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• A SYSTRA-led consortium obtained a contract from Casablanca Transport S.A. to manage the construction of the Moroccan city’s first tramway line. The consortium, which also includes SYSTRA subsidiary SYSTRA Morocco and Moroccan firm CID Engineering and Development Consultants, will be responsible for project designs and construction management for the 18-mile, 50-stop line. The first portion of the tramway is scheduled to open in December 2012.

• A&K Railroad Materials Inc. has appointed Katrina Gougis southeast district sales manager. She rejoins the company — which supplies new and relay rail, and track materials in the United States — after launching her career in 1999 at A&K as a sales assistant. Gougis later held an inside sales position and covered A&K’s Louisiana territory until 2004.

• Siemens Mobility unveiled a new model of an airport people mover vehicle at the UITP World Congress in Vienna. Since 2004, the company and Lohr Industrie have been developing the Airval vehicle, a new generation of a rubber-tired fully automated metro. The pre-series vehicle has completed a qualification and testing program.

• Parsons Brinckerhoff has named Bryce Little vice president and director of strategic initiatives for the engineering and consulting firm’s Los Angeles office. He previously developed a finance plan for the Alameda Corridor, and played lead roles in the contractor oversight, third-party coordination and funding of the corridor and Alameda Corridor-East programs. Little also served in the planning department of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he acted as a liaison to 42 cities for all transportation modes and helped develop station improvements along the L.A. Metro Blue Line.

• Technology firm Aconex obtained a contract from Balfour Beatty Ansaldo Systems Joint Venture to provide an online project collaboration system for the $430 million Ipoh-to-Padang Besar double-track extension in Malaysia. Aconex will provide its Web-based project collaboration system designed to manage project information, such as drawings, documents and correspondence. The joint venture will design, supply, install and commission all electrification, signaling and communications systems for 205 miles of new electrified double track. The project is scheduled for completion in 2013.

• ChemLogix L.L.C. announced plans to expand its BulkTainer intermodal operations, which the firm acquired from Union Pacific Corp. in April 2008. ChemLogix recently obtained 20 new ISO tank containers to ship bulk liquids long distances by integrating both rail and truck. A combination of lower rates and a shift toward more environmentally friendly business practices is making intermodal a more attractive transportation alternative to over-the-road tank trucks, the company said.