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The first automatic driverless underground is about to begin in Milan, Italy, according to a press release from Ansaldo STS. Metro 5 S.p.a. is carrying out the work on the light underground rail line M5. Ansaldo STS, Ansaldo Breda, Astaldi and Alstom hold stakes in Metro 5. The current path travels through seven stations from Bignami to Zara. By 2013's end, it will travel as far as Garibaldi station.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear announced NRE Acquisition Co. L.L.C., doing business as VMV Paducahbilt, plans to expand operations in Paducah. The company provides new and remanufactured locomotives, locomotive products and wheel services. The Paducah expansion calls for adding shop equipment, upgrading information technology and phone systems, and completing building repairs. The $920,000 expansion will create 25 new, full-time jobs, according to the governor's press release.

Railinc President and Chief Executive Officer Allen West has been elected 2013 chairman of the North Carolina Technology Association, the statewide membership association for the technology sector. West previously served as the association's vice chairman. He will lead the board's technology executives and provide guidance to association staff, according to a press release.

Robert Irving has joined Kelso Technologies as a staff engineer in the Bonham, Texas, office. He has more than 25 years of experience in the rail and transportation industry. As a mechanical engineer with a background in computerized engineering design and project management, he will work with customers' individual requests for design modifications and enhancements to existing Kelso products, company officials said in a prepared statement.

Parsons Brinckerhoff has named Newel Jensen a senior transit and highway design engineer in the Murray, Utah, office. He will lead the planning and design of transit, rail and highway projects. Jensen has experience in transit planning and design, as well as alternative alignment analysis, concept design and final design for road and highway projects. He is a former design manager for a consulting firm and design engineer for the Utah Department of Transportation.

Christopher Thompson has been named a senior associate at Gannett Fleming. Based in Philadelphia, Thompson serves as a vice president and project manager of Transit & Rail Systems. With more than 12 years of experience, his responsibilities include overseeing overhead catenary system and structural design projects, developing and maintaining design budgets and schedules, performing quality assurance/quality control of designs, coordinating proposal development, and building and maintaining client relationships.

Barranquilla Container Terminal has selected Tideworks Technology® to provide terminal operating systems for the greenfield container terminal at the Port of Barranquilla, Colombia.