Guipuzcoana

In 1892, Francisco de Goitia joined the Marquess of Urquijo to set up La Maquinista Guipuzcoana, whose main activity was the operation of machinery and the forging and construction of railway rolling stock.

In 1898, it set up its plant in Beasain, Gipuzkoa. In 1905 it changed its name to Fábrica de Vagones de Beasain .

Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles

Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles was founded in 1917, specializing in freight car production and with a total of 1,600 employees.

In 1940, the Irun factory was set up, following the expansion of activity after the Spanish Civil War .

In 1954, CAF took over Material Móvil y Construcciones from Zaragoza , a company with extensive experience in manufacturing long-distance and subway trains.

Since 1958, the company has modernized and enlarged its Beasain plant and expanded its activity to include all kinds of rolling stock. In line with this, in 1969 CAF created its Research and Development Unit, which increased the company's competitiveness and intensified the focus on in-house technology.

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles

In 1971, the existing Compañía Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles merged with Material Móvil y Construcciones and the company adopted its current name Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles.