Ausbesserungswerk

An Ausbesserungswerk (abbreviation AW or Aw) is a railway facility in German-speaking countries, the primary function of which is the repair (and formerly also the construction) of railway vehicles or their components. It is thus equivalent to a 'repair shop' or 'works'. It is also referred to as a Centralwerkstatt or Zentralwerkstatt (central workshop) or Hauptwerkstatt (main workshop). During the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) period between the two world wars as well as the period of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany these facilities were called Reichsbahnausbesserungswerke (RAW or Raw; Reichsbahn repair shops).