COMSA


Grupo COMSA was a Spanish construction and infrastructure company whose main business historically has been railway infrastructure work. Later the business expanded into more general construction and infrastructure work.
Since the 1990s the group has diversified into other business areas,
The majority of the group's employees were in Spain, with ~40% in other countries - the two other main areas by employee number being Australia and Poland.
In July 2009 Grupo Comsa and EMTE SA merged to form COMSA EMTE.

History

Comsa

The groups beginnings can be traced back to 1891 when railway employee José Miarnau Navás set up company to carry out railway infrastructure work in Reus. By 1930, the company became a public company and moved its headquarters from Reus to Barcelona. By the 1940s, the company had expanded into the general civil engineering field - building bridges, buildings and roads. By the 1980s, the company had expanded from its base in Catalonia having projects in Asturias, Andalusia, Galicia and Castile and León, and had also entered the real estate and aggregates businesses. The 1990s brought further diversification as well as the beginnings of an international presence with a subsidiary Fergrupo in Portugal.

Company structure and activities

The main railway and infrastructure businesses within Spain were organised within the company COMSA Empresa Constructora.
In Spain COMSA carried out all aspects of railway building from the planning stage to construction and maintenance; high profile projects included work on the infrastructure of the high speed Asturias link and Vitoria-Bilbao line. Other work included the construction of sidings for manufacturing companies including BASF, Ford Espania, Repsol Butano and Volkswagen, rolling stock shed and workshop construction, and electrification projects.
In the general construction field the group carried out road, bridge, industrial, public and office building projects, as well as water infrastructure, harbour and airport construction.
Additionally through subsidiaries under the umbrella organisation COMSA Medio Ambiente the company was involved in waste water and industrial and urban waste management, recycling, hazardous waste management, as well as being involved in renewable energy projects - including wind farm, photovoltaic and biodigestion technologies.

Logistics

COMSA Rail Transport was set up in 2002 and was the first private company in Spain to acquire a license for the de-monopolized rail system. A subsidiary operated in Poland as 'Fer Polska'.
The firm GMF managed the groups rolling stock including the track infrastructure equipment.

Other business activities

Subsidiaries were operated in Poland, Portugal, Argentina, Australia and Chile:

Argentina

The rail infrastructure subsidiary COMSA de Argentina was created in 1994.

Australia

COMSA had a 40% shareholding in 'MVM Rail Pty Ltd' - the company undertakes most aspects of railway infrastructure work including signalling and overhead cable installation. Outside Australia MVM worked on rail projects in South-East Asian countries. The company was founded in 1992 by COMSA and Valditerra of Italy.

Chile

The rail infrastructure subsidiary COMSA de Chile was created in 1995.

Poland

COMSA owned a majority share in the three subsidiaries that make up the company Trakcja Polska:
Fergrupo was founded in 1989 as a venture between stockholders COMSA, the Italian company Valditerra Spa and the Portuguese company R. Delerue. The company carries out all aspects of railway infrastructure building and maintenance projects.