Rail supplier news from Greenbrier, TimkenSteel, Hub Group, Railinc, Cubic and Michael Baker (Oct. 10)

The Greenbrier Cos. Inc. yesterday continued its call for prompt regulatory action to require safer tank cars in response to recent train derailments involving flammable liquids. "Recent derailments, including the derailment in Saskatchewan on Tuesday, and the findings of the Quebec coroner related to the tragic death of 47 people in the Lac-Megantic accident underscore the urgency of taking concrete actions to improve designs for both newly-built tank cars and for tank cars currently in service," said Greenbrier Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William Furman in a press release. The company supports the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's proposed "Option 2" design for new tank cars in flammable service built after October 1, 2015. Greenbrier was the first to announce plans to design a "Tank Car of the Future" with those specifications and plans to double its production capacity for new tank cars over the next 12 months to meet surging demand, company officials said.

TimkenSteel plans to locate an advanced quench-and-temper facility in northeast Ohio to produce more steel for demanding applications, according to the company. The $40 million facility, which will be fully operational within two years, will perform heat-treat operations and have capacity for 50,000 process-tons annually of 4- to 13-inch bars and tubes. The facility will be located in Perry Township on the site of TimkenSteel's Gambrinus Steel Plant near three existing thermal treatment facilities.

Hub Group was honored with a SmartWay® Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an industry leader in freight supply chain environmental performance and energy efficiency. This year, Hub Group has helped customers reduce their carbon footprint by saving more than 102 million gallons of fuel and more than 2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the company.

Michael Naatz, senior vice president operations support and chief information officer at Kansas City Southern, has been elected to Railinc Corp.'s board. Naatz has 20 years of experience in transportation and logistics. Before joining KCS in 2012, he held business and technology leadership positions with transportation and logistics provider YRC Worldwide and its subsidiaries.

Cubic Transportation Systems promoted Dave Blue to vice president of sales and account management, and Rasheed Behrooznia to VP of engineering, both for North and South America. The company also appointed Pradip Mistry VP of research and development. Blue began his career with Cubic in 2006 as director of sales and marketing for North America. In his new role, Behrooznia succeeds Mistry. Behrooznia has served Cubic for more than two years as a senior principal software engineer. Mistry’s new worldwide responsibilities include the identification and development of new capabilities across Cubic's global transportation business.

Michael Baker International has appointed Michael Di Camillo and Paul Michiels to its design firm. Now the passenger facilities design and program management lead, Di Camillo has 35 years of extensive senior-level experience and leadership in the railroad and transit industry. Prior to joining the firm, he spent 31 years with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Now the freight-rail lead, Michiels has 27 years of industry experience and will oversee the engineering design services for railway bridges, structures and facilities. He has performed engineering services in a variety of roles for six of the seven Class Is.