The company's history dates to 1894 and the establishment of a railway workshop for heavy repair of steam locomotives. The original factory was constructed in 16 months on the edge of the city of Zagreb, south of the 1890 Zagreb Glavni railway station, for the Kraljevskih južnih željeznica between Budapest and the Adriatic. Housing for plant workers coming from Hungary and Germany was constructed nearby. The factory was expanded and rebuilt in 1911. Manufacture of railway vehicles began in 1954, with the production of postal wagons. The company later manufactured electric locomotives, wagons, and passenger vehicles. A new plant was established in Vukomerec, Zagreb in 1968 for locomotive production. A preservation order for part of the original factory was issued in 2006. Construction of new facilities, and modernisation of existing works in Vukomercu began in 2008. In 2010 the company moved all its production to a new factory in the Vukomerec industrial area of Zagreb, constructed and equipped at a cost of 650 million kuna. The city of Zagreb acquired the land of the former factory for €88.2 million. In late 2012 the company declared bankruptcy, due to reduced overseas order due to the late-2000s global recession, and due to a large reduction in orders from Croatian Railways. At banckrupcy proceedings in Dec 2012, five enterprises were reported as being interested in the plant: Electro Motive Diesel, and National Railway Equipment Company were reported to be interested in parts of the plant relating to locomotive manufacture; investment companyQatari Blooming Heights LLC was reported to be examining the plant for potential middle-eastern investors; the China National Corporation For Overseas Economic Cooperation was also said to be interested in acquiring the plant; HŽ Putnički prijevoz was reported to be interested in renting part of the plant or equipment fto maintain its rolling stock. From 2012 the company continued to manufacture rail vehicles, honouring existing agreements whilst under bankruptcy conditions. In the year following banckrupcy the company achieved a profit of 9.8 million on 300 million revenue whilst having debt claims of over 700 million.
Products
As of 2012 the company produces railway vehicles including coaches, wagons, diesel and electric locomotives, trams, and tram-rail grinding vehicles, as well as components including bogies and lifting equipment. The plant also performs rail equipment maintenance.
