British Rail Engineering Limited

British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the rolling stock manufacturing and maintenance subsidiary of British Rail, formed on 1 January 1970 and headquartered in Derby, England. It operated fourteen rolling stock maintenance centres and provided construction, maintenance and repair services across Britain's railway network. BREL built major British rail vehicles including the InterCity 125 High Speed Train, Mark 3 carriages and Class 58 freight locomotives, and exported rolling stock to countries such as Ireland, Kenya, Taiwan, Sweden and Malaysia. Through the 1980s the company underwent repeated restructuring, closing major works at Ashford in 1981, Shildon in 1984 and Swindon in 1986. BREL was privatised in 1989 through a management buyout involving Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) and Trafalgar House, and in September 1992 ABB became sole shareholder, after which the company was subsumed into ABB Transportation.