1853 Gio. Ansaldo e C. is founded in Genoa. At the time, Ansaldo was already a distinguished name
in the Genoese industry. Ansaldo STS is today headquartered in one of the historical buildings
owned by the old Gio. Ansaldo e C..
1880 Ansaldo e C. is founded as a company for the manufacture and maintenance of railway
equipment. At the end of the century the company started building ships. The company’s
factories stretched all along the Genoa bay from Sanpierdarena to Sestri Ponente and it
employed more than 10,000 employees.
1881 George Westinghouse forms the Union Switch and Signal Company (US&S) by consolidating the
Union Electric Signal Company and the Interlocking Switch & Signal Company.
1902 Fernand Cumont founds CSE, Compagnie des Signaux pour Chemins de Fer, with the fi nancial
help of the Empain Group.
1903 US&S develops the fi rst alternating current track circuit and vane relay for train
detection on direct current lines.
1904 Ferdinando Maria Perrone buys Ansaldo. In a few years, the company came to own 10 factories,
including iron and steel processing, foundries and military equipment with approximately
17,000 employees in Genoa
alone.
1912 CSE becomes an independent company with activity focused on providing railway equipment for
the Paris metro.
1918 Ansaldo reaches a record 80,000 employees.
1920 CSE spreads its activities to manufacture cables and lamps. The company is rebranded as
Compagnie de Signaux et d’Entreprises Electriques, CSE.
1923 US&S introduces the fi rst inductive train control system to manage train movement.
1924 US&S develops the fi rst remote controlled gravity hump yard wheel speed “retarder” to
regulate car speed.
1926 US&S invents the fi rst “copper oxide rectifi er”, the fi rst device that converts
alternating current to direct current.
1934 US&S introduces coded circuits for longer track circuits and the two-way signalling
cabins which require no cables.
1935 Due to the damages caused by the fi nancial crisis of 1929 and the World War, Ansaldo e C. is
rescued with the support of the Bank of Italy, which fully restructures the company. The
critical period ends with the establishment of IRI (Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale,
Italian Institute for Industrial Reconstruction) which takes over the control of Ansaldo
balancing the financial position and repositioning the company at a technologically advanced
level.
1948 IRI transfers the control of Ansaldo to Finmeccanica.
1949 US&S opens its first offi ce in Canada.
1966 Finmeccanica fully restructures Ansaldo.
1967 CSE develops the first geographical relay-interlocking in France.
1969 CSE incorporates the signalling business unit of ASTER, an operation allowing for full
optimization of its signalling operations. CSE develops track circuits in connection-less
mode.
1970 US&S builds the fi rst digital classifi cation yard control system at the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railway's Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Kansas.
1980 Finmeccanica and Ansaldo jointly create Ansaldo Trasporti (ATR). ATR operates as a
company/prime contractor active in the integrated system segment and is eventually listed on
the Milan Stock Exchange in 1986.
1981 CSE introduces the fi rst High Speed railway line (TAV) in Europe (Paris-Lyon). Its
successful TVM High Speed signalling system is thereafter implemented all along the French
High Speed network.
1984 US&S develops the breakthrough technology, MicroLok®, that reduces the need for relays
from 400 to 1, and installs the fi rst vital microprocessor-based interlocking on Conrail’s
Esplen Interlocking in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
1987 US&S develops the fi rst video display designed to show changes in the railway
infrastructure network.
1988 Ansaldo Trasporti acquires 100% of the capital of Union Switch & Signal (US&S), now
Ansaldo STS USA, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
1989 Ansaldo Trasporti acquires 49% of the share capital of CSE Transport, formerly known as
Compagnie de Signaux pour Chemins de Fer, headquartered in Paris.
1990 Ansaldo Trasporti enters the Northern market acquiring the transport division of Standard
Radio & Telephon (SRT). The new company is named Ansaldo Trasporti Signal System AB
(ATSS).
1993 Ansaldo Trasporti lists US&S on NASDAQ.
1994 CSE opens the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and equips all Eurostar trains connecting Paris to
London with TVM 430 signalling systems.
1995 Acquisition by US&S of Ventura Projects, a promising Australian signalling company
founded in 1981 in Brisbane, Australia. Ansaldo Trasporti directly enters the Asia Pacifi c
market. As from 1997, US&S Australia
is the main regional offi ce of Ansaldo.
1996 Ansaldo Trasporti creates Ansaldo Signal NV, a Dutch company based in Amsterdam. Ansaldo
Signal acquires the remaining 51% of CSE. All activities of Ansaldo, Union Switch & Signal
and CSE are concentrated in Ansaldo Signal and the company is listed on NASDAQ.
1997 The Biggest Heavy Haul rail project Australia is successfully delivered, completed, supplied
and commissioned for Rio Tinto.
2000 Ansaldo Signal is delisted from NASDAQ.
2001 Ansaldo Trasporti transfers its Systems Integration unit to Ansaldo Trasporti Sistemi
Ferroviari, a new company created in 2000. Ansaldo Trasporti is delisted and incorporated into
Finmeccanica. Finmeccanica
now owns 100% of both Ansaldo Signal and Ansaldo Trasporti Sistemi Ferroviari.
2002 Ansaldo Trasporti Sistemi Ferroviari delivers the world’s fi rst fully automatic driverless
CENELEC approved transit system in Copenhagen, Denmark.
2003 On 11 October the first Chinese passenger line is commissioned.
2004 CSE develops the fi rst High Speed line in South Korea, equipped with TVM, the same system
used in France.
2005 US&S introduces the Optimizing Traffic Planner™ designed to maximise capacity and
increase railroad speed.
2006 Finmeccanica transfers the entire share capital of Ansaldo Signal and Ansaldo Trasporti
Sistemi Ferroviari to Ansaldo STS. Finmeccanica offers 60% of its capital on an IPO. Ansaldo
STS is listed in March on the STAR
segment of the Milan SE.
2007 Ansaldo STS develops the fi rst Vital Positive Train Control™ system for the railway network
in Alaska.
2008 On 1 May, the fi rst ERTMS in India (Chennai-Gummudipundi) is commissioned, supplied and
delivered.
2009 The largest signalling project ever is acquired: Libya, construction of the fi rst local
railway network.
2010 The company is awarded important contracts for signalling in Libya, Russia and Kazakhstan.
For the Transportation Business Unit the year closes, after Genoa and Naples, with the
acquisition of the contract for the construction of the Cityringen in
Copenhagen.
