La Brugeoise et Nivelles SA, later BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Métalliques, was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies: La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles. The company was acquired by Bombardier Inc. in 1988, plants in Nivelles and Manageclosed in 1989 and 2000; as of 2011, the plant located in Bruges operated as Bombardier Transportation Belgium S.A..
History
In 1851, Joseph De Jaegher founded a hardware store in the Burg in Bruges; in 1855, this expanded with a steel workshop on the Raamstraat, named Ateliers J. Jaegher; in 1891, this merged with another steel making company in the nearby Gieterijstraat, the Usines Ferdinand Feldhaus, to form the Ateliers de Construction Forges et Aceries de Bruges. By 1900, the company was a major Belgian metal engineering company. In 1905, the company moved its plant and offices to a larger site with good railway connections close to the Ghent Ostend canal at Sint-Michiels in Bruges. Until 1913, the company operated as the Société Anonyme La Brugeoise, abbreviated as "La Brugeoise". In 1913, the company La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve was formed by the merger of the Bruges-based companies La Brugeoise and Nicaise et Delcuve during a re-organisation of the interests of the holding company Trust Métallurgique Belge-Français, and capitalised at 10 million francs; the new company included a modern steel works, forge and mills at Sint-Michiels. During World War I, the facilities were occupied by German forces, and at the end of the war had been substantially damaged, however post war construction also required the organisation products. In 1919, control of the company was taken by the Société Générale de Belgique. In 1956, this merged with Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles to form La Brugeoise et Nivelles. In 1977, the company merged with Constructions Ferroviaries du Centre to form BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques. In 1986, Bombardier took at 45% share in BN, which was increased to 90.6% in 1988. The plants at Bruges and Manage became the BN division of Bombardier Eurorail in 1991. The factory in Nivelles closed and was demolished in 1989/90. In 2000, Bombardier announced it was to close the subsidiary plant BN Manage based in Manage, Belgium; the action attracted criticism from both trade unions and the Belgian government; perception was that Bombardier had used the 'jobs card' to win a Belgian double deck train contract worth 8.5 billion Belgian francs. The closure announcement came as a complete volte-face from Bombardier's previous statements which included optimistic statements about the Manage plant's future. Train-making ended at the site which was re-purposed by Duferco for steel plate processing. As of 2011, the factory in Bruges was part of Bombardier Transportation as Bombardier Transportation Belgium S.A..
Products
In 1875, the Manage plant produced its first rail vehicles; in 1885, the Bruges plant produced its first tram. Much of the early output prior to that was freight wagons. In addition to railway rolling stock, the company also manufactured bridges, locks and sluice gates, cranes, and vessels for the chemical and sugar industries. In 1961, the company acquired a license to manufacture GM-EMD locomotives for the European market. In 1973, factories in Bruges and Familleureux produced the company's first underground trains, for the STIB. BN produced 26 veículos Leves sobre trilhos light rail cars for use on Line 2 of the Rio de Janeiro Metro, which were later converted to full metro cars. Eight cars were built in Belgium and the remaining 18 by Cobrasma SA in their plant in São Paulo. Some of the ones built by Cobrasma were briefly used by the Campinas Light Rail system. The original "Type 1" cars for Portland, Oregon's MAX Light Rail system, ordered in 1981, were built by BN in association with Bombardier Inc.. They were assembled in North America using bodyshells sourced in La Pocatiere, Canada. In 1989, a consortium of BN, ANF Industrie and Bombardier won the order for the construction of the passenger Eurotunnel Shuttle wagons, valued at 36 billion francs, of which BN's contribution was valued at 8 billion. In 1994, the company, in association with INKA and Holec, built commuter trains for the KRL Jabotabek system. In 1998, after takeover by Bombardier, the company obtained an order with a total value of 22.2 billion Belgian francs to produce 78 Bombardier Voyager class trains for the railways in the United Kingdom at the Bruges and Manage plants; BN's value share of the contract was estimated at 8 to 10 billion Belgian francs. Deliveries took place in the early 2000s. Also as part of Bombardier, the company also produced Flexity Outlook and Flexity Swift vehicles for Brussels and Rotterdam respectively, the bodyshells of the Autorail à grande capacité for the SNCF, and B09 vehicles for the Docklands Light Railway. Finally, the company continues to supply the Belgian Railways with passenger rail vehicles.
