advertisement

---

GE Transportation, Transmashdiesel and JSC National Co. Kazakhstan Temir Zholy subsidiary JSC Remlokomotiv have agreed to form a joint venture to produce 400 Evolution Series diesel engines annually in Astana, Kazakhstan. The joint venture will serve rail, marine and stationary power customers in the Commonwealth of Independent States region. The partners expect to invest $90 million to build a new, 97,000-square-foot diesel engine facility in Astana, according to a GE press release. Meanwhile, GE Transportation Optimization Solutions has released ShipperConnect Rail Fleet Optimization, a new software solution designed to help rail shippers reduce transportation costs, improve fleet allocation decisions and maximize investment in rail equipment.

Nomad Digital has acquired CM Technology (CMT) and CM Service in Copenhagen. CMT provides passenger Internet and multi-passenger information systems. The company's customers include DSB S-Tog service, Arriva Denmark's rail services, and DSB Oresund transborder service in Denmark and Sweden. Nomad Digital acquired CMT's technology and support operations that deliver and maintain multimedia and network systems. Commute Media retains an advertising sales operation that is unaffected by the transaction, Nomad Digital officials said in a prepared statement.

Alstom has signed a $137.5 million contract with railway operator SuperVia in Rio de Janeiro to supply 80 Metropolis metro cars. With the order, SuperVia will reinforce its urban transport offer and improve Rio de Janeiro's Metropolitan Region transport system, according to an Alstom press release. Alstom also announced that, along with Transmashholding, it delivered the first series production EP20 electric passenger locomotive to the Russian Railways.

ProTran Technology and QinetiQ North America have partnered to provide the Maryland Transit Administration with a real-time network of remote sensors installed on continuous-welded rail for testing and evaluation. QinetiQ's Intelligence Rail Integrity System™ (IRIS) is designed to continuously monitor changes in rail temperature, stress and rail neutral temperature. If rail buckling or breaks are detected, IRIS alerts personnel to the event's location via phone or email through its emergency notification system, according to a company press release.

The Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. has deployed Avtec Inc.'s Scout™ radio dispatch console to control train movements on its 840-mile system in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland. The Scout Voice over Internet Protocol system supports radio communications at 20 remote dispatch sites and replaces the railway's former Time-Division Multiplexing system. The new system supports compliance with the Federal Communication Commission's narrow-banding requirements that take effect Jan. 1.

Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. has opened an office in South Portland, Maine, and added Gil Paquette and George Campbell to the firm. Both are charged with helping grow the firm's Maine presence. Formerly of TRC, Paquette will manage the  South Portland office and direct the firm's energy and environmental services in Maine. He has more than 20 years of experience in energy and natural resources. Campbell is a former Portland mayor and former Maine commissioner of transportation.