electric train. His work on railway electrification was done at the Ganz electric works in Budapest. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Evian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898. It was driven by 37 HP asynchronous traction system. In 1907 he moved with his family to Vado Ligure in Italy and obtained employment with Società Italiana Westinghouse. He would later return to Budapest to work at the Ganz factory where he became the managing director. Italy, Designing the World's first electrified main railway line In 1897, Kandó designed an electric system and engines for the Italian railways, the electric traction system had great advantages and importance on the very steep railway tracks in the mountainous regions of Italy. Under his leadership the Ganz factory began work on three-phase haulage for railways. Based on their design, the Italian Ferrovia della Valtellina was electrified in 1902 and became Europe's first electrified main line railway. For the Valtellina line, three-phase power was supplied at 3,000 volts (later increased to 3,600 volts) through two overhead lines, while the running rails supplied the third phase. At junctions, the two overhead lines had to cross and this prevented the use of very high voltages. The three-phase, two wire, system was used on several railways in Northern Italy and became known as "the Italian system". There are now few railways which use this system. In 1907, the Italian government decided for the electrification of another 2000-km railway line with the restriction, that the electrical equipments and rolling stock could only be manufactured in Italy. The Westinghouse Company bought up Kandó's patents and paid licence-fee for the electric motors of the Ganz factory. The Westinghouse Company also built a locomotive factory in Vado Ligure, and appointed Kandó to head the new factory. Kandó accepted the invitation and moved to Vado in Italy with his several Hungarian colleagues. Two types of locomotives were developed with his leadership in Italy: a 1500 kw cinquanta and a 2100 kw trenta electric locomotives, from which altogether some 700 units were produced. 540 of these were still in service in 1945, the last three-phase line worked until 1976. In honour of Kandó’s work, he was awarded with Commendatore dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia (Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy), but in 1915 he had to flee through Switzerland, since Italy entered