advertisement

---

Rail industry suppliers and service providers have a number of international and domestic developments to share:

• An Alstom Transport-led consortium obtained a contract to build the first high-speed rail link in South America between Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba. The consortium includes Iecsa, Isolux Corsan and Emepa. Alstom will provide project management services, rolling stock and signaling. Alsom also is part of a consortium that will complete Phase 1 of the Al Safooh tramway project in Dubai. In addition to Alstom, the ABS consortium includes Besix and Serco. To enter service by 2011, the first phase includes 11 tramways, a six-mile track and 13 stations.

• Wabtec Corp. subsidiary Wabtec Rail won a $30 million contract in the United Kingdom to refurbish 40 passenger cars for high-speed trains operated by XC Trains Ltd. At its Doncaster, England, facility, Wabtec Rail will refurbish car interiors, including new seating, luggage racks and lighting, paint exteriors and convert 21 locomotive-hauled cars for high-speed operation. The company will deliver the cars by year's end.

• AlpTransit Gotthard Ltd. and the Transtec Gotthard Consortium obtained a $1.5 billion contract to provide rail infrastructure for the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The consortium comprises Alcatel-Lucent Schweiz AG, Atel Installationstechnik AG, TRSS Thales Rail Signaling Solutions AG, Alpine Bau GmbH, Hergiswil, and Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH. The contract calls for building two 35-mile single-track tunnels and seven miles of above-ground lines to connect with an existing rail network.

• RMI has opened a new state-of-the-art disaster recovery site and upgraded all production and backup servers to IBM POWER6™, completing a $2.5 million data center expansion project. More than 400 customers have been migrated to the new systems and the company now retains total redundancy for all production systems. RMI provides rail information services to the transportation industry.

• L.B. Foster Co. received the 2008 “People Do Matter” Award from the Pittsburgh Human Resources Association. The award recognizes L.B. Foster's corporate initiatives led by its human resources department, including a series of reward and recognition programs, and workforce development opportunities.

• Standard Steel L.L.C. named Jay Galbraith director of melting and railway products metallurgy; Mark Lumadue, director of quality assurance; and Steven Dedmon, director of technology and research and development. Galbraith previously served Standard Steel as laboratory manager and melting metallurgy manager. Lumadue was manager of quality assurance, and previously held various quality control positions at CR Quality Services Inc., Conrail and Norfolk Southern Corp. Dedmon previously managed Standard Steel's quality control and assurance, process metallurgy, industrial and design engineering, and laboratory functions.

• WAGO Corp. named Cory Thiel product manager-interconnect to oversee the growth of printed circuit board-mount terminal blocks and connectors. He has extensive experience with electronics and heavy-duty construction equipment.

• Midland Manufacturing has launched a redesigned and updated Web site at www.midlandmfg.net. The new site offers detailed information on the company's tank car safety valves and easier-to-use navigation tools.