Rail supplier news from Appalachian Railcar, Knorr-Bremse, HDR, Alpha Products, Greenbrier, IntegriCo and LTK (Jan. 9)

Appalachian Railcar Services (ARS) recently acquired BRC Rail Car Services of Lynchburg, Va. BRC will operate under a new division that was established for the acquisition. With the addition of BRC Rail Car Services, ARS will double the size of its workforce to more than 300 employees. An additional 100 employees are expected to be hired over the next three years. ARS now has 34 operations in 14 states. The company provides maintenance and repair, storage, industrial switching and other rail-related services. BRC provides repair, cleaning and interior/exterior coating services, primarily for industrial tank cars.

Knorr-Bremse signed an agreement last month to acquire Selectron Systems AG of Lyss, Switzerland. The acquisition would enable Knorr-Bremse to expand its portfolio to include components and solutions for the automation of rail vehicles, company officials said in a press release. The acquisition is subject to anti-trust regulatory approval.

HDR has acquired Infrastructure Corporation of America (ICA), which provides transportation engineering, asset maintenance and management services. HDR also acquired the assets of MEI LLC, a liquid natural gas consulting firm. ICA will do business as HDR | ICA, and MEI will operate as HDR | MEI. Financial terms for the transactions were not disclosed.

Alpha Products Inc., a metal fabrication and stamping company based in Bedford Park, Ill., has completed its sale to a new ownership group led by John Marks of LEJAK & Associates. Marks is joined in part by Jack Payne, Daniel Hart and Mark Gawronski, a team with decades of railroad sales and management experience. LEJAK will manage the daily operations of Alpha Products, according to a company press release.

Greenbrier Cos. Inc. reported net earnings of $32.8 million, or $1.01 per share, for the first quarter of fiscal-year 2015, compared with $33.7 million in net earnings and $1.03 per share in the same quarter in FY2014. Revenue dropped 19.9 percent to $495 million from $618 million, primarily due to the contribution of the repair operation to Greenbrier in the fourth quarter of FY2014 and lower deliveries as anticipated. The rail-car backlog at the end of the quarter on Nov. 30, 2014, totaled 41,200 units with an estimated value of $4.20 billion, compared with 31,500 units with an estimated value worth 3.33 billion as of Aug. 31, 2014.

IntegriCo Composites, a manufacturer of recycled plastic railroad ties, announced that it is producing ties for five Class Is in North America. IntegriCo's products have been successfully installed from Mexico to Canada, with repeat customers driving demand for the installation of composites ties in their railway systems, according to an IntegriCo press release.

LTK Engineering Services announced that Natalie Cornell has been named director of business development in the firm's Ambler, Pa., headquarters. She succeeds Thomas Furmaniak, who has been appointed director of LTK affiliate NDYLTK Rail in Sydney, Australia. Prior to joining LTK, Cornell managed a division of LECIP Inc. Furmaniak worked for LTK during the 1970s, after which he held senior management positions with transit agencies in New York City, Boston and Athens, Greece. He rejoined LTK in 1998.