38°45′12″N9°13′22″W / 38.75332°N 9.22281°W /38.75332; -9.22281

Sorefame

Logo embedded on a locomotive.
Company type	S.A.
Industry	Metalworking
Founded	1943
Founder	Ángelo Fortes
Defunct	2005; 20 years ago (2005) (rolling stock division)
Fate	Split into two companiesNova Sorefame andHidrosorefame, Sorefame factory inAmadora closed 2005
Headquarters	Portugal
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Railway rolling stock Hydro-electric dam equipment

Sorefame (an abbreviation ofSociedadesReunidas deFabricaçõesMetálicas, meaning"Reunited Society of Metalwork Fabrications") was aPortuguese manufacturer of railwayrolling stock and industrial equipment, such as dam gates equipment.

Established in 1943, the company was in the 1990s split into a rolling stock company,Nova Sorefame, and a dam equipment company,Hidrosorefame. Nova Sorefame became part ofABB's rail transport division, laterAdtranz, and in 2001 part of Bombardier transportation and was closed in 2005. Hidrosorefame was acquired by Alstom

Sorefame was founded in 1943 and was capitalised using state funds but run as a private business. The company had two main product lines: railway equipment such as rolling stock, and equipment for hydro-electric reservoirs, such as dam gates.^[1]

In 1987, Sorefame underwent restructuring with MOMPOR to form a new companySociedade de Montagens Metalomecânicas (SMM). In 1990, SMM merged with Sorefame, MAGUE and SEPSA resulting to formGrupo SENETE in whichABB Group had a 40% share.^[2]

In the 1990s, the company was split into two entities: a rolling stock company and the dam equipment companyHidro-sorefame.^[1] By 1994, ABB had a 70% share of SENETE, and the following year, Hidro-Sorefame became ABB-hidro. SENETE was fully acquired by ABB in 1997, and in 1999, ABB's power business included a power generation joint venture withAlstom: ABB ALSTOM POWER. In 2000, Alstom acquired ABB's stake in the joint venture, with the former 'Hidro-sorefame' still as a subentity of the firm.^[3]

ABB merged its rail transportation division with that ofDaimler-Benz to formAdtranz and divested itself of the interest in 1999. Adtranz was eventually sold toBombardier Transportation, which became the owner of the manufacturing facility inAmadora.^[4] Under ABB and laterAdtranz and Bombardier, the rolling stock company became increasing an assembly plant, resulting in loss of many jobs.^[1]

In 2001, during Bombardier's restructuring after the acquisition ofAdtranz, the plant in Amadora was decided to be one of Bombardier's last seven manufacturing plants in Europe, and it would also be used for assembly if there was undercapacity elsewhere.^[4] The limited demand and the overcapacity in rolling stock manufacturing capacity across Europe resulted in the closure of the Sorefame railway factory in 2004.^[5]

In 2005, part the Amadora plant wasexpropriated byRefer, with Bombardier being offered approximately €7million for less than half of the site; the site was to be used for training and development of railway related skills and technology, and the expropriation was justified as being in the public interest.^[6] In 2008, the land formally became the property ofComboios de Portugal (CP), to be occupied by CP subsidiaryEMEF (Empresa de Manutenção de Equipamento Ferroviário) The remainder of the site was sold to the glass container manufacturerSotancro. An investment of €500 million is expected to re-establish a rail vehicle business in Portugal, to be built inMédio Tejo.^[7]

From the 1960s, the company specialised in the manufacture ofstainless steel carriages, principally for thePortuguese Railways (CP), but also for theLisbon Metro (ML). The stainless steel carriages were built at the company's factory inAmadora under licence from theBudd Company of the US. During the years of theSalazar regime (theEstado Novo), Sorefame supplied the vast majority of Portugal's railway rolling stock (as well as for Portugal's colonies), but theCarnation Revolution of 1974 and economic liberalisation, especially following Portugal's entry to theEuropean Union in 1986, resulted in far greater international competition. Sorefame also assembled diesel and electric locomotives for CP (such as theSérie 1900 in 1981), notably using components designed and supplied by the French companyAlstom.

The firm had also made shells for American rapid transit rolling stock, most notably forBoeing Vertol's2400 series railcars constructed for theChicago Transit Authority in 1976,^[8] as well as for the N-5 railcars constructed byABB Traction forSEPTA'sNorristown High Speed Line.