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• Bombardier Transportation won a $577 million contract from the United Kingdom’s London Underground to upgrade automatic train control (ATC) signaling for the Sub Surface Railway. Bombardier will provide its CITYFLO 650 ATC system, communications-based train control technology similar to a system used on Metro de Madrid in Spain. By 2018, Bombardier will renew signaling, with the provision of an ATC system, on four sub-surface lines involving 200 miles of track, 113 stations, 191 trainsets and 49 engineering trains. Bombardier also announced plans to create a product and design development center for North America in La Pocatiere, Quebec. To open in spring 2012, the $17 million facility will be used to design and develop prototypes of passenger-rail vehicles.

• Miner Enterprises Inc. has promoted Eric Graves from sales engineer to regional sales manager for the W. H. Miner Division. He will continue to assist customers in the Midwest region to improve rail-car design and performance through the application of the company’s products, including loading, unloading, energy management and braking products, according to Miner. Graves joined Miner in 2008 after gaining more than 10 years of experience in rail-car product-related engineering and operational management positions.

• Pacer International Inc. has expanded its Mexico Direct double-stack intermodal service by adding a new service between Guadalajara, Mexico, and key U.S. and Canadian markets. Ferrocarril Mexicano S.A. de C.V. (Ferromex) and Union Pacific Railroad will provide intermodal rail service for the new offering, which was launched on June 6 and will operate five days per week. Pacer will provide a fleet of more than 17,000 high-cube intermodal containers and a newly established chassis pool at Ferromex’s ramp in Guadalajara.

• RMI has released ExpressYard bar code repair billing software designed to simplify data capture, eliminate billing errors and automate inventory control for rail-car repair shops. Associating bar codes with the correct repair data provides a “failsafe means” to simultaneously enter billing repair information and obtain inventory part allocation with one scan, according to RMI.

• Professional Transportation Inc. (PTI) has named Jason Crowder fleet director. He will be responsible for managing all aspects of PTI’s rapidly expanding fleet operations. Crowder most recently was North American fleet and asset manager for Corrpro Cos. Inc. in Houston. He previously served in the fleet departments for First Support, SKE, Carruth Doggett, Bombardier Transportation, First Transit, Johnson Controls, Ford and the city of Houston.

• HDR has appointed Steven Lorek eastern region rail manager. He will be responsible for coordinating and managing rail resources, and collaborating with freight-rail program managers. Lorek, who is based in Cincinnati, has served HDR for the past 13 years. As HDR’s local railroad lead in Cincinnati, he primarily was focused on management and delivery of railroad projects for Class Is, short lines, public agencies and private industries.

• VOTG Tanktainer GmbH has named Heike Clausen vice president of the International Tank Container Organization (ITCO), a nonprofit association of international tank container industry firms. VOTG Tanktainer is a subsidiary of VTG Aktiengesellschaft, a German car-hire and rail logistics company.