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Rail industry suppliers and service providers have a few more development to share:

• Bombardier Transportation won a $44 million contract from the Metropolitan Council of Minneapolis/St. Paul to supply 17 bi-level commuter-rail vehicles. The contract includes an option for 64 additional cars. Bombardier will build the 17 cars at plants in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Plattsburgh, N.Y., and deliver the vehicles between May and August 2009. The cars will be used on the 40-mile Northstar commuter-rail line, which is scheduled to open in late 2009.

• Asciano's Pacific National and the Australian Rail Track Corp. recently introduced an in-cab-activated points system designed to provide remote control of points machines from a locomotive cab. In operation between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie, Australia, the system features secure radio protocols and fail-safe ground equipment.

• RFTrax has received Underwriters Laboratories' UL® 913 Intrinsically Safe certification for the Asset Command Unit (ACU). The certification means the ACU — a wireless rail-car tracking device — is approved for safe use on tank cars that haul flammable or explosive materials, RFTrax said.

• Modoc Railroad Academy and Railroad Industries Inc. reached a marketing agreement under which Railroad Industries will provide training and re-training services for locomotive engineers and conductors at the academy in Sacramento, Calif. The pact addresses expected changes in federal law that would require the certification of conductors similar to how engineers currently are certified, Modoc and Railroad Industries said.