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• Yesterday, GE Transportation announced plans to build a new plant in Grove City, Pa., to meet accelerating demand for remanufacturing services. GE expects to spend $35 million to create capacity at a new diesel engine remanufacturing plant and an additional $37 million in 2011 and 2012 on improvements at the existing Grove City plant. To be located at an existing site, the new plant will employ up to 250 people by early 2013, including 100 GE workers who will transfer from the current Grove City facility. Production is scheduled to begin by 2012’s end. Demand for remanufacturing services likely will increase significantly in the coming years because of routine locomotive overhaul cycles and the need to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s stringent Tier 3 emissions standards for diesel engines by 2013, GE officials said in a press release.

• Bombardier Transportation has obtained a $648 million contract from DB Regio AG for 90 electric multiple units of the 430 series, according to a Bombardier press release. To date, 87 trains of the same series already have been ordered for the Stuttgart region and production is under way. DB Regio won a European-wide bid from the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund in November, securing the transportation contract for the Rhein-Main rapid transit network. Also, Bombardier has obtained an additional order for 130 Bombardier ElectroStar cars for Southern (formerly Southern Railway Ltd.) in the United Kingdom. The contract is valued at $296 million.

• RailComm has been selected to provide a wireless remote control automation system at BNSF Railway Co.’s facility in Longview, Wash. RailComm’s Domain Operations Controller (DOC®) System will be used to remotely control switches, and will include a workstation that will enable the user to control and monitor devices and review operation logs of all system activity, RailComm officials said in a press release. The workstation will display a graphical representation of the yard area. The system will include triple-aspect, bi-directional switch position indicators at each switch location.

• ProTran1 has obtained $250,000 worth of contracts from a “major agency” to provide a Transit Track Worker Safety Protection system, which will feature RFID and real-time communications, according to a ProTran1 press release. In addition, the U.S. Patent and Trademark office has issued the company its fourth patent for its development of track worker and right-of-way advance warning technologies.

• Gannett Fleming has appointed Richard Whitwell senior project manager in the Program Management Practice in San Francisco. His responsibilities will include project management oversight services for a major client in the San Francisco Bay area, and for the Sacramento Regional Transit District and Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District. Whitwell has more than 20 years of experience in electronic controls and measurement systems in the machine tool industrial sector, coupled with an additional 20 years in rapid transit.

• Skelly and Loy recently named Rex Peppler engineering manager; Darryl White, CAD designer; and Paul Fischer, mine permitting specialist in the firm’s Wise, Va., office. Peppler has more than 36 years of experience in engineering positions in the energy (coal), landfill, nuclear, and facilities management industries. With more than 10 years experience, White has completed drainage design, coal reserve studies and pond inspections for certification for various clients in the coal mining industry. Fischer, who has more than 40 years of experience in the energy industry, has managed coal leasing, development of mineral properties and provided engineering support to several regional and national coal and natural gas companies.