Alstom Transport Deutschland
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Rail transport manufacturing, Aircraft manufacturing (historical) |
| Predecessor | Linke-Hofmann-Busch |
| Founded | 1834 (as Gottfried Linke's wheelwright enterprise) |
| Headquarters | Salzgitter , Germany |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Parent | Alstom |
Alstom Transport Deutschland, previously known as Linke-Hofmann-Busch, is a German manufacturing company originally founded in Breslau (present-day Wrocław, Poland) with the purpose of producing locomotives and rolling stock. The company's roots trace back to Gottfried Linke's wheelwright enterprise established in 1834. After World War II, it was reestablished in Salzgitter, West Germany. In 1994, a 51% ownership was acquired by GEC Alsthom. Since 2009, it has operated under the name Alstom Transport Deutschland GmbH, fully incorporated within the Alstom group.
Aircraft industry
During the period of World War I, Linke-Hofmann-Busch expanded into aviation by repairing and manufacturing licensed aircraft models including the Roland C.IIa and several types of Albatros planes. In 1916, the company developed two experimental four-engine heavy bombers as part of the Riesenflugzeug initiative: the R.I and R.II. Although the R.I prototype was unsuccessful, the R.II demonstrated promising performance but was not mass-produced due to the conclusion of the war and Allied prohibitions on military aircraft disguised as civilian models.
Heavy rail
- Created prototype passenger coaches for the Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1976.
- The technology behind Linke-Hofmann-Busch influenced the design of the Indian Railways' LHB coach.
Suburban rail
- Litra SA and Litra SE units for the Copenhagen S-tog system (in collaboration with Siemens, from 1996 to 2006)
- CIÉ 8100 Class trains for the Dublin Area Rapid Transit network (developed with GEC, between 1983 and 1984), constructed to metro-style standards
- DB Class 420 trains servicing S-Bahn networks in Munich, Rhine-Main, Rhine-Ruhr, and Stuttgart
Metro
- M1, M2, and M3 series rolling stock for the Amsterdam Metro (produced from 1973 to 1980)
- DT2 series for the Hamburg U-Bahn, developed alongside Kiepe
- DT4 series vehicles for Hamburg U-Bahn in partnership with ABB
Light Rail
- TT Class 8 trams for the Trondheim Tramway (delivered in 1984)
- P86 stock units for London's Docklands Light Railway (introduced in 1986), later deployed on the Essen Stadtbahn
- TW 2000 vehicles for the Hanover Stadtbahn system (manufactured between 1997 and 2000)
See also
- Pafawag, a former factory of Linke-Hofmann located in Wrocław (formerly Breslau), which was nationalized in 1945
Further reading
- The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914–1919, G.W Haddow & Peter M. Grosz, 1963. Putnam & Company, London
- Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aircraft Manufacturers, 1993. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, p.183