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• Balfour Beatty plc announced Gammon Construction has obtained a $1 billion rail infrastructure contract in China via a joint venture with Leighton Asia, by MTR Corp. Balfour Beatty retains a 50 percent stake in Gammon. The contract covers the construction of a major terminus station in the West Kowloon district and part of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL), which forms part of China’s strategic national express rail network. It is the second XRL contract secured by the joint venture.

• Bombardier Transportation and its consortium partner Vossloh Kiepe are supplying a total of 74 Flexity Swift light-rail vehicles for one of the largest tram networks in Europe, the Greater Manchester’s Metrolink system. The new fleet is part of a system expansion designed to alleviate traffic congestion in the greater Manchester area, according to a Bombardier press release. When completed in 2016, the expanded system will cover 60.5 miles.

• RailComm has provided a Yard Automation System at Amtrak’s Chicago Union Station through a contract with HNTB Corp. and Kiewit-Western, according to a RailComm press release. The automation system is commanded by RailComm’s DOC® server-based central control platform. The system provides an operator control over more than 100 GE Transportation Systems Hydra-Switches and dozens of power derail devices, blue flag indicators, switch heater locations and two diesel generators, according to RailComm. In addition, the system features the company’s RADiANT™ data radios to provide communicatation between the office system and network of controlled devices.

• Parsons Brinckerhoff has named Jeffrey Schultz senior principal technical specialist in the Glastonbury, Conn., office. The firm is serving as program manager to the Connecticut Department of Transportation  (CDOT), overseeing implementation of new passenger-rail service along the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield (NHHS) rail corridor. In his new position, Schultz will be responsible for service and operations planning, including fleet, schedule, maintenance and service amenities issues for the program. Amtrak and CDOT plan to operate new train service on the NHHS rail corridor beginning in 2016.