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International doings color the latest developments in the rail supply/service provider industry:

• Thales has implemented the European Train Control System (ETCS) and integrated communications for a suburban commuter-rail line between Buenavista in central Mexico City and Cuautitlan in Estado de Mexico — the company's the first implementation of ETCS in the Americas and first time the system has been applied to a commuter-rail line. Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles S.A. purchased the ETCS Level 1 rail signaling and interlocking system and an integrated communications systems through its Mexican subsidiary Constructora del Ferrocarril Suburbano for Mexican railway authority Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transporte.

• Skanska won a $149 million contract from the Czech Railway Infrastructure Administration to rebuild a section of railway in the Czech Republic. Skanska serves as the lead company in a consortium that includes two local companies. The consortium will construct a 19-mile section of railway between Prague and the German border. The project includes a new bridge and upgrades to 44 bridges, three new tunnels and platforms at seven stations. Work is scheduled to be completed in May 2011.

• A prototype of Alstom Transport's AGV very high-speed train is undergoing its first speed track test at the Velim Rail Test Centre in the Czech Republic. Test runs at speeds up to 125 mph will finalize the train's development phase and validate Alstom's very high-speed platform prior to final approval, the company said. Fifteen Alstom engineers will test the seven-car AGV prototype until September.

• MHF Logistical Solutions Inc. has launched MHF Supply Chain Solutions, a new division charged with meeting demand for integrated rail services for large-scale, complex logistics operations in general commodities and emerging markets. The division will offer a complete logistics package through a single point of contact, including rail, intermodal, truckload, less-than-truckload, air, international, transloading and supply-chain management services. MHF Logistical Solutions provides transportation services — including rail — for radioactive, hazardous and non-hazardous waste and materials.

• Fuel refiner and marketer Motiva Enterprises L.L.C. has expanded its Sewaren, N.J., refined products terminal rail yard. The project more than doubled the company's rail-car handling capacity, improving the service performance of ethanol deliveries into the New York Harbor region. The yard now can handle 200 rail cars per day and unload an entire unit train carrying 80 to 100 tank cars of ethanol.