A Ganz-Jendrassik dízel motorkocsik Argentínában

Abstract

The Ganz factory contributed to the development of the technology of transport infrastructure through product innovations and systems innovations such as two new systems for railway electrification and the motorization of the railways with diesel rail cars. The latter offered a viable solution to the problem of making passenger transport profitable in scarcely populated regions, especially where public and private finances were insufficient for the modernization of steam traction, railway electrification or a shift to road transport. Ganz & Co. started to accumulate expert knowledge about the introduction of diesel rail cars in different countries, assessing traffic needs, developing cars adjusted to specific needs, and organizing rail car maintenance. The transnational organizational infrastructure necessary for a company from a small and impoverished country for global business was being built up in form of a license and cartel agreement with well-established British engineering companies, too. The drive of pre-WWII Argentína for industrialization and loosening ties to the former colonizer made this coun try an ideal stepping stone for marketing the cars in other scarcely populated countries with challenging climate and geographical conditions. However, the paper reveals that internal management problems had already jeopardized these plans before WWII frustrated the ambitions of Ganz & Co once and for all.