Rail supplier news from Harsco, CAF, Alstom and SNCF Voyageurs (May 20)

Harsco Corp., parent of Harsco Rail, this week released its environmental, social and governance (ESG) report, highlighting its corporate sustainability accomplishments in fiscal-year 2020. Harsco Rail highlights mentioned in the report include efforts to enhance the manufacture and supply-chain processes in the rail business; and Harsco Rail's North America contract services team receiving a 2020 Platinum Safety Award from the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) for the third year in a row. "Our corporate vision to be a global leader of environmental solutions is fully intertwined with our ambition to be an ESG leader in the industry and is critical to successfully executing our ongoing growth strategy," said Harsco Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Nick Grasberger in a press release. The full report is available here.

CAF Signalling has obtained certification of the latest set of specifications of the European Train Control System (ETCS), Baseline 3. AURIGA on-board solution, ETCS Baseline 3 Release 2 version, by CAF Signalling has been certified according to latest TSI 2019/776. This solution, equipped in the EM100 Measuring Car manufactured by Plasser & Theurer and in collaboration with AZD Praha, has been also authorized for operations in the Czech Republic by the National Safety Authority.

Alstom has signed a contract to equip another locomotive with the latest ETCS signaling technology. This latest project, subsidized by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, will see Alstom’s Atlas ETCS Baseline 3 Release 2 solution installed into one of DB Cargo’s DE6400 freight locomotives. The new signaling technology will further enable Belgian-Dutch freight traffic when the lines are converted to ETCS for the 2024-2025 timetable change in Belgium and the 2026-2027 timetable change in the Netherlands, according to an Alstom press release.

SNCF Voyageurs, one of the world's largest high-speed intercity rail operators, has selected S3 Passenger to replace SNCF's current reservation system. S3 Passenger is the world's leading inventory, sales and distribution system used by 35 rail and bus operators across the globe.