Rail supplier news from Crystal Mover, GE, Alstom, Express Rail, Trimble and Thales (Dec. 2)

Crystal Mover Services Inc. — the Florida-based joint venture of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America Inc., Sumitomo Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. of Americas — has received a renewal and extension of its original operations and maintenance contract with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority for the AeroTrain automated people mover system at Washington Dulles International Airport. The original system contract was for five years, and the new contract includes the operations and maintenance of the AeroTrain for an additional 10 years. The contract's total value is $136 million.

Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) last week completed the inaugural run of its first two new GE ES44C4 locomotives from GE Transportation. The Tier 3-compliant locomotives were used to power the railroad's most expedited train carrying automotive, carload and intermodal freight from Jacksonville to Miami. "Within days of these units arriving in Jacksonville, our Mechanical Team had completed standard service procedures, equipped the units with WiTronix, and they were ready for service," said David Kobryn, FECR's locomotive superintendent, in a press release.

Alstom, in association with CPVM, has obtained a contract from the Secretariat of Communications and Transport of Mexico to supply a full system for Line 3 of the Guadalajara metro. Alstom will provide 18 Metropolis trains, the communication systems, the high-voltage and traction substations, and the traffic control systems based on Urbalis 400, the company’s communications-based train control system. Alstom’s share of the contract is valued at $298 million. The line will run through Zapopan, Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque in the state of Jalisco.

Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERL) signed an agreement with Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd. in China for the purchase of six additional new trains to serve KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit, according to a Rail Business Asia press release. The trains are expected to be delivered to ERL starting in May 2016. All trains will be operated and maintained by ERL Maintenance Support Sdn Bhd.

Trimble has acquired Dublin, Ireland-based Nexala, a provider of enterprise solutions for the rail industry. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Nexala enterprise solutions complement Trimble’s existing portfolio of rail solutions, enabling the company to address the broader railway workflow — from initial greenfield track alignment planning to managing the maintenance of locomotives in a repair depot, Trimble officials said in a press release.

Thales board of directors last week accepted the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy, who has been appointed chairman and CEO of the French-state controlled electric utility EDF. The board appointed M. Philippe Logak as acting chairman and CEO of Thales.