Rail supplier updates from Siemens, Alstom, ARI, WSP and TranSystems (Oct. 20)

British Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin last week formally opened the new Siemens and Govia Thameslink Railway train care facility in Crawley, England. Built for the new Thameslink trains, the Three Bridges depot was constructed 19 miles south of London. Siemens is investing around $455 million in the construction of two depots. A second similar train care facility is currently under construction in Hornsey, England, and is expected to be finished in summer 2016.

Alstom's high-speed Pendolino trains owned and operated by PKP Intercity in Poland have reached 3.1 million miles in revenue service. Inaugurated in December 2014, the PKP Pendolino was the first high-speed train in Poland. Currently, trains run between key metropolitan areas of the county, Alstom officials said in a press release.

Bob Graham plans to retire from his post as ARI's vice president of vehicle remarketing by the end of 2015. He began his career with the company in 1973. He worked in the operations and service departments before moving to vehicle remarketing in 1975. He was named manager of the department in 1984, director in 2005 and vice president in 2010. Under Graham's leadership, ARI's remarketing department "consistently remained at the forefront of innovation within the industry," company officials said in a news release. Meanwhile, the company also announced that Bob Graham's wife, Cheryl Graham, another longtime ARI employee, plans to retire at the end of this year. She has worked for the company for more than 35 years, holding leadership positions in billing, sales, client relations, government and, most recently, ARI's learning programs.

Dane Poljak was appointed senior supervising engineer in the Pittsburgh office of WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff. In the position, he'll lead design and construction activities of signal and communications systems for transit and rail clients. Poljak has 24 years of experience in management, design and commissioning of transit-rail signaling system projects throughout the world. He most recently managed commissioning efforts on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's positive train control project. He's also worked on projects for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority, the Chicago Transit Authority, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other transit agencies.

TranSystems announced the promotion of Andrew Stanevicius to senior professional partner. He currently serves as an assistant vice president and area leader in the firm's San Diego office. He has 20 years of experience managing and implementing projects for the operations planning and analysis division. As a nominee for the senior professional partner distinction, Stanevicius was ranked on his impact to the business and clients, continuing industry outreach and internal leading and mentoring, TranSystems officials said in a press release.